APRIL 25, 2001

MEDIA ALERT

MARYLAND FILM FESTIVAL 2002
ANNOUNCES GROUNDBREAKING OPENING NIGHT

10 UNDER 20

Thursday, May 2, 2002

The Senator Theatre
5904 York Road
Baltimore, MD

6:30 p.m. - Arrival of VIP Guests and Sidewalk Block Unveiling

7:00 p.m. - Screening of "10 Under 20"

Celebratory Party at the Evergreen House following screening

Following in the tradition of "uncommon exposures", the Maryland Film Festival 2002 will open with another once-in-a-lifetime movie event with "10 UNDER 20" - a collection of 10 unique short works, each lasting under 20 minutes. Each movie will be introduced by the filmmaker. All ticket holders are invited to a party with the filmmakers at Evergreen House after the screenings. Filmmakers are traveling from around the country to open the 4th Maryland Film Festival, which runs May 2 -5.

"We like advocating for great movies that the normal commercial marketplace has a hard time finding," said Jed Dietz, Festival Director. "These are truly great movies- some are world premieres from filmmakers we have known, some are new discoveries that are between showcase presentations at Sundance and Cannes. This will be the only chance to see them together with the people who made them."

Skizz Cyzyk, Festival Programming Manager, who has been searching for great short movies all year, said "These filmmakers put as much of their heart and soul into their films as Hollywood puts money into its features. We have our biggest and best shorts program ever. By putting these on Opening Night, people will learn that there is more where these came from."

Focusing on the shorts program, "10 Under 20" will include the presentation of the 10 short films, followed by a Q&A with the filmmakers. The works run the gamut from comedy to drama, weird to artistic, animated to live-action, and simple to complex. "it's odd", Cyzyk pointed out, "when The Accountant won the Oscar this year, a lot of people asked if we would show it. We already showed it last year. This is a chance to discover the next group of exciting short films and meet the filmmakers."

By offering this sampling celebrating the diverse and impressive work that is to be expected from our shorts programs, we hope that the public will have a special interest in these and other shorts being shown throughout this year's Festival.

Following is the line-up of shorts:

BOOBIE GIRL (dir. Brooke Keesling, Studio City, CA) 5 minutes, 35mm, EAST COAST PREMIERE
A young girl learns the hard way to "be careful what you wish for" in this cute fable that's delighting audiences from Sundance to Cannes. Narrated by June Foray (Rocky The Squirrel and Natasha from Rocky & Bulwinkle).

DRINK (dir. Pat Smith, NY, NY) 5 minutes, 35mm
A peculiar beverage catches the attention of a curious passer-by, who then suffers the unexpected after-effects. Gorgeous traditional cel animation!

LINT PEOPLE (dir. Helder K. Sun, LA, CA) 8 minutes, 35mm
Actual lint is animated to tell the struggle of a family of Lint People. When the father develops an appetite for his own young, the mother must stop her spouse from feasting on the fluffy brood.

BURN (dir. Reynold Reynolds & Patrick Jolley, NY, NY) 6 minutes, 35mm
A claustrophobic vision of domestic life set aflame… literally. This is a visual treat that must be seen to be believed.

TIME OUT (dir. Robbie Chafitz, NY, NY) 7.5 minutes, 35mm, MARYLAND PREMIERE
Two hard-bitten kindergartners (portrayed by adult actors) share a "time out" on a remote corner of the school playground and delve into a world of anxiety, despair, revenge and cooties. Maryland native, Robbie Chafitz, premiered Time Out at this year's Sundance Film Festival and is currently developing it into a feature.

DIRT (dir. Chel White, Portland, OR) 4 minutes, 35mm
Based on a story written and read by NPR's Joe Frank, Dirt tells the story of a man's strange obsession with dirt, starting from a childhood game, but eventually manifesting itself on a most surreal level. The dark, expressionistic images create an allegory for individuality and self-sufficiency, in this off-beat ecological parable.

DEAD KITTY (dir. Rachel Max, Washington, DC) 3.5 minutes, BetaSP
Rachel Max returns with another autobiographical, Flash animation, this time in the form of a song about how her cat was dropped off to be groomed, but came home in a box.

LEARN TO SPEAK BODY - TAPE 5 (dir. Mitchell Rose, Hollywood, CA) 6.5 minutes, BetaSP, WORLD PREMIERE
An instructional videotape on how to understand body language. One of two new shorts from Mitchell Rose, who in the past brought us Elevator World and Modern Daydreams.

ZEN & THE ART OF LANDSCAPING (dir. David Kartch, SF, CA) 17 minutes, BetaSP
When a suburban landscaper accepts the advances of one of his clients, he gets caught up her family's twisted web of lies and deception.

EPIPHANY (dir. Jim Hunter, Atlanta, GA) 12 minutes, BetaSP
What if cupid was a woman working in a computerized shipping department, sending love to those in need? What if something was wrong with her own computer file?

This year, the Maryland Film Festival is hosting our strongest showing of short films (9 programs, totaling 64 shorts), these programs - and their content are worthy of attention -- in fact, the Academy committee thinks so. A short film called "The Accountant" won the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Film at the Academy Awards this past March - "The Accountant" was part of last year's festival.

No one can predict which short film will win the Oscar next year. But there is always a chance you will see it at the Maryland Film Festival.

The Maryland Film Festival was started in 1999, and is sponsored in part by Festival Sponsors: Comcast, The Abell Foundation, The Maryland Film Office, and the France-Merrick Foundation.

Tickets are $50 per person, which includes the screening and the opening night party. Dress is festive. To RSVP for tickets, please call (410)752-8083. For further information about the festival, taking place May 2-5, 2002 at the Charles Theatre and other venues, please check the Festival's web site at www.mdfilmfest.com.