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| Location | Baltimore,Maryland,United States |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1999 |
| Language | International |
| Website | http://www.mdfilmfest.com |
TheMaryland Film Festival is an annual five-day international film festival taking place each March inBaltimore,Maryland. The festival was launched in 1999, and presents international film and video work of all lengths and genres. The festival is known for its close relationship withJohn Waters, who is on the festival's board of directors and selects a favorite film to host within each year of the festival.
Each American feature screened within the festival is hosted by one or more of its filmmakers. The many internationally known filmmakers who have presented their work within Maryland Film Festival includeBarry Levinson,David Simon,Kathryn Bigelow,Melvin Van Peebles,Lena Dunham,Lisandro Alonso,Bobcat Goldthwait,Amy Seimetz,David Lowery,Joe Swanberg,Greta Gerwig,Barry Jenkins,Todd Solondz,Anna Biller, andJonathan Demme.
In addition to forty or more new features and fifty or more new short films, each Maryland Film Festival includes one favorite film selected and hosted by legendary filmmaker and MFF board memberJohn Waters. The films presented by John Waters within Maryland Film Festival have ranged fromJoseph Losey'sBoom! toGaspar Noé'sI Stand Alone.
Major names in contemporary music have presented favorite films within the festival, includingBeach House,Dan Deacon,Branford Marsalis,Marin Alsop,Ian MacKaye,Will Oldham,Jonathan Richman,Bill Callahan, and members ofAnimal Collective. Each festival also includes a silent film with a live score byAlloy Orchestra. Additionally, personalities ranging fromHarry Belafonte toCal Ripken Jr. have appeared at the festival alongside documentaries about their lives and work.
The festival also programs film events in and around Baltimore year-round, including the film component of Baltimore's annual summerArtscape festival and many events for its membership support group Friends of the Festival.
The first Maryland Film Festival screening took place Thursday, April 22, 1999, with an Opening Night presentation ofBarry Levinson's documentaryDiner Guys (about the real-life inspirations for his first feature film,Diner) at the historicSenator Theatre.
Full programming began April 23, 1999, using all five screens of the historicCharles Theatre. These screenings were the first public use of the newly renovated Charles, which had expanded from one to five screens.
In 2002, the festival dedicated its Opening Night to a collection of short films, and has done so each year since 2004.
In 2009, the festival expanded its offerings of international films, with the stated goal of expanding the scope of international films brought to Baltimore, and in future years bringing a filmmaker to host each foreign feature film screening as the festival does with all American-made feature films.
In 2013, the festival announced its expansion to 5 days, shifting its Opening Night to Wednesday, May 8, 2013. Previous festivals had been 4 days, with opening nights taking place on Thursdays. The festival continued as a 5-day festival in each subsequent edition.
The 18th annual festival took place May 4–8, 2016 using 5 screens in and around theStation North Arts and Entertainment District as well as the auditoriums of theBaltimore Museum of Art andWalters Art Museum.
The 19th annual festival took place May 4–7, 2017 using the 3 screens of the newly restored and expandedParkway Theatre as well as three additional screens on the nearbyMaryland Institute College of Art (MICA) campus.
The festival's feature-film programming has emphasizedindependent films represented by their filmmakers, as well as international works handled by such art-house and specialtyfilm distributors asThe Cinema Guild,Oscilloscope Laboratories, Factory 25,Milestone Films,Strand Releasing, andKino.
The festival has offered the world premieres of such American independent features as Eugene Kotlyarenko's0s & 1s (2010),Josephine Decker'sButter on the Latch (2013),Stephen Cone'sHenry Gamble's Birthday Party (2015), Josh Crockett'sDr. Brinks & Dr. Brinks (2017) andStephen Cone'sPrincess Cyd (2017). The 2017 edition featured the U.S. premieres of Hugh Gibson'sThe Stairs andAshley McKenzie'sWerewolf.
