12TH ANNUAL MARYLAND FILM FESTIVAL
The Charles Theater.
1711 N. Charles St.
"Station North" Baltimore.
Each year, the MobTown Shank is fortunate to get picks from the Maryland Film Fest programmers - a list of personal favorites - to help guide our way through all there is to see over the several days chock full o' cinematic goodness.
Please note that these picks reflect the personal views of the programmers and do not reflect an official MFF perspective.
Skizz Cyzyk’s MFF 2010 Picks
My involvement with the festival changed
dramatically this year, after I stepped down from my staff position last
year. I am no longer a programmer for
the festival. Now I am a consultant to
the festival. Here are some films I
recommend.
American Jihadist – a very interesting doc
about a guy with a not-so-secret life that’s not-so-expected either.
Everything Is Going Fine – clips from various
Spalding Gray monologues are intercut to tell his life story.
General Orders No. 9 – unique, meditative doc
about nature & man in the American South.
Lovers of Hate – suspenseful dark comedy about
a guy hiding in the same house his brother and wife are shacking up in.
Quick Gun Murugun – kind of like the Bollywood
version of a Jack Black comedy. It’s not
exactly high art, but at least it’s foreign.
And admittedly, it’s pretty funny too.
I’m looking forward to seeing the 3-D
screening (William Castle’s Jesse James vs. The Daltons), the silent movie,
Chang, with live music from the Alloy Orchestra (featuring Roger Miller from
Mission of Burma), and Mars, a very cool looking animated sci-fi debut feature
from Geoff Marslett (Monkey vs. Robot).
In the Opening Night shorts program, Sol
Friedman’s Junko’s Shamisen is a very cool, stylish live-action comic
book. I have not yet seen Kelly Sears’
Voice On The Line or Kenneth Price’s The Late Mr. Mokun Williams, but I have
thoroughly enjoyed both filmmakers’ previous works.
In the Animated shorts program, variety and
quality are strong among the few that I’ve seen: Ledo & Ix Go To Town
(Emily Carmichael), Pigeon Impossible (Lucas Martell), Reach (Luke Randall),
and Seed (Ben Richardson and Daniel Bird).
Phil Davis’ previous shorts have all amused me, so I’m looking forward
to his Spinto Band video, Jackhammer.
In the Avant-Garde Shorts program, I notice familiar names
that never seem to disappoint: Rbert Todd (Golden Hour), Michael Robinson
(Locking Gazes), Eric Dyer (Media Archeology 2110), Antonio Martinez (Near The
Egress), and Joe Reinsel (Threshold Circuit).
The Charge of the WTF Brigade Shorts program includes the very cool Feeder (Joseph Ernst), which gives you a tonsil’s view of the world. Also included: Sapsucker (Chris Holmes), an interesting mind-trick involving birds and sound effects, and Hallelujah! Gorilla Revival (Jason LaRay Keener & Jeremiah Ledbetter), which last year I had a hand in giving an award to that some of the other contestants felt it didn’t even qualify for. I stand by the award. In that program, I’m looking forward to Jim Jacob’s The World of Film Festivals, because Jim is a true original who always cracks me up.
The Dark Comedy Shorts includes The Armoire, a new one from
Jamie Travis (Saddest Boy In The World, Tegan & Sara videos), and
MicroCineFest Hall of Famer Daniel Martinico’s Bike Thief.
I haven’t seen any of the Documentary Triple-Header Shorts program yet, but just seeing who the filmmakers are, I expect a quality program: Meghan O’Hara (Aftershock), Rory Kennedy (The Fence), and Ruby Yang (Tongzhi in Love).
I have only seen three of the Funny People Shorts. Jonathan Lisecki returns with Gayby, about a
straight woman trying to get pregnant by her gay friend. Matthew Atkinson’s Planet Sun starts off
examining the shallow-ness of tanning salon employees before morphing into an
unexpected music video. In Receive
Bacon, James Johnston knows that a film based around one simple joke shouldn’t
be any longer that it has to be. All
three are funny and will stick with you.
In the Genre Mash-Up Shorts, I’m looking forward to Attackazoids, Deploy! (Brian Lonano and Jeff Jenkins), the next installment in the stylish sci-fi Attackazoids series. I’ve also heard great things about Clay Liford’s My Mom Smokes Weed.
Now for a shameless plug: Don’t forget that I’ll be showing some of my own work (though all of it unfinished), along with Richard Chisolm and Zach Clark, as part of the Works In Progress showcase.
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