Maryland Film Festival

May 10, 2013

The documentary Hit and Stay, screening tomorrow at the Maryland Film Festival, shows how the Vietnam War protest strategy of the Baltimore Four and Catonsville Nine spread around the country. We'll meet the filmmakers, Joe Tropea and Skizz Cyzyk.

May 3, 2013

The Maryland Film Festival WYPR Spotlight Series features screenings of films, followed by interviews with people involved with the film, or related to the movie's subject matter. Previous screenings have included Which Way Is The Front Line From Here? The Life And Time Of Tim Hetherington, a tribute to photojournalist Tim Hetherington, who was killed in Libya in 2011. 

Steve James, director of The Interrupters

Lucy Alibar, screenwriter of Beasts of the Southern Wild

Kurt Schmoke, former mayor of Baltimore

An agreement signed last month by the United Steelworkers Union has left 1600 Sparrows Point workers without health benefits or an active pension plan.  We talk with Baltimore Brew reporter Mark Reutter about how it happened so quickly--and what's next for the plant.

Then – On Sunday, the Found Footage Festival brings the best of the worst of VHS to the Creative Alliance. Nathan Sterner talks to festival co-founder Nick Prueher about what kind of bizarre and inadvertently hilarious footage lurks in the nation's thrift stores.

If Congress recesses Monday without acting on the Bush-era tax cuts and the ‘sequestration’ budget cuts, the nation will get dragged even closer to a ‘fiscal cliff.’ We ask two Baltimore Sun reporters what’s at stake for Maryland--particularly its defense industry--if that happens.

Then – The national unemployment numbers for July are just out.  A Towson University economic professor is here to discuss what it means for our regional economy … and the trend for jobs in Maryland. 

Jed Dietz of the Maryland Film Fesival and Mike Sragow of the Baltimore Sun team up with Tom Hall to bring you the latest on what's best on the silver screen.

Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake unveiled her Vacants to Value initiative in November 2010. The mayor’s goal is to rehabilitate more than 1,000 vacant buildings in targeted neighborhoods with program. Now, 18 months later after its launch, she joins us to talk about how far the program has come towards its goal.

It’s time for our annual rundown of the Maryland Film Festival

April 27th & 28th, 2012, on The Signal…

Ugandan multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Kinobe has toured the world, but he comes from a country where there’s no word for ‘music’ in the vocabulary.  We talk with Kinobe about the beauty of that paradox, and we hear the ancient sounds of the kora, the ndongo, and the akogo.

John Waters unveils his annual special-screening pick for the 2012 Maryland Film Festival, and Signal film critic Josh Slates drops in with an overview of the festival’s upcoming cinematic highlights.

Yesterday was the deadline for initial recommendations from a special state Senate committee on ethics reform. We’ll talk to the chair of that committee, Democratic State Senator Jamie Raskin, about potential changes in how Maryland’s legislators police themselves.

Not sure how to celebrate National Grammar Day? Let John McIntyre of the Baltimore Sun show you the way.

Post-Oscars punditry from Jed Dietz and Mike Sragow.

State’s Attorney Gregg Bernstein is employing a new community prosecution strategy in Baltimore. The idea is for prosecutors to become community liaisons who are better able to recognize criminal patterns.

Gus Sentementes of the Baltimore Sun and Nathan Sterner talk tech.

Our monthly movie segment with Dietz, Sragow and Hall!