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Posts Tagged 'MICA'

Sundance Update: Baltimore Boasts Vibrant Film Education Scene

Published January 26, 2012 Uncategorized Closed
Tags: Film students, MICA, Stevenson University, Sundance 2012, Towson, UMBC

Tuesday evening I met with about a dozen John Hopkins University film students, here in Park City, UT with teachers Linda deLibero and Meredith Ward. They got some tickets that were arranged by one of the parents, who is the CEO of Sundance Theaters, and are finding other things on their own.

The JHU students were jazzed about everything Sundance, and were dazzled by the scale of the entire Sundance operation: 1,850 volunteers, a whole bus system created on top of park city’s already good system, Main Street buildings transformed in to corporate lounges, etc.

They were focused on the movies and had seen and pursued interesting selections (though none of them were alive during the events in Rory Kennedy’s ETHEL, they were just as interested as I was ). They wanted to know a lot about MFF and some were specifically interested in film programming.

It was a nice Sundance interlude for me and reminded me how vibrant our film education scene is- including MICA, UMBC, Towson, Stevenson. Already strong, it could become nationally important with a very little push.

–Jed Dietz, Thursday, 1/26

ANNOUNCING: MFF PRODUCES A Conversation with Meredith Vieira and Award Winning Documentary Filmmakers!!

Published December 20, 2010 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Tags: 12th & Delaware, Academy Award, Alex Gibney, Boys of Baraka, Casino Jack, documentary, Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Film, filmmaker, Freedom Riders, fundraiser, Jesus Camp, Jonestown, Meredith Vieira, MFF PRODUCES, MICA, Rachel Grady, Sixty Minutes, Spitzer, Stanley Nelson, Taxi to the Dark Side, The View, Today Show

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:

Meredith Vieira, co-host of NBC’s Today Show, contributing anchor for Dateline NBC, founding moderator and former co-host of The View, and correspondent for Turning Point, West 57th, and Sixty Minutes, will moderate a discussion with award-winning documentary filmmakers on the subject: “Are Documentary Filmmakers the New Journalists?” at this year’s Maryland Film Festival Fundraiser!

Friday, January 21, 2010

MICA, Brown Center

Documentary filmmakers, all alums of the Maryland Film Festival include: Alex Gibney (Oscar winner for TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE, and widely praised for ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM, CASINO JACK, and SPITZER), Rachel Grady (BOYS OF BARAKA, Oscar-nominated JESUS CAMP, and 12TH & DELAWARE), and award-winning and MacArthur “Genius” grant recipient Stanley Nelson (JONESTOWN, FREEDOM RIDERS).

**CALL 410.752.8083 to order tickets**

All Access: including the pre-reception, reserved seats conversation, and a special dinner with Viera and the filmmakers – $250

Conversation and Pre-reception: wine, beer and hors d’ouevres) – $90

Table Hosts: (10 All Access tickets, plus 10 student tickets for the Conversation) – $5,000

Schedule of the evening:

6pm: Doors open, wine and beer reception

7:15pm: Auction and Conversation with Meridith Vieira, Alex Gibney, Rachel Grady and Stanley Nelson

9pm:All Access ticket-holder dinner with Vieira and the filmmakers in the MICA Main Building

Don’t miss METROPOLIS, accompanied by a rare live performance from the great ALLOY ORCHESTRA!

Published November 22, 2010 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Tags: Alloy Orchestra, Baltimore, free, Friends of the Festival, Fritz Lang, Metropolis, MICA, restored footage, silent film, tickets

NEW COMPLETE PRINT WITH RESTORED FOOTAGE!

FREE FOR FRIENDS OF THE FESTIVAL !

Friday December 3, 7:30pm

MICA Brown Center

TICKETS:

**Call 410.752.8083 to order in advance**

Regular admission: $15

Students: $5 (day of show only)

FRIENDS OF THE FESTIVAL get 2 FREE tickets! Call 410.752.8083 for more information on becoming a member.

