Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Film Exhibition in Baltimore (October 2008)

One thing I would like to improve upon in the future would be my coverage of other revivals and film series in Baltimore city. You would think that this aspect of Baltimore begins and ends with the Charles and the (gone but not forgotten) BMA series. There is more going around town, needless to say.

For example, there is a series at the Enoch Pratt Free Library which has been unearthing prints from their extensive archive and exhibiting them for free for some time. I have found the schedule a bit difficult to follow, but things seem to happen mostly on Saturdays, often putting the series in conflict with other things going on around town for me.

This Saturday, their "RARE REELS: The Best Films You've Never Seen" series will be showing a print of Falstaff (Chimes at Midnight), a film worth the time of any Orson Welles admirer or Shakespeare film buff. The film screens at the Central Branch on Saturday, November 15th at 2PM. Go here to learn more.

Another series I have been meaning to say more about would be the Fall Film series at MICA, with which the Maryland Film Festival is involved. I rarely make it out to this one as Tuesday nights are bad for me, but have made the time in the past for a Fassbinder series and the occasional film unavailable on the big screen anywhere else. The series this year has played a number of noteworthy films so far, and will be ending with two excellent selections.

I saw Medicine for Melancholy at the 2008 Maryland Film Festival, and have attempted to advocate heartily for the film ever since. Many more people know who Wyatt Cenac is now than they did then, as his star is clearly on the rise. The film is the best take on gentrification, modern love, and racial identity to come down the pike in a long time. The film screens Tuesday, November 18th, at 7:30.

The MICA series concludes on Tuesday, December 2nd at 7:30 with a screening of local gem Hamilton. The director, Matt Porterfield, will be in attendance. I have had the opportunity to see the film twice now, and have took away different things each time. As a former resident of that Baltimore neighborhood, I am astounded and inspired by the lyrical richness that the filmmaker has drawn from Baltimore workaday realities. As a filmgoer, I am proud that such an accomplished work has come from my hometown, something that can stand up next to the best work of Malick and Van Sant. If you haven't seen it yet, I say go for it.

In other news, the change at the Senator I spent so much time scrutinizing may be finally coming to some kind of frutiion. Several benefits are being held to help pay for the conversion of the Senator to a "not for profit" entity. The impact of this decision is hard to predict until the details emerge, but it hard for me to see the place operating in the manner that it has been once such a change comes to pass.

Also, we are back to "grab bag" revivals at the Charles, beginning with a screening of a restored print of Rosemary's Baby this Saturday, November 15th, at noon. After that, who knows?

1 comment:

Onetet said...

I've long been baffled by the Senator/Rotunda's treatment of 7:00-hour screenings as the "late show" on weekdays and am dismayed to see the Charles following suit. Are more people REALLY coming to movies at 4-something on weekdays that at 9-something? I can't believe that's true. Meanwhile, in many suburbs films can be seen beginning at the hours of 10 or 11pm.