Maryland Film Festival: The crowds are wasting no time - All the latest news and reviews from The Baltimore Sun

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The crowds are wasting no time

Festival line Here's one measure of success: Used to be that opening morning of the festival was something of a desolate time; I remember once, when the festival used to start at 10, I was one of only about six people at the opening show.

I don't know whether it's because the opening has been moved back 90 minutes (to 11:30 a.m.), or because of the offering (an animated shorts program), but by 11:20, there were already more than 100 people in line, both inside and outside the Charles.

All of which suggests what veteran festivalgoers already know: the Charles Theatre and its environs are the place to be this weekend.

Me, I'll be checking out D.C. native Zach Clark's Modern Love Is Automatic, in which the director says he "wanted to take the exact same moral stance on being a dominatrix as it would on making a sandwich." Hmmm...

The fun starts at noon. More later ...

Photo: Movie lovers line-up for the first movies at the Maryland Film Festival's opening day. Photo by Chris Kaltenbach

Posted by Chris Kaltenbach on May 8, 2009 11:33 AM | Permalink

Comments

Would you recommend buying tickets in advance? Interested in the Korean film on Saturday night.

Posted by: Heather | May 8, 2009 12:07 PM

There have been several sellouts already, so it's probably a good idea to buy in advance.

Posted by: Chris Kaltenbach | May 8, 2009 2:15 PM

When I showed up around 2 pm Friday there was a nice-sized, manageable crowd. In the theaters, I would estimate that I saw "It was great..." with 60-75 people and "Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo" with about a hundred. But when I came out of the latter film around 7 pm, the place was mobbed. The line went down the block and around the corner, there were interviews being conducted all over the place -- we were in full-on mode. I expect it to be pretty busy the rest of the weekend. That may be bad for individuals trying to negotiate their way around, but great for the overall event.

Posted by: jds | May 9, 2009 12:13 AM

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Maryland Film Festival bloggers

Michael Sragow saw the greatest movie ever made, The Wild Bunch, six times in two weeks in 1969 and has been arguing about it and other movies in print ever since. He has been a movie critic for the Sun since 2001 and a regular contributor to The New Yorker since 1989. He is the author of Victor Fleming: An American Movie Master (Pantheon, 2008).

Chris Kaltenbach has been writing for The Baltimore Sun since 1982 -- the same year Barry Levinson's Diner was released. For the past 15 years, he has been writing off-and-on about the movies, as both a critic and reporter. He has spent more time watching movies at the last 10 Maryland Film Festivals than probably anyone else.