This year’s Maryland Film Festival begins and ends with exhilarating, tender and bold offerings in a celebration of cinematic excellence and an exclusive look at what is coming next in independent moving image creation. Returning to the historic SNF Parkway Theatre from November 5–9, the 2025 edition opens and closes with stories that speak to Maryland’s creative spirit, its connection to a broader cinematic world and its inhabitants’ sense of inheritance, time and place.
For KJ Mohr, Director of MdFF, the Opening and Closing Night selections capture the essence of the festival’s mission: to highlight original voices, nurture emerging talent, and reflect the diversity of the region’s storytelling traditions.
“What I love about this year’s Opening and Closing Night Shorts programs,” Mohr says, “is that we were able to select standout works that we want everyone to see, films from artists doing important work that we want to highlight. The programs feature local filmmakers, alumni, and a real texture of formats: documentary, narrative, animation, experimental and episodic storytelling at its best.”
Opening Night: Celebrating Our Roots
The festival starts off right at home. The Opening Night selection, EXPIRATION DATE is about a Maryland farm family, and the film explores duty and inheritance, celebrating the landscapes and lives that define the region. “Every year we receive submissions from all over the state and the broader Mid-Atlantic region,” Mohr explains. “With our programming we are very deliberate about representing the state as a whole and the region in its entirety.”
Two of this year’s Opening Night filmmakers, Aurora Brachman (HOLD ME CLOSE) and Harris Doran (PORELESS), are MdFF alumni, returning with new works that celebrate queer lives and stories and trace the evolution of their creative journeys.
“These are two filmmakers we have watched grow throughout their careers,” Mohr says. “We’re excited about what they’re doing next.”
Opening Night also features THE SINGERS, a genre bending film about downtrodden men finding connection through unconventional means; THE ZOO, a story about a caged lion festering in anger and silence until an improbable friend helps him find his voice; and THE INCREDIBLE SENSATIONAL FIANCEE OF SEYI AJAYI, a wonderfully stylized film about a woman who plots spectacular revenge against her cheating fiancé.
Maryland Film Festival has long championed local storytelling, and the Opening Night program underscores MdFF’s unique position as both a launch pad and a creative home for regional filmmakers with universal resonance.
Closing Night: Looking Forward
The Closing Night lineup celebrates both the legacy and the future of MdFF, featuring artists who have defined the festival’s trajectory and those poised to shape its next chapter.
The festival closes out with the pilot episode of DENIM by TT the Artist, whose 2020 feature Baltimore Beneath the Beat became a festival favorite. The night starts with GYOPO, a film about a 10 year old violin prodigy who chases the American Dream with her brother and single mother. The film is directed by Christina Yr. Lim, an up-and-coming DMV-based filmmaker who creates work with a global vision. The Closing Night program also includes PHOEBE GETTING A COUCH, which features a young woman paralyzed by indecision on a quest to find a new couch; THE ENTERTAINER, a captivating film about an aging musician who is haunted by his past and future, featuring legendary Baltimore born performer André De Shields; THE SENTRY, a charming celebration and deconstruction of spy tropes set against the background of Cambodia’s stunning landscapes and directed by MdFF alum Jake Wachtel, whose feature Karmalink was screened at the 2022 festival; and MERCURY SOUNDS, an arresting Baltimore student film which explores music and inheritance through the story of a boy reflecting on his relationship to music before his DJ Set.
MERCURY SOUNDS seventeen year old creators, Writer/Director Ziggy Sayeed, Producer Micah Berger-Sollod and Assistant Director Lucy Garcia discussed their inspirations and experiences with the filmmaking process.
On his inspiration for the film, writer/director, Ziggy says, “I think it just came from thinking about my own grandfather. He had recently passed while I was writing, and a big part of our relationship was music. I was focused on what I was feeling at the time.”
He hopes the film inspires people to try new things and do the things that scare them. “I really want people to walk away with a good feeling. I want them to feel inspired to speak with their elders or talk to people who don’t seem very friendly at first, to find the courage to create whatever their own version of a DJ set is.”
Producer Micah echoes the sentiment. “I hope they feel energized. It starts with a lot of movement, so I hope people go away feeling like ‘I’m ready to do something, create something, I don’t just want to sit down, I want to go out and do something today.’”
Discussing their excitement about being included in the Maryland Film Festival, assistant director Lucy Garcia says, “I just think it’s cool ‘cause we were born and raised here and now we have created something that reaches the standard of the state film festival. It’s cool to say I’m from here, I made this, it was good enough to be in the festival. I can sort of rep’ that a little.”
The film is a testament to the city’s vibrant creative future. Discussing the selection and the director, KJ Mohr noted, “It’s from someone we see great things in and they haven’t even graduated from high school yet.”
“The Closing Night is really about celebrating filmmakers who have been festival staples while also looking to the future,” Mohr explains. “We are extremely mindful to include many different voices in programming decisions, so that it wasn’t just me as gatekeeper; we’re truly reflecting the voices of our community and of Maryland.”
An Event Built Around Joy and Connection
Festival Director KJ Mohr sees this year’s MdFF as affecting and timely, while also carrying a uniquely refreshing sense of lightness and connection.
“It’s always interesting what organically happens over months of programming,” she says. “This year, the stories that rose to the top are a little more lighthearted than usual. You can feel the moment we’re in, and this isn’t a year for really heavy difficult material with no connection to what we’re living through. There is definitely poignant, challenging work in the program, but it’s striking how much more humor, more community and more levity there is. I think we all need that.”
Mohr emphasizes the transformative nature of cinema and the sense of commonality and understanding that it can foster, especially in an increasingly divided world. She explains that the balance between compassion and escape is what makes cinema so vital. “For an hour or two you step into other people’s stories,” she says. “It’s not just escapism, it’s empathy and knowledge. Film allows you to be consumed by other people’s stories and understand fellow humans in a way that nothing else does.”
Both Opening & Closing Night Shorts programs will offer a variety of delicious food from some of the best local caterers, among them Alma Cocina, Koshary Corner, The Royal Blue, Taharka Bros. and Blue Pit BBQ, with specialty drinks courtesy of Los Hermanos Tequila. Beyond the screen, the Maryland Film Festival keeps the celebration and joy alive with parties, performances, and community gatherings. DJ Muse(o)Fire kicks off the Opening Night party at the Parkway on Wednesday, and DJ Flotussin spins Thursday night for an MdFF dance party at Royal Blue. Thursday night also features an afterparty at Fadensonnen, who additionally will host the MdFF Filmmaker Mixer for the second year in a row, on Friday at happy hour. Mama Koko’s hosts the party on Friday night, and a Q+ Sunset Happy Hour at Current Space on Saturday will be followed by a dance party later that night, featuring a DJ set with Girlypop Princess, as well as local drag performers including Mx Parkway, Fernette Branca.
From Maryland farm fields to the city’s dance floors, MdFF invites you to celebrate our home state in all its beauty and complexity. Come and experience jubilant observations rooted in community and creativity, honoring the past, reveling in the present and looking to the future.
For more details on the Opening & Closing Night programs and afterparties, visit the MdFF website for the full lineup, screening schedule and ticket information.
