Clear, 73°
Wind: mph,
From March 26-29, the Annapolis Film Festival will bring film lovers to Naptown for a weekend full of movie screenings, panels and more. The theme of the festival is “The Heartbeat of Film.”
“We’re looking to find the heart in films,” explained festival director and co-founder Patti White. “And this year, we have a lot of films that show that and bring that out. But what we really are, we feel like we’re running on a pulse. The pulse and the beat.”
This year’s opening-night film is “Power Ballad,” a musical comedy directed by “Sing Street” director John Carney and starring Nick Jonas and Paul Rudd. The festival will be the film’s Maryland premiere, ahead of its theatrical release date of June 5. The premiere will take place at Maryland Hall.
“We’re excited about this film because really, when it comes down to it, it’s about friendship. And it’s about how sort of revenge and friendship and all kinds of things happen that pull people apart and then bring people together,” White said.
The festival also includes six themed showcases, beginning on Friday. The environmental showcase will feature “This Is Not A Drill,” a documentary that features people battling against environmental racism by pushing against the idea of a pipeline that would release harmful chemicals.
The Black Experience will show “The Eyes of Ghana,” a documentary directed by Ben Proudfoot and executive produced by Barack and Michelle Obama. The Latine Experience is set to feature “American Pachuco,” which won the Audience Award at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival.
The film set to be shown on Saturday as part of the Faith Experience showcase, “Elijah Peel,” will have its world premiere at the Annapolis Film Festival. Cast members from the film will attend, including Kevin Sorbo, who played Hercules in “Hercules: The Legendary Journeys” and Professor Jeffrey Radisson in “God’s Not Dead.”
The Sailing Showcase will also take place on Saturday, and it will feature “Expedition Antarctica,” a film made in the 1990s by Gary Jobsten. It was shown once on ESPN a long time ago but has not been shown many times since its footage was filmed. Jobsten will bring some of the people from the expedition to the festival.
The Jewish Showcase will show “Tovah,” a biographical documentary about the life of Tovah Feldshuh. The showcase will also include a Q&A and breakfast.
Family Days, the family screening, will feature “Cookie Queen,” a film about the entrepreneurial efforts of Girl Scouts selling cookies. The first 25 Girl Scouts wearing their uniforms will get a free ticket. Another highlight of the festival is the student showcase, which shows the work of emerging filmmakers.
Other films in primetime spots include “Carolina Caroline,” the director of which will attend the festival, and “Poetic License,” the directorial debut of Maude Apatow. The closing-day film is “Run Amok,” a dark comedy directed by NB Mager.
A Sunday awards ceremony will feature audience awards for documentary and narrative, as well as for short films. Juried awards will also be presented by individuals from the film industry. The winning films will be shown that night.
“We’re going into our 14th year, and we feel this is one of the strongest slates we’ve had, complete slates in a long time,” said festival director and co-founder Lee Anderson.
The festival will also include four industry panels on Friday, including a new screenwriting panel. Other panels include one on distribution, one on producing and one on making a movie in Maryland.
People can also attend coffee talks at Rams Head On Stage, where each morning, they can enjoy a continental breakfast and curated and hosted conversations with unannounced guests from the film industry. The audience will have the chance to interact with those guests and ask questions about how they got where they are.
On Saturday morning, aspiring filmmakers can join the festival’s live pitch competition, where judges from the industry attend and five lucky finalists get to pitch their ideas for a short film. The winner wins a package worth about $30,000 that will help them produce their short film, to be shown at next year’s festival.
“These are some really terrific independent films being shown here that otherwise you’re not going to get to see,” White said.
Anderson added, “This festival is one of the highlights of living in Annapolis, Maryland, now. If you haven’t been to the festival, try it … anyone can come.”
To purchase tickets, see the slated films, and learn more, visit www.annapolisfilmfestival.com.
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here