The festival launched a year-round, 3-screen venue anchored by a historic, restored 1915 auditorium,The Parkway Theatre, in May 2017.
Longtime director of programming Eric Allen Hatch, who began working for MdFF in 2007, departed as lead programmer of Maryland Film Festival and The Parkway in February, 2018, citing creative differences detailed in aFilmmaker article concerning the need for greater risk-taking and attention to diversity in independent-film festivals and alternative venues.[1]
In November 2022, it was announced that Maryland Film Festival would not hold a 2023 edition, explaining the festival would "recalibrate its business model amid major changes in the film industry."[2]
In May 2023, it was announced that Baltimore radio stationWYPR, in partnership with former Maryland Film Festival director of programming Eric Allen Hatch, would hold theNew/Next Film Festival in August 2023, taking place at The Charles Theatre. The festival was planned as a reaction to the news that Maryland Film Festival was not holding a 2023 event.[3] The first New/Next Film Festival was held August 18–20 in Baltimore's Charles Theatre.[4]
In December 2013, the festival announced its plans to restoreThe Parkway Theatre, located at North Avenue and North Charles Street in theStation North Arts and Entertainment District, for use as its year-round venue.[5] The Parkway was built for film exhibition in 1915, and became one of Baltimore's first art-house movie theaters in the 1950s, operating under the name Five West, but it closed in 1977.[6] Maryland Film Festival's restoration preserved the original auditorium, and built two smaller screens in an adjacent space.
In Spring 2017, the Parkway restoration project was completed and the theater opened on May 3, 2017, with the opening night of the 19th Annual Maryland Film Festival[7] The first public screening in The Parkway was the Opening Night Shorts Program of the 2017 Maryland Film Festival on the evening of May 3, 2017, hosted byJosephine Decker andKris Swanberg and the directors of each short film presented. The first short presented, and therefore the first film to play in The Parkway in decades, wasJessica Kingdon'sCommodity City. The other shorts presented that evening wereTerence Nance'sThey Charge For the Sun, Jeannie Donohoe'sGame, Matthew Salton'sRichard Twice, andNathan Truesdell'sBalloonfest. The first feature film screened in the Parkway wasBarry Levinson's television filmThe Wizard of Lies on the afternoon of Thursday, May 4, 2017. The first theatrical film screened in the Parkway, Theo Anthony'sRat Film the same evening, was also a part of the Maryland Film Festival. The first 35mm film screened in the Parkway wasAgnès Varda'sVagabond, guest-curated and hosted by the bandBeach House, on the evening of Saturday, May 6, 2017. These screenings all took place within Maryland Film Festival 2017. The first live music performance in the restored Parkway wasAlloy Orchestra's live score for the German silent filmVariety within Maryland Film Festival 2017 on Sunday, May 7.
Films shown at the 2022 event includedNavalny,Sirens, andHomebody.
The Parkway Theater closed in January 2023,[8] but announced in May 2024 that it would re-open to host the 25th Maryland Film Festival.[9]
| Year | Film | Hosted By |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Standing in the Shadows of Motown | members ofThe Funk Brothers |
| 2004 | BAADASSSSS! | Mario Van Peebles andMelvin Van Peebles |
| 2005 | Swimmers | Doug Sadler |
| 2006 | The Eagle with live score byAlloy Orchestra | Alloy Orchestra |
| 2007 | Rocket Science | Jeffrey Blitz |
| 2008 | Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha | Melvin Van Peebles |
| 2009 | The Hurt Locker | Kathryn Bigelow andMark Boal |
| 2010 | Mother and Child | Rodrigo García |
| 2011 | Sing Your Song | Harry Belafonte |
| 2012 | Dark Horse | Todd Solondz andJordan Gelber |
| 2013 | Mother of George | Andrew Dosunmu andBradford Young |
| 2014 | Little Accidents | Sara Colangelo |
| 2015 | The Wolfpack | Crystal Moselle |
| 2016 | Hunter Gatherer | Josh Locy andAndre Royo |
| 2017 | The Hero | Brett Haley |
| 2018 | All Square | John Hyams |
| 2019 | Luce | Julius Onah |
| 2020 | N/A | N/A |
| 2021 | Women Is Losers | Lissette Feliciano |
| 2022 | Becoming Fredrick Douglass & Harriet Tubman: Visions of Freedom | Stanley Nelson Jr. and Nicole London |
| 2023 | N/A | N/A |
| 2024 | TBA | TBA |
Within every Maryland Film Festival since its launch in 1999, filmmaker and Maryland Film Festival board memberJohn Waters has selected one film to present to an audience. His selections have ranged from vintage cult and camp titles to contemporary ribald comedies and art-house dramas.