“Considered the most expensive German f ilm of its day, METROPOLIS is celebrated as much for its spectacle as its story….This “Metropolis,” which will be accompanied by a live performance by the always compelling Alloy Orchestra, is 25 minutes longer than any version seen in more than 80 years. Because Lang’s picture is an icon of the silent era and the foundation stone of science-fiction cinema, this news has electrified fans and scholars of early film. Finding this new material was, as Glenn Erickson of the Web column DVD Savant put it, “akin to recovering lost books of The Bible.” – Kenneth Turan, LA Times

MORE ABOUT THE FILM:

Seldom has the rediscovery of a cache of lost footage ignited widespread curiosity as did the announcement, in July 2008, that an essentially complete copy of Fritz Lang’s METROPOLIS had been found. Now Baltimore audiences can see Lang’s masterpiece – with a live original score presented by festival favorites The Alloy Orchestra!

When METROPOLIS was first screened in Berlin on January 10, 1927, the sci-fi epic ran an estimated 153 minutes. After its premiere engagement, in an effort to maximize the film’s commercial potential, the film’s distributors drastically shortened METROPOLIS, which had been a major disappointment at the German box office. By the time it debuted in the states latter that year, the film ran approximately 90 minutes.

METROPOLIS went on to become one of the cornerstones of science-fiction cinema, foreshadowing BLADE RUNNER and THE MATRIX (to name just a few recent examples). Over the decades, audiences have clamored to see a complete version of this brilliant, landmark film. A 2001 restoration combined footage from four archives and ran at a triumphant 124 minutes. It was widely believed that this would be the most complete version of Lang’s film that contemporary audiences could ever hope to see.

But, in the summer of 2008, the curator of the Bunos Aires Museo del Cine discovered a 16mm dupe negative that was considerably longer than any existing print. It included not merely a few additional snippets, but 25 minutes of “lost” footage, about a fifth of the film, that had not been seen since its Berlin debut. That footage has been painstakingly restored, and now audiences can enjoy the most complete version of METROPOLIS since its premiere 80+ years ago.

Join Friends of the Festival today to see ALLOY ORCHESTRA PRESENTS: METROPOLIS and more FREE movies all year-round!

PATHS TO THE WIRE, Next Week!

Published September 13, 2010 Uncategorized Closed
Tags: Baltimore, David Simon, Maryland Film Festival, MICA, Paths of Glory, Stanley Kubrick, The Wire

Come see why David Simon has called Kubrick’s adaptation of PATHS OF GLORY “the most important political film of the 20th century… a favorite film [even] before I knew the book.”

For tickets call 410.752.8083

RSVP to the event on Facebook!

PATHS TO THE WIRE: DAVID SIMON PRESENTS STANLEY KUBRICK’s PATHS OF GLORY

Published August 26, 2010 Uncategorized 1 Comment
Tags: Baltimore, book, Brown Center, David Simon, events, forward, Humphrey Cobb, Kirk Douglas, Maryland Film Festival, MICA, Michael Sragow, Paths of Glory, rare, September, signing, Stanley Kubrick, The Wire, Timothy Carey

Book Signing w/ David Simon to Follow Screening of Rare 35mm Print of Kubrick’s Classic

Saturday, September 25, 7:00pm
MICA Brown Center
1301 Mount Royal Avenue

TICKETS: $10
Call 410.752.8083 to order in advance.

Maryland Film Festival is thrilled to announce that on Saturday, September 25, David Simon (creator of HBO’s acclaimed series “The Wire,” and “Treme”) will host a screening of one of his favorite films, Stanley Kubrick’s 1957 classic film Paths of Glory. This unforgettable anti-war film was adapted from Humphrey Cobb’s 1935 novel Paths of Glory, just reissued by Penguin Classics with a brand-new introduction by Simon; Simon will also sign copies of the book after the film screening.

Loosely based on a true story, Cobb’s chilling story of injustice follows French soldiers during World War I. Forced to attack an impenetrable German position, the casualties are high, and in the aftermath several French troops are put on trial for cowardice, scapegoated by the officers and institutions that sent them into combat. Kubrick’s riveting film adaptation (co-written with legendary hardboiled author Jim Thompson) stars Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, and cult favorite Timothy Carey.

Paths of Glory – both the film and the novel – were major influences on David Simon in creating and writing “The Wire.” As he told The Baltimore Sun’s Michael Sragow, “When I was writing an institutional dynamic, I was thinking of the guys in Cobb’s book.” Further, Simon has called Kubrick’s adaptation “the most important political film of the 20th century… a favorite film [even] before I knew the book.”

