Quvenzhané Wallis in BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
MFF alum Behn Zeitlin‘s BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD won the FIPRESCI prize and Caméra d’Or at the 2012 International Cannes Film Festival. The film also received a special mention from the Cannes Ecumenical Jury.
The Maryland Film Festival and WYPR’s Maryland Morning will be hosting a sneak preview of BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD with special guest screenwriter Lucy Alibar on Tuesday, June 5th at the MICA Brown Center. Tom Hall of WYPR’s Maryland Morning will interview Lucy Alibar immediately following the screening. The interview will air on July 13th, when BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD opens at the Charles Theater.
Film Synopsis:
Benh Zeitlin’s BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD whisks you to a surreal realm, where little girls and mythical animals coexist in a bayou called The Bathtub, all intertwined in the cosmic mesh of the universe. Hushpuppy (stunning newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis) relentlessly explores her world for answers, to satisfy her curiosity, and to make her budding mark on a world she’s only beginning to comprehend. Click here for film website.
Screening Information:
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD with special guest Lucy Alibar
Tuesday, June 5th
7:00pm
MICA Brown Center
Seating is limited; Friends of the Festival will be given priority. We have a limited amount of FREE PASSES for current Friends of the Festival. Friends of the Festival: email angie @ mdfilmfest.com with your name in message body for a chance to win free passes.
FIPRESCI (Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique, or International Federation of Film Critics) is one of the three juries at Cannes (the other two being the official jury and the Ecumenical jury). It was founded in 1930 in Brussels, Belgium and awards prizes to exceptional films at several festivals including Cannes, the Toronto International Film Festival, the Venice International Film Festival, and the Warsaw International Film Festival.
The Caméra d’Or (“Golden Camera”) is an award of the Cannes Film Festival for the best first feature film presented in one of the Cannes’ selections. This year’s prize was awarded to Behn Zeitlin for BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD.
BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD also received a special mention from the Cannes Ecumenical Jury, which has bestowed an independent film award to feature films at Cannes since 1974. The purpose of the award is to “honour works of artistic quality which witnesses to the power of film to reveal the mysterious depths of human beings through what concerns them, their hurts and failings as well as their hopes.”
Praise for BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD:
“One of the most striking films ever to debut at the Sundance film festival”
– Todd McCarthy, The Hollywood Reporter
“Among the best films to play at Sundance in two decades…Hauntingly beautiful both visually and in the tenderness it shows towards the characters.”
-Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
“A startlingly beautiful and daringly creative film that runs free of Hollywood formula.”
– Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Maryland Film Festival Blog 
TO OUR DEAR DIRECTOR,CREW AND CAST, PETER T IS SO GLAD TO BE PART OF A WINNING TEAM AND MOST ABLE DIRECTOR. OUR WORK AND EFFORT MUST COMING ALONG GREAT. I AM SO HAPPLY ABOUT THE NEW I READ TODAY.HATS OF TO OUR YOU DIRECTOR, BEHEN ZEITLIN AND TO YOU LUCY ALIBAR GREAT SKILLFUL WORK