| Festival Year | Film title | Film director | Year of release | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Boom! | Joseph Losey | 1968 | |
| 2000 | Clean, Shaven | Lodge Kerrigan | 1993 | |
| 2001 | Baxter | Jérôme Boivin | 1989 | |
| 2002 | Fuego | Armando Bó | 1969 | |
| 2003 | I Stand Alone | Gaspar Noé | 1998 | Waters also joined in the MFF 2003 presentation of Noé'sIrréversible. |
| 2004 | Dog Days | Ulrich Seidl | 2001 | |
| 2005 | Porn Theater | Jacques Nolot | 2002 | |
| 2006 | Head-On | Fatih Akın | 2004 | |
| 2007 | Sleeping Dogs Lie | Bobcat Goldthwait | 2006 | |
| 2008 | Story of Women | Claude Chabrol | 1988 | |
| 2009 | Love Songs | Christophe Honoré | 2006 | |
| 2010 | United 93 | Paul Greengrass | 2006 | |
| 2011 | Domain | Patric Chiha | 2009 | Waters was joined in his presentation by director Patric Chiha. |
| 2012 | Wanda | Barbara Loden | 1970 | This screening took place from UCLA's restored 35mm print on the evening of Friday May 4, 2012. |
| 2013 | Paradise: Faith | Ulrich Seidl | 2012 | This screening took place the evening of Friday, May 10, 2012. Waters was joined in his presentation by star Maria Hofstätter. This marked the first time Waters has repeated a director in making his selections since the launch of MFF in 1999. |
| 2014 | Abuse of Weakness | Catherine Breillat | 2014 | |
| 2015 | Killer Joe | William Friedkin | 2011 | |
| 2016 | The Deep Blue Sea | Terence Davies | 2011 | |
| 2017 | Roar | Noel Marshall | 1981 | |
| 2018 | I, Olga Hepnarová | Tomáš Weinreb and Petr Kazda | 2016 | |
| 2019 | Mom and Dad | Brian Taylor | 2017 | |
| 2020 | N/A | N/A | N/A | The 2020 Maryland Film Festival, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[10] |
| 2021 | Why Don't You Just Die! andThe Road Movie | Kirill Sokolov and Dmitrii Kalashnikov, respectively | 2018 and 2016, respectively | Presented as "John Waters' Russian Shock Night at the Drive-In", a double-feature hosted by Waters at theDruid Hill Park Mansion Lawn.[11] |
| 2022 | Maps to the Stars | David Cronenberg | 2014 | This film was to be presented by Waters at the in-person 2020 Maryland Film Festival, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12] |
A recurring highlight within each Maryland Film Festival since 2003 has been a silent film presented withAlloy Orchestra performing their new, original scores for these vintage films. Alloy Orchestra has also presented films at Maryland Film Festival stand-alone events throughout the year; this list is limited to presentations within the annual festival weekend.
