Maryland Film Festival Blog

The last few years have seen an explosion of Maryland Film Festival alumni landing new films in the annual Sundance Film Festival. That trend continued to rise yesterday as Sundance began unveiling the line-up for their 2013 festival (taking place January 17-27 in Park City, Utah).

Sundance has established itself as arguably the premiere festival for American independent film, as well as one of the world’s largest “market” festivals, where distributors acquire many a film for distribution–as was the case with this year’s art-house smash BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD by MFF alum Benh Zeitlin, which premiered at Sundance 2012.

The number of MFF connections in Sundance’s 2013 line-up thus far is so numerous we’re still tracking them, but the following are a dozen feature-film highlights. Needless to say, these are films we’ll be tracking at Sundance and throughout the year as we begin scouting films for Maryland Film Festival 2013:

—I USED TO BE DARKER, directed by Baltimore’s Matthew Porterfield (of MFF 2006’s HAMILTON and MFF 2010’s PUTTY HILL), shot in Baltimore, and co-written by Baltimore’s Amy Belk.

—AIN’T THEM BODIES SAINTS, directed by David Lowery (director of MFF 2009 feature ST. NICK and MFF 2011 Opening Night short PIONEER), featuring an all-star cast that includes Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster, Nate Parker, and Keith Carradine.

—PIT STOP, directed by Yen Tan, co-written by David Lowery, and featuring a cast that includes Amy Seimetz (co-star of MFF 2010’s TINY FURNITURE; director of MFF 2012’s SUN DON’T SHINE) and John Merriman (co-writer/co-director/co-star of MFF 2012’s Opening Night short MODERN MAN).

—MOTHER OF GEORGE, directed by Andrew Dosunmu of MFF 2011’s RESTLESS CITY.  Andrew won the Maryland Filmmakers Fellowship in 2005 for this script. The Fellowship is awarded annually by a group of independent readers,  picked from Friends of the Festival supporters, and given to a filmmaker who’s script has been through the Sundance Labs.

—TOUCHY FEELY, directed by Lynn Shelton, the writer/director of such titles as HUMPDAY, YOUR SISTER’S SISTER, and MFF 2008’s MY EFFORTLESS BRILLIANCE.

—COMPUTER CHESS, directed by Andrew Bujalski, director of MFF 2005’s MUTUAL APPRECIATION.

—99%: THE OCCUPY WALL STREET COLLABORATIVE FILM, a collaborative documentary whose filmmakers include Audrey Ewell and Aaron Aites of MFF 2010’s UNTIL THE LIGHT TAKES US.

—AFTER TILLER, co-directed by Martha Shane of MFF 2008’s BI THE WAY.

—THE GOOD LIFE, co-directed by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine of MFF 2007’s WAR/DANCE.

—A TEACHER, directed by Hannah Fidell and featuring a cast that includes MFF alums Jennifer Prediger, Jonny Mars, and Chris Dubeck.

—UPSTREAM COLOR, directed by Shane Carruth and starring frequent MFF alum Amy Seimetz (TINY FURNITURE, SMALL POND).

—GOD LOVES UGANDA, directed by Roger Ross Williams of MFF 2010’s Oscar-winning MUSIC BY PRUDENCE.

A big congratulations to all the filmmakers included in this year’s Sundance line-up! You can also head to Thompson on Hollywood, the Indiewire blog of noted film critic (and MFF 2012 guest) Anne Thompson, for more information on these and other announced Sundance titles.