MARYLAND INSTITUTE COLLEGE OF ART and MARYLAND FILM FESTIVAL PRESENT
** REALITY: Documentary Film Series**

Monday night film series begins March 14 in MICA's Falvey Hall at Brown Center (1301 Mt. Royal Ave.)

Tickets are $10, $8 for students and senior citizens, and free for MICA students, staff, and faculty with valid identification.
A series pass is also available for $25. Tickets available in advance and at the door.
Purchase tickets online at missiontix.com

Film List

**DOUBLE FEATURE**

CURSE OF THE BLAIR WITCH
(Hosted by director Eduardo Sanchez)

1999, 44 minutes, directed by Eduardo Sanchez and Dan Myrick

FORGOTTEN SILVER

1995, 52 minutes, directed by Costa Botes and Peter Jackson

Monday, March 14 at 7:30 p.m.

Unlike mockumentaries, which are obvious parodies made for laughs, these two films take on the documentary genre completely to tell their fictional stories. They keep to the form so faithfully that they are often mistaken for fact.

CURSE OF THE BLAIR WITCH
Curse of the Blair Witch tells the back-story of the legend of the Blair Witch that the college documentary filmmakers were seeking in The Blair Witch Project. The fictional origin of the mythology and the mysterious happenings (serial killings, missing children) from 1785 through the time Heather, Josh, and Michael disappeared while making a documentary of the Blair Witch in 1994 are told in an In Search Of... aesthetic.

FORGOTTEN SILVER
Early in his career, filmmaker Peter Jackson (Lord of the Rings) was given a chest of film that had belonged to Colin McKenzie, the husband of a widow who lived in Jackson's neighborhood. In that chest, Jackson made one of the most important discoveries in the history of filmmaking. Despite what history books say, New Zealand's Colin McKenzie invented the movie camera. He was the first film pioneer to experiment with color, sound, mobile camera work, close-ups, and numerous other film technologies. The footage in McKenzie's chest proves that human flight took place in New Zealand before the Wright Brothers' famed Kittyhawk flight in the U.S. Though unknown during his lifetime, McKenzie's accomplishments should have made him a national hero in New Zealand, not to mention the entire filmmaking world. When Forgotten Silver was shown on New Zealand television, McKenzie became an overnight celebrated figure, finally getting the recognition he deserved. Unfortunately, the joke was on New Zealand. Forgotten Silver is a mockumentary - 100% fiction.

Eduardo Sanchez grew up in Maryland and while attending Central Florida University began developing The Blair Witch Project with friend Daniel Myrick. He returned to Maryland with Dan to film The Blair Witch Project, which became an international phenomenon in 1999. He is currently in pre-production for his next film, Probed.

DON'T LOOK BACK
(Hosted by director D. A. Pennebaker)

1967, 96 minutes, directed by D. A. Pennebaker

Monday, March 21 at 7:30 p.m.
One of the seminal chronicles in the history of documentary filmmaking, DON’T LOOK BACK follows the young folk singer Bob Dylan on his first tour of England in 1965. Through intimate glimpses of backstage and hotel meetings (Joan Baez was “introducing” Dylan to the world stage, and Donovan drops by) and press interviews, we see a young, shy singer/songwriter struggle with, and then embrace or reject various aspects of stardom.

Using classic cinema verite technique, Pennebaker also delivers some extraordinary music, including the much-copied “Subterranean Homesick Blues” with flash cards which was shot in an alley behind the Savoy Hotel. As fresh as it was when it was released to great acclaim in 1967, DON’T LOOK BACK is a unique portrait of one of our greatest artists at a critical moment. It is also one of the greatest examples of documentary filmmaking.

DA PENNEBAKER is at the center of documentary filmmaking history. Having filmed a wide variety of musicians- Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Depeche Mode, Elaine Stritch, etc., Pennebaker has also been part of some of the most famous political and cultural documentaries. Not only are many of the movies he’s been directly associated with legendary- MONTEREY POP, DON’T LOOK BACK, PRIMARY, THE WAR ROOM, STARTUP.COM, ONLY THE STRONG SURVIVE, to name a few- he has spent a great deal of his career helping other filmmakers. It is hard to imagine modern documentary filmmaking without Pennebaker and his wife and partner, Chris Hegedus.

IMELDA
(Hosted by director Ramona Diaz)

2004, 103 minutes, directed by Ramona Diaz

Monday, March 28 at 7:30 p.m.
This Sundance 2004 award-winning documentary film tells a remarkable story. An up-from-poverty Filipino beauty, Imelda Marcos became one of the wealthiest and most powerful women in the world. Teamed with her husband, Ferdinand Marcos, they ruled the Philippines with an iron hand, even pushing around various US administrations until they were eased out of office during the Reagan administration.

Brushing aside core political issues such as poverty and freedom of speech, Imelda Marcos saw it as her mission to spread beauty and insure that her husband’s reign was unquestioned. Often lampooned in the Western press for her extravagant taste, especially in shoes, her guile and political instincts were often overlooked. Filmmaker Ramona Diaz, herself an exile from the Philippines during the Marcos era, has done something essential for documentary filmmaking: she got her subject to trusty her and give her unbelievable access.

Since Sundance, IMELDA has screened at film festivals from Djakarta to Istanbul to Baltimore to great acclaim. Over the legal objections of the remaining Marcos team, IMELDA had a commercial run in the Philippines, out grossing SPIDERMAN 2


Ramona Diaz’s first film, SPIRITS RISING, won numerous awards and documented the 1986 People Power Movement in the Philippines. It was her student film at Stanford, and it gave her the first chance to interview Imelda Marcos and plant the idea that a full documentary should be made. Ramona has been an associate producer on the PBS documentary CADILLAC DESERT.