| Festival Year | Film title | Film director | Year of Original Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | The Black Pirate | Albert Parker | 1926 |
| 2004 | Speedy | Ted Wilde | 1928 |
| 2005 | Blackmail | Alfred Hitchcock | 1929 |
| 2006 | The Eagle | Clarence Brown | 1925 |
| 2007 | Nosferatu | F. W. Murnau | 1922 |
| 2008 | Underworld | Josef von Sternberg | 1927 |
| 2009 | Man with a Movie Camera | Dziga Vertov | 1929 |
| 2010 | Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness | Merian C. Cooper andErnest B. Schoedsack | 1927 |
| 2011 | "Masters of Slapstick" Shorts Program | Charlie Chaplin,Roscoe Arbuckle andBuster Keaton | 1916-1920 |
| 2012 | From Morning Till Midnight | Karlheinz Martin | 1920 |
| 2013 | The Lost World | Harry O. Hoyt | 1925 |
| 2014 | He Who Gets Slapped | Victor Sjöström | 1924 |
| 2015 | The Son of the Sheik | George Fitzmaurice | 1926 |
| 2016 | L'Inhumaine | Marcel L'Herbier | 1924 |
| 2017 | Variety | E. A. Dupont | 1925 |
| 2018 | A Page of Madness | Teinosuke Kinugasa | 1926 |
Beginning in 2002 and extending through 2012, each Maryland Film Festival presented a vintage3D film in the two-projector 35mm format. Each screening was hosted byBaltimore Sun film writer Chris Kaltenbach.
| Festival Year | Film title | Film director | Year of Original Release |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | House of Wax | André de Toth | 1953 |
| 2003 | Creature from the Black Lagoon | Jack Arnold | 1954 |
| 2004 | Fort Ti | William Castle | 1953 |
| 2005 | Gorilla at Large | Harmon Jones | 1954 |
| 2006 | The Mad Magician | John Brahm | 1954 |
| 2007 | Man in the Dark | Lew Landers | 1953 |
| 2008 | Miss Sadie Thompson | Curtis Bernhardt | 1953 |
| 2009 | Inferno | Roy Ward Baker | 1953 |
| 2010 | Jesse James vs. The Daltons | William Castle | 1954 |
| 2011 | The Stranger Wore a Gun | André de Toth | 1953 |
| 2012 | Those Redheads from Seattle | Lewis R. Foster | 1953 |
 |
Each Maryland Film Festival has presented forty or more feature films, with the screenings of each American film hosted by one of its filmmakers.
Gunky’s Basement was a Maryland Film Festival series curated and hosted by musicianDan Deacon, video artistJimmy Joe Roche, and MdFF programmer Eric Allen Hatch. Each title screened from a 35mm print and was promoted in part with original screenprinted posters created by Baltimore-based artists.
Gunky’s Basement was a year-round extension of the Maryland Film Festival Guest-Host program, in which a person best known for work outside the world of film selects and hosts a favorite film. Prior to Gunky’s Basement, Dan Deacon was a guest host in Maryland Film Festival 2010, selectingTotal Recall.
The series originally took place in TheCharles Theatre. Beginning with the July 12, 2017 screening ofThe Shining, all Gunky's Basement screenings took place in Maryland Film Festival's year-round venue,The Parkway Theatre. The series came to a close when film curator Eric Allen Hatch departed MdFF in February, 2018.
As an offshoot of Gunky's Basement, Maryland Film Festival and video artistJimmy Joe Roche partnered for a series exploring Roche's love of horror films. As with Gunky's Basement, each title screened from a 35mm print, and was promoted in part with original screenprinted posters created by a Baltimore artist.
| Date | Film title | Film director | Year of release |
|---|---|---|---|
| September 26, 2012 | Lifeforce | Tobe Hooper | 1985 |
| October 31, 2012 | The Texas Chain Saw Massacre | Tobe Hooper | 1974 |
| November 28, 2012 | From Beyond | Stuart Gordon | 1986 |
| October 7, 2015 | Brainscan | John Flynn | 1994 |
| October 14, 2015 | Slither | James Gunn | 2006 |
| October 28, 2015 | Phantasm II | Don Coscarelli | 1988 |
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