Maryland Film Fest Picks, Part 2

by Skizz Cyzyk

I (Skizz) second all of Eric’s picks, and add these:

LOW AND BEHOLD
A powerful narrative about a slacker going to New Orleans to work for an opportunistic insurance company in the wake of Katrina.

MY EFFORTLESS BRILLIANCE

A narrative about a male platonic-breakup, starring Sean Nelson (Harvey Danger, Long Winters).

ROW HARD NO EXCUSES

I wasn’t expecting a documentary about two guys rowing a boat across the ocean to hold my interest, but I found this one unbelievably gripping.

SONG SUNG BLUE

A doc about husband & wife Neil Diamond/ABBA/Patsy Cline tribute act, Lightning & Thunder, shot over the course of a decade.  Their story is amazing, heartwarming, and heartbreaking.  Thunder is going to perform live at the festival!

SPINE TINGLER! THE WILLIAM CASTLE STORY

A doc about the Hollywood shlockmeister responsible for such films as The Tingler, Strait-Jacket, 13 Ghosts, Homicidal, House On Haunted Hill, Macabre and Rosemary’s Baby, though he’s best known for the gimmicks he used to promote his films (Emergo, Percepto, etc.).  John Waters is interviewed in the doc – Castle’s gimmicks, after all, were the inspiration for Polyester’s Odorama.  Don’t miss the free outdoor screening of Castle’s Strait-Jacket (starring Joan Crawford) during the festival too.

STRICTLY BACKGROUND

Interesting doc about people who have made careers out of being extras in movies.

TODAY THE HAWK TAKES ONE CHICK
A very slow but beautiful-looking doc about the toll the AIDS epidemic is taking on Swaziland villages. An entire generation has been wiped out, leaving grandparents to take care of grandchildren… but the grandparents aren’t going to live forever.

WAITING FOR HOCKNEY

A doc about local artist, Billy Pappas, spending nearly nine years drawing a Marilyn Monroe portrait, and then getting it to artist David Hockney. 

There are eleven shorts programs showcasing 92 short films in this year’s festival. I recommend them all. There’s a foreign shorts program, a documentary shorts program, 4 narrative shorts programs, and the annual Black Maria touring shorts program. But the On The Edge shorts program has a special purpose for me, as it is intended for anyone who misses MicroCineFest (with the Comedy shorts and Potpourri shorts also mining similar territory).