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS PROGRAM
(Hosted by Scott Calonico)

Total Running Time: 63 minutes

Monday, April 4 at 7:30 p.m.
LSD A GO GO - Scott Calonico, 10 minutes
Using such materials as public domain educational film footage, photos from the National Archives, and recently declassified security memos, "LSD A Go Go" briefly describes some of the CIA's history with their LSD program, dubbed MK-ULTRA.

THE KING & DICK - Scott Calonico, 7 minutes
Elvis and Nixon join forces in the war on drugs, in this doc made using materials found on the internet.

MONDO FORD - Scott Calonico (Ricardo Fratelli), 7 minutes
Uncovering some of the best kept secrets of the past century, this short exposes Gerald Ford, who was in fact an alien behind the J.F.K. assassination, and was taught to play football by bigfoot.

THE VELVET TIGRESS - Jen Sachs, 11 minutes
An animated documentary of the 1931 Winnie Ruth Judd “Trunk Murders” trial as it was presented by the sensational press of the time.

TEXAS HOSPITALITY - Michael Pfaendtner, 4 minutes
Based on information provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, this short examines the final meal requests of ten executed offenders, each one as distinct as the individual killers and their crimes.

SUBCONSCIOUS ART OF GRAFFITI REMOVAL - Matt McCormick, 16 minutes
This "documentary" looks at the utilitarian over-painting of graffiti removal "engineers", and how it has become one of the more intriguing and important art movements of our time. Characteristics of Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism and Russian Constructivism seen in the anti-graffiti "unconscious art" have secured a place in the history of modern painting. A wry piece offering an offbeat perspective on the meaning of art.

FAMOUS IRISH AMERICANS - Roger Beebe, 8 minutes
This look at the secret history of some of our most overlooked Irish-American citizens, examines the concept of race, America, and the limits of binary thought.

BROTHER'S KEEPER
(Hosted by director Bruce Sinofsky)

1992, 104 minutes, directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky

 Monday, April 11 at 7:30 p.m.

Brother’s Keeper tells the story of Delbert Ward, who lived with his three brothers in rural New York, isolated from the local townspeople. When Delbert is brought to trial for his brother William’s murder, the town who had shunned Delbert rally around him to protect one of their own from the tactics of the big city District Attorney. Charges that Delbert’s confession was coerced, and alternate theories about the killing cause the town to rally for Delbert’s release. Brother’s Keeper won the Sundance Audience Award and Best Documentary award from the DGA, the New York Film Critics Circle, the National Board of Review, and the Boston Society of Film Critics

Bruce Sinofsky met Joe Berlinger met while they both were at Maysles Films. Brother’s Keeper was their first documentary, and they have since co-directed Paradise Lost (Best Documentary from the National Board of Review, a Peabody Award, and a Primetime Emmy), Paradise Lost 2: Revelations, and Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. Sinofsky recently directed Good Rockin’ Tonight: The Legacy of Sun Records, which premiered as part of PBS’s “American Masters” series and the AMC special, Hollywood High. He is currently working on a film about Chicago’s legendary Steppenwolf Theatre Company for “American Masters.”

CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS
(Hosted by editor Richard Hankin)

2003, 107 minutes, directed by Andrew Jarecki

 Monday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m.
Filmmakers Andrew Jarecki and Richard Hankin started to make a documentary about one of New York City’s famous children’s birthday party clowns, David Friedman, but in the middle of shooting David made a reference to his family’s troubled past and everything changed. Not only were the facts almost beyond belief- David’s father, a revered high school teacher in Great Neck Long Island, and David’s brother, 16 year old Jesse, had been arrested on multiple charges of child molestation- but the family had made home movies of the whole ordeal.

The resulting movie is one of the most remarkable documentaries ever made. Having been a sensation at Sundance 2003, the Maryland Film Festival was proud to be the next venue for the film on its way into the market place. In Park City or Baltimore, we have never seen audience Q&A sessions like the ones for this film.

A sensation everywhere it went, CAPTURING.… won awards around the world, and was nominated for an Academy Award. It shows us the personal struggle behind a headline-grabbing legal case, refuses to provide easy answers, and makes us look through our own biases. Along the way, we also confront how hard it is to get at the truth, and how blunt an instrument our great justice system can be.


Richard Hankin is a distinguished editor who has worked with some of the best documentary filmmakers working today. He edited Ric Burns’ great series New York: A Documentary Film, which was nominated for an Emmy. His films have been nominated for numerous awards and have won a Peabody. Richard wrote and directed a short film, This Is A Stand-Up, which has been shown on Showtime and PBS. His most recent work, ROMANTICO, was part of the Documentary Competition at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. Richard has a degree from UC-Berkeley and a Masters Degree from the Graduate Film Program at Columbia University. Richard grew up in the Baltimore area.

MICHAEL MOORE HATES AMERICA
(Hosted by director Michael Wilson)

2004, 125 minutes, directed by Michael Wilson

Monday, April 25 at 7:30 p.m.

There were several films produced in reaction to Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11 and this one stands out as the most earnest and insightful. First time film-maker Mike Wilson gleans a hatred of America in Michael Moores rhetoric and spends the film trying to get Michael Moore to do an on camera interview in the style that Moore utilized himself in Roger & Me. The film's title does not do justice to the true story of the film which is about journalistic integrity. To achieve this Mike Wilson visits Flint Michigan and interviews the likes of Penn Jillette, Albert Maysles & Dinesh D'Souza.

 

 
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