Maryland Film Festival 2021 to feature Baltimore-centric and family-oriented films

The 23rd Annual Maryland Film Festival, scheduled for May 19-27, will introduce two new “pathways” for film viewing.

The Baltimore Pathway will feature stories made in and about Charm City, while the Family Pathway will be geared toward stories related to family, coming of age, and discovery.

Audience members can now purchase festival passes, including the all-encompassing VIP All Access Pass and the new Exposure Pass, which includes access to 10 films.

Individual tickets for the films and programs will go on sale at 9 a.m. April 20 on the festival’s website.

This year’s lineup includes 104 films and 33 programs and will be topped off by the 2021 Closing Night film, “Women Is Losers,” directed by Lissette Feliciano.

Feliciano’s film, which premiered at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival in March, is a feminist coming-of-age drama set in 1960s San Francisco.

“I heard of Maryland Film Festival because Kathryn Bigelow was the first female director to ever close it,” Feliciano said in a statement. “You cannot be what you cannot see. It’s an honor to be here ten or so years later as the first Latinx woman to ever close MdFF.”

In the Baltimore Pathway, the documentary “Anatomy of Wings” starts with a group of Dunbar Middle School students and follows them over a 10-year period as they document their lives and grow into women.

Co-directors Nikiea Redmond and Kirsten D’Andrea Hollander said the documentary showcases the girls — and eventually women — taking control of how they tell their own stories.

“Beauty happens in Baltimore City. Healing happens. Young women grow up breaking cycles and improve our communities one breath at a time. The spirit of Baltimore lives in our community story, Anatomy of Wings,” Redmond and Hollander said in a statement.

The documentary shows some of candid conversations about pregnancy, abortion, HIV, what it means to be transgender, violence, losses of loved ones, and more.

In a February interview with Baltimore Fishbowl, Hollander and Redmond shared their process of making the documentary and what they learned along the way.

Hollander explained how at the beginning of each meeting, the members of the “Wings” group had a ritual of setting up the cameras and participating in breathing exercises to slow down and open up.

“When we would sit down and get quiet and slow down together and do some sort of breathing, that’s the beauty that you see coming out,” she said.

Director Jena Burchick’s film “Mom & M” will be featured in both the Baltimore Pathway and Family Pathway.

On her website, Burchick describes her documentary as “an intimate portrait of modern American parenthood.” The film focuses on the Richards family, comprising Nikki, a transgender writer; Elise, a social media influcer; and their daughter Sansa, who battles leukemia and whom the couple adopted from Hungary.

This year’s Maryland Film Festival will include a mixture of feature-length films, as well as short films categorized by “Altered States,” “Midnighters,” “Narrative Frontiers,” “Animated Shorts,” “Baltimore is Burning,” “Balti-Shorts,” “Queer Stories,” “Unorthodocs,” “Documentary Shorts,” “Teen Dreams,” “Lineage,” “Diverging Forms,” and “Charged Spaces.”

Feature Films

All Light, Everywhere directed by Theo Anthony
Anatomy of Wings directed by Nikiea Redmond and Kirsten D’Andrea Hollander
At the Ready directed by Maisie Crow
Beans directed by Tracey Deer
Cryptozoo directed by Dash Shaw
First Date directed by Darren Knapp and Manuel Crosby
Fugitive Dreams directed by Jason Neulander
Have a Nice Life directed by Artemis Shaw
iGilbert directed by Adrian Martinez
Lily Topples the World directed by Jeremy Workman
Mom & M directed by Jena Burchick
No Ordinary Man directed by Cameron Swanagon
Paradise directed by Immanuel Esser
Rival directed by Nicole Schink
Soy Cubana directed by Robin Miller Ungar
Strawberry Mansion directed by Albert Birney and Kentucker Audley
The Badger directed by Kazem Mollaie
Trees of Peace directed by Ron Ray
We’re All Going to the World’s Fair directed by Sarah Winshall
Women Is Losers directed by Lissette Feliciano

Short Films

Altered States

Asparagus 2 directed by Yuma Slowbinder
Best Guests directed by Max Sherwood
Common Dwelling directed by Nick Butler
FREEZE directed by Maya Albanese
Please Enjoy Your Stay directed by Tynan DeLong
Shoot-the-Chutes directed by Molly Pattison and Andrew Wood
Slow Vine directed by Glenn Fellman

