Maryland Film Festival Blog

Frank Bruni

Maryland Film Festival (May 8-12 in downtown Baltimore) is proud to announce our 2013 guest host:  The New York Times’ Op-Ed columnist, Frank Bruni, who has chosen to present a screening of the Oscar-nominated Absence of Malice (1981). Directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Paul Newman, Sally Field, Bob Balaban, and Melinda Dillon, Absence of Malice tells a timely story of misinformation being reported as fact by the mainstream media and causing irreversible damage. The film’s screenplay was written by journalist Kurt Luedtke, and was given real-life resonance by a dispute Paul Newman had with The New York Post.

The Maryland Film Festival is honored to have as distinguished a journalist as Frank Bruni participating in their 15th annual festival. After graduating with a B.A. in English from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an M.S. in journalism from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Bruni launched his career in 1990 at The Detroit Free Press, where he covered the first Iraq war. He moved to The New York Times in 1995, working as a reporter in the Washington, D.C. Bureau and covering Congress and the George W. Bush campaign and administration. His Bush reporting developed into his bestseller, Ambling Into History. He was promoted to Rome Bureau Chief in 2002.

Bruni was chief restaurant critic for The New York Times from 2004-2009, and in 2009 released another bestseller, Born Round: The Secret History of a Full-Time Eater, about his lifelong struggles with food and fitness. Bruni was a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, where he profiled people as diverse as Hillary Clinton and Elle Fanning.

Absence of Malice will screen from a 35mm print 11a.m. Saturday, May 11, at downtown Baltimore’s historic Charles Theater. Advance tickets are available for all films online at mdfilmfest.com.