TOfilmfest does MDfilmfest 2016!

We get invited to a lot of film festivals.  Many of them are right here in Toronto.  While we would love to support them all, it's just not possible.  However, this year we decided to return to Baltimore for the Maryland Film Festival — where we had visited 3 years ago for #MDFF2013.

Baltimore is within a day's drive of Toronto; or a short flight from Pearson to Baltimore/Washington via Air Canada, or from Billy Bishop to Dulles, Virginia via Porter.  Tickets are only $12, and can easily be bought at the theatre shortly before the screening.  Films seldom sell-out, line-ups are brief, and pass-holders walk right in (without needing tickets)… just like the 'Festival of Festivals' was, before it became the Toronto International Film Festival.

#MDFF2016 marks the 18th year for the MDFF — putting it about where the Toronto International Film Festival was in the early 1990's.  But while it took almost 30 years before Toronto opened it's marquee Lightbox headquarters, the Maryland Film Festival has already embarked on a landmark of it's own:  the Parkway Film Center.

In collaboration with the Maryland Institute College of Art and John Hopkins University, the Parkway Film Center will convert an 1,100-seat theatre (originally built in 1915) into three smaller cinemas, ranging from 100 to 400 seats — the opening is slated for 2017.  Along with being the permanent home of the MDFF, it will bring hundreds of new films to the heart of the city.

The Maryland Film Festival screens about 50 feature-films & 100 shorts —  it's noncompetitive (no awards, no juries) and specifically avoids categorizing films into programs… it simply aims to provide "film for everyone."

Here are some of this year's highlights:

• #TIFF15 films at #MDFF2016
• The Apostate, Federico Veiroj
• Cemetery of Splendour, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
• Chevalier, Athina Rachel Tsangari
• High-Rise, Ben Wheatley
• How Heavy This Hammer, Kazik Radwanski
• Ixcanul, Jayro Bustamante
• Koza, Ivan Ostrochovský
• Lamb,Yared Zeleke
  
• #HotDocs16 at #MDFF2016
• Do Not Resist, Craig Atkinson
• Fraud, Dean Fleischer-Camp
• Trapped, Dawn Porter
  
• #MDFF2016 films of note
  
• Always Shine, Sophia Takal
• Fits, The, Anna Rose Holmer
• Hunter Gatherer, Josh Locy
• Love Witch, The, Anna Biller
• Nuts!, Penny Lane
• Slash, Clay Liford
• Untouchable, David Feige
  
• #MDFF2016 special-screenings
• Deep Blue Sea, The [2011], Terence Davies (introduced by John Waters)
• Fresh [1994], Boaz Yakin  (presented by DeRay Mckesson)
• L'inhumaine [1924], Marcel L'Herbier (with live score by Alloy Orchestra)

THANKS TO:  Eric Cotten (screening committee + MINDSEYECINEMA productions), Camille Blake Fall (screening committee + filmmakers' lounge), Eric Hatch (dir. of programming), Scott Braid (prog.admin), Jed Dietz (festival director) – and all the staff & volunteers! – for another terrific festival!  :-)

#PicktheBestoftheFest
www.TOfilmfest.ca
@TOfilmfest

PS.
btw, here's an article from the New Yorker on #MDFF2016: "The State of Independent Film in 2016" —  and here are links to our previous trip: TOfilmfest does MDfilmfest, pt.1 + pt.2.
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