Maryland Film Festival Blog

MFF 2009 Closing Night: THE HURT LOCKER

Screenwriter Mark Boal, Director Kathryn Bigelow,  & Washington Post Film Critic Ann Hornaday

Unbelievably, defying all odds, MFF 2009 Closing Night film, THE HURT LOCKER, was nominated for NINE (!!!!!!)  Oscars, sharing the Most Nominated title with the Biggest Movie in History, James Cameron’s AVATAR. THE HURT LOCKER was nominated in many major categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, Best Actor, and Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, etc. If Kathryn wins Best Director she will be the first female director to do so. She’s already broken one glass (titanium ?) ceiling- she’s the first female to win the Directors Guild Best Director, which is a pretty good predictor of Oscar favor.

Also, MICA professor and MFF Alum Patrick Wright’s new film,  MUSIC BY PRUDENCE, for which he produced and edited was the co-producer and  assistant editor, was nominated in the Best Documentary Short Category. Maybe, like KING GIMP, he’ll bring another Oscar back to Baltimore in this category.

Other Bmore related Oscars: Anna Kendrick, nominated for Best Supporting Actress was at our event for CAMP, and is the female lead of ROCKET SCIENCE, a filmed in Baltimore movie that was MFF 2007 Closing Night. She’s up against another Marylander, Mo’Nique.

-JED

**CORRECTION**: MUSIC BY PRUDENCE was  produced by Elinor Burkett and Roger Williams – and edited by Geeta Gandbhir. We apologize to the filmmakers for the mistake.