Maryland Film Festival Blog

Maryland Film Festival (May 3-6 in beautiful downtown Baltimore) is thrilled to announce DARK HORSE, the latest “sad comedy” by master filmmaker Todd Solondz, as its 2012 Closing Night selection. The film, starring Jordan Gelber, will be presented the evening of Sunday, May 6th in the historic Charles Theater, with Solondz and members of his cast presenting.

“With two back-to-back masterpieces, Welcome to the Dollhouse (1995) and Happiness (1998), Todd Solondz established himself as the new standard-bearer for American dark comedies-or, as he calls them, sad comedies,” writes MFF director of programming Eric Allen Hatch in the festival’s closing-night program notes. “With DARK HORSE, Solondz has delivered not only his greatest film since those twin ’90s classics, but his most accessible work yet.”

Co-starring Selma Blair, Justin Bartha, Mia Farrow, and Christopher Walken, and coming on the heels of such provocative Solondz features as STORYTELLING, PALINDROMES, and LIFE DURING WARTIME, DARK HORSE is a groundbreaking, all-star work by a major American director.

Also announced for Maryland Film Festival 2012 is its Opening Night program, which each year since 2004 the festival has dedicated to a program of short films. The MFF 2012 Opening Night Shorts will take place the evening of Thursday, May 3rd in the Maryland Institute College of Art’s Brown Center, with each film presented by its director.

The MFF 2012 Opening Night Shorts are:
I Am John Wayne (Christina Choe)
The Kook (Nat Livingston Johnson and Gregory Mitnick)
Modern Man (Kerri Lendo and John Merriman)
Cork’s Cattlebaron (Eric Steele)
Fishing Without Nets (Cutter Hodierne)

This announcement of DARK HORSE and the five Opening Night Short Films come in addition to over 100 films already announced for MFF 2012: 40+ new feature films and 70+ new short films from around the world; a favorite film (Barbara Loden‘s WANDA) presented by legendary filmmaker and MFF board member John Waters; and vintage 3D and silent titles.

All of these MFF 2012 titles and tickets can be found here:
http://www.md-filmfest.com/film-guide-2012.cfm

For more information, please contact Megan Downey (megan@mdfilmfest.com )