Screening:
Sunday, April 30, 2:15 PM, Charles 3

This touring collection of films enters its 19th annual touring season after receiving special recognition from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. After a successful showing at last year's Maryland Film Festival, curator John Columbus returns to Baltimore with an exclusive package of films culled from over 50 honored works tailored specifically for the festival.

HKG (dir. Gerard Holthusis, Austria, 1999, 14 min.) An arresting black and white portrait of the old Kai Tak airport in Hong Kong.

Outer Space (dir. Peter Tscherkasky, Austria, 1999, 10 min.) Found footage is deconstructed, reshaped. Glass walls explode, cinema tears itself apart, ripped sprocket holes and errant optical sound displace the action of the film.

Roost (dir. Amy Kravitz, U.S., 1999, 5 min.) Richly drawn animation-infused with a velvety, tactile beauty-the titles refers to the desolate place where new life rekindles belief in God.

Jericho (dir. Jerome D. Bloom, U.S., 1999, 9 min.) A renegade send up of Cecil B. DeMille-style Biblical epics.

Moby Richard (dirs. Emily Breer and Joe Gibbons, U.S., 1999, 6 min.) Joe Gibbons stars as Professor Herville, offering a literary analysis of Captain Ahab, while touring the New Bedford Whaling Museum.

Darkening (dir. Peter Rose, U.S., 1999, 10 min.) Hypnotic and rhythmic work borrowing from pre-literate cultures wherein touch, sound, and sense retain their numinous impact.

Dream (dir. Masayo Nishimura, U.S., 1999, 3 min.) A lyrical computer-animated work about a woman, a subway car, an aria, a man, and the moon.

Hairyman (dir. Steve Subotnick, U.S., 1999, 3 min.) An absurd animation refreshingly free of conventional logic.

Picture Day (dir. Steven Bognar, U.S., 1999, 8 min.) Rapid-fire montage of 600 school kids on picture day-12 frames per kid.

Seven Hours to Burn (dir. Shanti Thakur, U.S., 1999, 9 min.) Filmmaker examines her family history-her father is Indian, her mother Danish.

The Two Boys (dir. Jason Livingston, U.S., 1999, 10 min.) An examination of home and memory.

When the Day Breaks (dirs. Wendy Tilby and Amanda Forbis, Canada, 1999, 9 min.) Masterful animated film about a lonely pig

Tidbit:
The Black Maria Festival derives its name from the site of Thomas Edison's seminal film studio-the world's first-in West Orange, NJ.

Bio:
John Columbus developed an interest in filmmaking at an early age, in part inspired by a trip to the Edison Labs in West Orange, NJ. He attended the Newark School of Fine and Industrial Arts before transferring to Swain School of Design, which is now part of Southeastern Massachusetts University, in New Bedford, MA. It was there where he was made aware of the idea that film could be explored as a personally expressive and conceptual, nonlinear form of art.

After taking a position at the Widcliff Museum in New Rochelle, NY as program and media director, he settled with his family in West Orange, NJ, home of the Edison National Historic Site, the place where his initial fascination with filmmaking began. It was natural for John to propose a film festival commemorating Edison's role in the history of filmmaking. After receiving the support of the supervising curator and director of the Historic Site, the Thomas Edison-Black Maria Film & Video Festival was born.