Midnighters

Inheritance directed by Annalise Lockhart
Mealworm directed by Eddie Shore
PHANTOM VALLEY directed by Nina Kotyantz
Someone’s In Here directed by Ben Kitnick
Standing Woman directed by Tony Hipwell
The Star in the Mirror directed by Miceál Og O’Donnell
ZONA directed by Masami Kawai

Narrative Frontiers

Enviar y Recibir directed by Collins Salovaara
Kabibi directed by Elaisha Stokes
Stagiaire directed by Marina Michelson
Succor directed by Hannah Cheesman
Whalebone directed by Cameron Morton
World directed by Christine Haroutounian

Animated Shorts

Bad Mood directed by Loris Giuseppe Nese
Concoction directed by Jon Frier
Grab My Hand: A Letter to My Dad directed by Camrus Johnson and Pedro
Piccinini
Night Lights directed by Hannah & Todd Churn
Nuevo Rico directed by Kristian Mercado
Our Bed is Green directed by Margaret Brennan
Sad Beauty directed by Arjan Brentjes
Snow Angel directed by Evie Metz
The Wind directed by Miranda Javid

Baltimore is Burning

Children of Paris directed by Brandy Creek
Into the Light: A Trip Through Baltimore Ballroom directed by Jason Gray and
Kathryn Martin
The Filthiest People Alive directed by Thomas Hedges

Balti-Shorts

Diary directed by Gillian Waldo
Fugazi’s Barber directed by Joe Tropea and Robert A. Emmons Jr.
SAVE THE MANCHILDS, FOR THEY SHALL INHERIT THE EARTH directed by Gyasi
Mitchell
The Aviary directed by Charlie Knott
The Cal, The Coz, and the Streak directed by David Bonnett Jr.
Words for Thomas directed by Alonzo Hellerbach

Queer Stories

BUTTERFLY directed by Lazarus Lazarides
It’ll Be Over Soon directed by Benjamin Rigby
Kind Of directed by Noah Schamus
Light on a Path, Follow directed by Elliot Montague
Lilac Lips, Dutchess County directed by Tristan Scott-Behrends
Plaisir directed by Molly Gillis
Pure directed by Natalie Jasmine Harris
Trade Center directed by Adam Baran

Unorthodocs

American Wildlife directed by Elizabeth Lo
BALTIMORE directed by Margaret Rorison
Drills directed by Sarah Friedland
Space Lady directed by Sophia Feuer
There Was Nobody Here We Knew directed by Khaula Malik
Wavelengths directed by Jessie Zinn

Documentary Shorts

Florida Woman directed by Catie Skipp
God’s Plant directed by Jeremy Seifert and Malek Asfeer
Lion on the Mat directed by Asali Echols
Ten Leaves Dilated directed by Kate Hinshaw
Ti David directed by Dan Kitnick and Jess Obert

Teen Dreams

Afro directed by Jenn Shaw
CLASS OF 2020 directed by Faye Tsakas
Cousins directed by Mandy Marcus
Forever Tonight directed by Swetha Regunathan
In Sync directed by Chaconne Martin-Berkowicz
Twice as Good directed by Kristian King

Lineage

Bruiser directed by Miles Warren
Leave a Message directed by David Malouf
Lina directed by Elizabeth Manashil
MADA (Mother) directed by Joseph Douglas-Elmhirst
Soon directed by Jérémi Roy
Strawberry Shake directed by Dianne Bellino

Diverging Forms

Animal Trials directed by Drew Durepos
Another Horizon directed by Stephanie Barber
Malembe directed by Luis Arnias
Morning Sickness in the USA directed by Cristine Brache
News from Nowhere directed by Ben Balcom
The Canyon directed by Zachary Epcar
Valid & Literal Magic directed by Ebony DeGrace

Charged Spaces

Benjamin, Benny, Ben directed by Paul Shkordoff
Da-Dzma (A Sister and a Brother) directed by Jaro Minne
Grandma’s House directed by Xixian Wang
In Accordance With directed by Sarah Friedland and Alessandra Lacorraza
Outsiders directed by Gleb Osatinkski

Baltimorefishbowl

Maryland Film Festival 2021 to feature Baltimore-centric and family-oriented films