Maryland Film Festival Blog

SAVE THE DATE: Friends of the Festival Friday is coming up on Friday May 9th! This is the special day during our festival where current MFF members can see UNLIMITED FREE MOVIES before 6pm!  Not a member?  Click here to sign up today and take advantage of this amazing benefit AND get access to the amazing film programming and sneak preview opportunities that MFF provides year-round!

The following films will be screening during Friends of the Festival Friday (click here for the complete descriptions): 

CLUB SANDWICH

CLUB SANDWICH – Poignant drama, gentle comedy, and a hint of transgression mix brilliantly as we observe the coming of age of a 15-year-old teen vacationing with his single mother in a sleepy Mexican beachfront resort. From the director of Lake Tahoe and Duck Season.
11am
MICA Brown Center

THE AUCTION – This poignant character study from Quebec follows a sheep farmer who’s stayed true to the way of life he inherited from his father even as, one by one, his neighbors sell off their farms to developers. As he reaches old age, his two daughters come back into his life in ways that change him forever.
11am
MICA Gateway Building

SHORTS: INTERNATIONAL – A cross-section of stellar short films from around the world.
11am
MICA Lazarus Graduate Studio Center

MOEBIUS

MOEBIUS – South Korean maverick Kim Ki-duk returns with perhaps his most shocking and darkly humorous exploration yet of the connections between pleasure, penance, spirituality, and the human impulse for violence.
11:30am
The WindUp Space

SHORTS: DRAMATIC – A stellar collection of dramatic short films!
1:00pm
UB Business Center

EVERYBODY STREET

EVERYBODY STREET – More than a dozen photographers (including Ricky Powell, Jamel Shabazz, Martha Cooper, and Boogie) are the subject of this visually rich documentary celebrating artists who have given us new ways to see both the streets of New York and the colorful characters that populate them. 
1:15pm
The Walters Art Museum

WATER LIKE STONE – A documentary portrait of Leeville, Louisiana, a fishing village among the fastest-disappearing wetlands in the United States-and the unforgettable characters who call it home.
1:30pm
MICA Lazarus Graduate Studio Center

FAULTS

FAULTS – Ansel Roth is one of the world’s leading experts on cults, and has built a career out of helping former members overcome brainwashing and reintegrate into society. He’s also a broken man, joylessly slogging from hotel to hotel in a futile attempt to promote his poorly received second book to ever-dwindling crowds. So when he’s approached by a distraught couple seeking his help in rescuing their daughter from a new and powerful cult family, Ansel’s anything but enthusiastic-until they put a large sum of money on the table. From Riley Stearns, director of MFF 2013’s Opening Night short The Cub, comes a brilliant film that confidently moves between dark comedy, thriller, serious drama.
1:30pm
MICA Brown Center

SEPTEMBER – After a seemingly solitary woman’s beloved dog passes away, she becomes overwhelmed by her loneliness. In her search to ease the pain of losing her best friend, she unexpectedly connects with a sympathetic family that lives in her neighborhood. This expertly crafted and warmly human film from Greek director Penny Panayotopoulou signals her triumphant return after a decade-plus hiatus from filmmaking.
1:45pm
MICA Gateway Building

ACTRESS

ACTRESS – Brandy Burre had a recurring role on HBO’s The Wire before giving up her career to start a family. When she decides to reclaim her life as an actor years later, the domestic world she’s carefully created crumbles around her. The latest non-fiction film from the director of Fake It So Real (MFF 2011).
1:45pm
UB Langsdale Auditorium

SHORTS: DOCUMENTARY – The best in short form documentary film from across the continent!
2pm
The Windup Space

SHORTS: CHARACTER STUDY – An unbelievable array of characters populate these brilliant, artful short films filled variously with wry humor, wit, warmth, satire and a penetrating insight into human nature.
3:30pm
UB Business Center

SHORTS: NARRATIVE – A cross-section of stellar narrative short films.
3:45 PM
MICA Lazarus Graduate Studio Center

ART AND CRAFT – For several decades, gifted and incredibly prolific forger Mark Landis compulsively created impeccable copies of works by a variety of major artists, donating them to institutions across the country and landing pieces on many of their walls. Art and Craft brings us into the cluttered and insular life of an unforgettable character just as he finds his foil in an equally obsessive art registrar.

3:45 PM

The Walters Art Museum

WHITEY: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA V. JAMES J. BULGER – This documentary dissects legend from fact in investigating the story of Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, uncovering a web of corruption in the process. From the director of Crude and co-director of Brother’s Keeper, Some Kind of Monster, and the Paradise Lost trilogy.

4:00 PM
MICA Brown Center

WILD CANARIES

WILD CANARIES – From the director of 2010’s Gabi on the Roof in July comes this captivating blend of comedy, romance, and mystery set in contemporary Brooklyn. The all-star indie cast includes Levine alongside Sophia Takal, Alia Shawkat, Annie Parisse, Jason Ritter, and Kevin Corrigan.

4:30 PM
UB Langsdale Auditorium

THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT – This strikingly original film builds on Robert Bresson’s ideas of space and sound to create a moving-image sculpture inside a Berlin apartment during a family gathering. Notes of gentleness and tension merge to form a strange visual symphony.
4:30 PM
MICA Gateway Building

SHORTS: AVANT-GARDE – Films that explore the boundaries of cinematic form and content.

4:30 PM
The Windup Space