Although there’s no shortage of regional film festivals throughout the year, few — if any — are better curated than the Maryland Film Festival. With a slate organized by Director of Programming Eric Allen Hatch, the downtown Baltimore festival, which takes place from May 3-7, offers the finest in independent and international cinema of the past year, as well as some of our most-anticipated world premieres.
Now in its 19th year, we’re pleased to debut the full line-up for the 6-screen festival, and can exclusively reveal that Brett Haley‘s The Hero (one of our favorite films from Sundance) will be the Closing Night film. World premiering at the festival is Stephen Cone‘s Princess Cyd, his follow-up to one of last year’s finest films, Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party, along with Josh Crockett‘s Dr. Brinks & Dr. Brinks.
We can also exclusively reveal the Opening Night Shorts — 5 short films with each filmmaker in attendance, with the evening hosted by MdFF alums Kris Swanberg and Josephine Decker. The opening night shorts are: Balloonfest by Nathan Truesdell; Commodity City by Jessica Kingdon; Game by Jeannie Donohoe; Richard Twice by Matthew Salton; and They Charge For the Sun by Terence Nance.
Whether you live in or around Baltimore, or you want to make a weekend trip out of it, this year’s MdFF is shaping up to be an essential cinema-going experience. Check out the full feature line-up below — also including some of our favorites such as Golden Exits, Beach Rats, Hermia & Helena, The Human Surge, Mimosas, and Rat Film — and films in which a host will attend have an asterisk.
Austerlitz – Sergei Loznitsa
Beach Rats – Eliza Hittman*
The Blood is at the Doorstep – Erik Ljung*
The Departure – Lana Wilson*
Dr. Brinks & Dr. Brinks [World Premiere] – Josh Crockett*
Family Life – Alicia Scherson, Cristian Jimenez
Finding Joseph I: The HR From Bad Brains Documentary – James Lathos*
Golden Exits – Alex Ross Perry*
Hermia & Helena – Matías Piñeiro [hosted by actor Keith Poulson]*
The Hero [CLOSING NIGHT] – Brett Haley*
The Human Surge – Eduardo Williams
Intent to Destroy – Joe Berlinger [hosted by editor Cy Christiansen]*
Kékszakállú – Gastón Solnicki [hosted by producer Matt Porterfield]*
Lemon – Janicza Bravo and Brett Gelman*
The Little Hours – Jeff Baena*
Love After Love – Russell Harbaugh*
Maineland – Miao Wang*
Mimosas – Oliver Laxe
Motherland – Ramona S. Diaz*
Park – Sofia Exarchou
Person to Person – Dustin Guy Defa [hosted by cinematographer Ashley Connor]*
Princess Cyd [World Premiere] – Stephen Cone*
Rat Film – Theo Anthony* [also hosted by composer Dan Deacon]*
Roar – [Selected and Hosted by John Waters] Noel Marshall [hosted by John Waters]*
The Stairs [U.S. Premiere] – Hugh Gibson*
The Strange Ones – Lauren Wolkstein* and Christopher Radcliff*
Sylvio – Albert Birney*, Kentucker Audley*
Tell Them We Are Rising – Stanley Nelson*
Thirst Street – Nathan Silver*
Werewolf [U.S. Premiere] – Ashley McKenzie*
Whose Streets? – Sabaah Folayan [hosted by cinematographer Lucas Alvarado-Farrar]*
Maryland Film Festival 2017 runs from May 3-7. Find more information on the official site.