Maryland Film Festival will screen PATHS OF GLORY at MICA’s Brown Center (1301 W. Mount Royal Ave.) at 7pm Saturday, September 25th, with David Simon introducing the film and answering questions from the audience after the screening. Additionally, copies of the new Penguin Classics edition of Humphrey Cobb’s novel (with Simon’s new introduction) will be on sale, alongside Simon’s own works, with Simon available to sign your copies. Tickets will be $10 and can be purchased by calling 410.752.8083.

For more information, read Michael Sragow’s piece on Simon and Paths of Glory (the novel and the film).

Schedule grid now available for download!

Published April 23, 2010 1 Closed
Tags: 2010, grid, Maryland Film Festival, MICA, schedule, Tent Village, The Charles Theatre, University of Baltimore

Click here to download the full schedule grid for MFF 2010:

Mike Sragow Profiles Victor Fleming in NY Times

Published March 1, 2010 1 Closed
Tags: Clark Gable, Film Forum, Gary Cooper, Jed Dietz, Judy Garland, MICA, Mike Sragow, retrospective, Spencer Tracy, The Baltimore Sun, The Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, Victor Fleming

It’s so ironic that Mike Sragow, The Baltimore Sun’s great film critic and writer, (now under-used by The Chicago Tribune editors that oversee the newspaper) has a magnificent piece in yesterday’s New York Times. The piece is about the seminal Hollywood director Victor Fleming who will have a retrospective at NY’s Film Forum from March 5 – 18. The article features a photo of Jean Harlow in Fleming’s film BOMBSHELL (remember that great screening we did with Sragow at MICA?), and chronicles the frustration Sragow feels that Fleming, who helped thrust Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland and many more towards stardom, hasn’t received more recognition for his outstanding career. Sragow’s great book on Fleming has won universal praise and is certainly one of the best profiles of the American movie art form, in the time of its adolescence, ever written.

~Jed Dietz, MFF Director

Sragow Profiles Local and Nation Oscar Noms

Published February 4, 2010 1 Closed
Tags: American Heart, Baltimore, Edward Furlong, Jeff Bridges, MICA, Mike Sragow, Music by Prudence, Oscar Nominations, Oscars, Patrick Wright, shorts

Nice piece by Michael Sragow in Wednesday’s Sun exploring some local links to the recent Oscar nominees

Sragow, one of the best film writers in the country, explores one of the documentary short nominees, MUSIC BY PRUDENCE, produced and co-edited by MICA’s Patrick Wright. Patrick’s been such a great partner with us on the film series’ we’ve done at MICA, often including special sessions in the classroom with the students and visiting filmmakers. He’s put together a pretty great film program for MICA students. I haven’t seen his finished film, but early scenes I saw were unbelievable, and it’s been fun watching the project grow. MICA has been supportive from the beginning. I don’t know any of the other nominees, but I hope this one wins.

No news flash: Jeff Bridges is going to win the Oscar for Best Actor. It will act as a Lifetime Achievement Award and, on that basis, is richly deserved. If you want to see him deliver a really fresh performance of a man struggling with self-destructive impulses, rent AMERICAN HEART. Bridges plays a reluctant father to Edward Furlong (discovered by Jim Cameron for TERMINATOR), and he’s just great.

How to Use Your Friends of the Festival membership during MFF

Published May 4, 2009 1 Closed
Tags: benefits, Brown Center, Film, free, friday, Friends of the Festival, join, Maryland, Maryland Film Festival, MICA, Screening Vouchers, will call

Are you a Friend of the Festival? Have you been wondering how to take advantage of your membership benefits? We’ve got all the answers for you right here!

If you have tickets or All-Access passes on Will Call for Opening Night, you will be able to pick them up at the Brown Center (1301 Mount Royal Avenue) on Thursday evening.

Everything else will be available at the Friends of the Festival table (located in the Box Office tent across the street from The Charles Theater) starting Friday, May 8.

HOW TO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF FREE MOVIES BEFORE 6PM ON FRIDAY:

When you arrive on Friday, go to the Friends of the Festival table and give your name. You will receive a pass that you can flash at the theater to get into any film that day free before 6pm.

If you are at the Red Carpet level or higher, your pass is also what you use to get into the Filmmakers’ Lounge.

SCREENING VOUCHERS for Red Carpet level members and higher will also be available for pick-up at the Friends of the Festival table starting Friday, May 8.

Want to take advantage of these great benefits too? Join Friends of the Festival before May 7, and we’ll throw in a FREE screening voucher!

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