A look at local filmmakers at the Maryland Film Festival

by Tom Warner, Best & Next Department

The 23rd annual Maryland Film Festival takes place from May 19-27 and opening night features a double-bill, “Balti-Shorts & “Strawberry Mansions,” that showcases the work of young and upcoming local filmmakers. It’s part of the festival’s mission to introduce the next generation of homegrown talent while highlighting stories made in and about the city. So who are the young artists representing the next wave of local film making? 

Well, one of them is our very own Gillian Waldo, a Library Associate in Pratt’s Humanities Dept. whose film Diary gets its premier screening May 19 in the Balti-Shorts program. Gillian grew up in Baltimore City and graduated from Johns Hopkins University with a degree in film and museum studies. She joined Pratt in 2020. She likes to make what she calls “small films on 16mm.” Diary, shot on 16mm and digitized by Colorlabs in Rockville, documents “a summer without precedent in Baltimore” – the lockdown summer of 2020. 

“The pandemic forced us to renegotiate our relationship to the spaces we live in and notice how the city had changed,” says Gillian. “The pools were empty, fireworks were set off every night, people marched in the streets daily. This allowed me to reflect on my relationship to Baltimore and highlight the small beauties present in something as small as car dealership streamers or as large as collective action stopping traffic.”

Joining Gillian on the “Balti-Shorts” program is local documentarian Joe Tropea. He co-directed the short Fugazi’s Barber – about punk rock kids frequenting an old Italian barber shop in Washington D.C. His co-director, Robert A. Emmons Jr. Tropea (whose day job is Curator of Films and Photographs at the Maryland Center for History & Culture) is no stranger to the the festival, having previously screened Hit & Stay (2013) and Sickies Making Film (2018) there. Both of these films can be checked out on DVD from the Best & Next Department and Sickies Making Film is also available to stream on Kanopy.

The Festival’s opening night feature film Strawberry Mansions – the story of a dystopian future where the government records and taxes dreams. It isn’t specifically Balto-centric but its director and crew certainly are. Working again with co-director/star Kentucker Audley and featuring a soundtrack by Baltimore electronic maestro Dan Deacon, it is the fourth and most ambitious feature film yet by Gilman grad and former Johns Hopkins University lecturer Albert Birney. Strawberry Mansions finally gets its hometown premier after receiving critical acclaim earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. Birney’s previous film with Audley, 2017’s Sylvio, is currently available to stream on Kanopy. The story of a mild-mannered Baltimore gorilla who becomes an overnight TV celebrity, Sylvio was named one of the ten-best films of 2017 by New Yorker film critic Richard Brody.

But wait, there’s even more homegrown talent in Best & Next’s Local Film Collection! Create your own Maryland Film Festival at home by using your library card to watch these films by and about Baltimore people and issues.

There’s always new and noteworthy documentaries available to stream on Kanopy. Here’s a look at a few that we can’t wait to watch this May! For a full list of must-watch docs please visit here. 

Grab a cup of tea and get ready to enjoy an afternoon with these fabulous British dramas available now on Hoopla. With Hoopla, you can watch up to 10 programs a month!

This week, we’re highlighting Asian American & Pacific Islander Voices in the Young Adult Fiction genre. YA can be enjoyed by anyone, not just teens. We hope that you enjoy these picks!

by Rashida Snowden, Pratt Library Office Assistant

“I never wanted this to happen, but now you have to learn the other part of being a Hulk. The part where the people you fight to protect sometimes fear and hate you. And it’s the hardest part because sometimes to protect what you love, you have to walk away from it.”

I was recently questioned about the green goddess that is on my coffee tumbler that I carry to work on a regular basis. Jennifer Walters, attorney at law. What’s her story? How does it connect to me? Were I to give you every detail, this could take a while and potentially not get to the end of this blog. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?

My initial introduction to She-Hulk was in the 80’s.  It wasn’t as easy to fly your geek flag back then. If one gave any inkling that there were comic books stacked at home or that you read for pleasure, not duty, life could become quite difficult. In many ways, it didn’t make a difference to me because I was already an isolated, socially awkward child. I don’t want to paint myself as a hermit who loomed in the darkness and only crawled out for nourishment and bathroom breaks. I had a wonderful childhood in some ways. I still remember Summers and weekends fondly, exploring the outdoors with my friends (yes, there were a few), Saturday morning cartoons and Kung Fu theater. Books were fond friends. They gave me adventures and experiences beyond my own and created in me an excitement for the future.

Then came the joy and the girl power of the Savage She-Hulk #1 comic. I was very familiar with the Incredible Hulk by then, and watched Bixby and Ferrigno faithfully, but THIS!!!!! I cannot give an accurate count of how many times I read that comic. What grabbed me from the pages was this woman, who was different in many of the same ways that I am, could be so fierce and powerful. There was the bookworm Jen, who would spend her time in libraries and hide overnight. I never would have had the nerve to do such a thing, but it would have been nice. The transformation from tame, to a bold, unapologetic and self assured green woman made me want to be more. It made me not want to hide everything that was great inside of me. Here I am, black (not green) and somehow that difference is an obstacle. I may as well have been green some days. It creates fear and loathing in others who may not even know why they fear or what it is that they fear.

My first comic book was a Christian publication about the crucifixion. Needless to say, it was pretty hardcore for a beginner. I read through those pages until the binding came undone and the pages scattered.  My fascination was not in the words alone, but the imagery. I could spend hours pouring through the pages of comic books. On Sundays, I would take The Baltimore Sun newspaper and clip out my favorite comic strips to save and revisit as many times ad I’d wish.

I, as an army of one could never fight that masses perception of who I am, but here I am being all great and all magic and all shining and all bright. The act of being and the act of becoming is far greater that the act of thinking and the act of judging through a defective and smudged lens. As others judge, let us be great and move great. There is no denial in the evidence that our tracks will leave by just being our great and different and effective selves.

Jen (a.k.a She-Hul, a.k.a Shulkie), in tumbler form is my daily reminder that I am empowered. A reminder that in my flaws, lies beauty and healing in a world that seems so dark. You and me, all of us are out here just being the light, being change, and bringing something different to this stale narrative. What’s your reminder?

Read more about She-Hulk on Hoopla: