Film: Star Studded
by Anne Haddad
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Like school principals who proudly point at a newspaper headline when an alumnus hits the big time, Jed Dietz is basking in the success of some recent graduates of the Maryland Film Festival. Actress Greta Gerwig, a familiar face from several past festivals (including 2007, when she played the title role in Hannah Takes the Stairs), is starring with Ben Stiller in Greenberg, a Noah Baumbach film that's gotten some great press. And there's no denying the historic success of The Hurt Locker, the closing night selection of the 2009 festival that earned six Oscars this year. It made many an indie film-lover view the Academy Awards in a whole new light. 
- Prize pic: The Oscar-winning documentary Music by Prudence is one of the movies slated for this year's Maryland Film Festival. | photo by Errol Webber
One film slated for the 2010 festival has already won an Oscar: Music by Prudence, a documentary co-produced by Patrick Wright, chair of the video and film arts department at the Maryland Institute College of Art. The screening at MICA's Brown Center will include appearances by both Wright and the film's director, Roger Ross Williams, who might get to give the speech he started at the Academy Awards before he was Kanyed at the podium by former co-producer Elinor Burkett.
So what else at the 2010 festival might be boast-worthy next year? Dietz has a few suggestions. There's Dogtooth, a feature from Greece that won an award at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival and was one of the most passionately recommended films for this year's festival. And there's the documentary-style Bass Ackwards, the fictional story of a man filming his journey from the West Coast back east to move in with his parents.
There are plenty of real documentaries, too, including 12th & Delaware, by Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing of Boys of Baraka and Jesus Camp fame. The film provides an intimate cinema verité look inside an abortion clinic and the anti-abortion pregnancy-care center across the street. "I can't say enough about this film. It's completely revelatory," Dietz says.
As usual, the festival offers workshops for local filmmakers during the day on topics such as using electronic media and social networking tools to promote films. Space is limited, so call the festival office at 410-752-8083 to reserve a spot.
—Anne Haddad
Screenings take place at the Charles Theatre, the Maryland Institute College of Art, and the University of Baltimore; for the full festival lineup, go to www.md-filmfest.com.
Follow Anne Haddad's blog live from the Maryland Film Festival all weekend long at http://annehaddad.blogspot.com.
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