The SNF Parkway Theatre in Baltimore, which is home to the annual Maryland Film Festival, is one of seven venues across the country that will screen films from the 2022 Sundance Film Festival in person this weekend.
The theatre was part of the inaugural year of the Sundance Institute’s Satellite Screens program in 2021, during which 30 venues across the United States screened films from the festival.
This year, just seven independently owned, U.S. arthouse cinemas, including the SNF Parkway Theatre, will screen films this weekend, the final weekend of the festival.
Those sites will also be the only places where festival audiences can watch the films in person as the Sundance Film Festival is being held virtually this year, instead of at its traditional in-person festival in Park City, Utah, due to the omicron-fueled COVID-19 surge.
Christy LeMasters, artistic director at the SNF Parkway Theatre, praised Sundance for allowing audiences to continue enjoying Sundance Film Festival films in person through the Satellite Screens partnership.
“The pandemic has just really made it harder for us to have these experiences,” they said. “So for Sundance to pivot in this way, in a way that generously shares their programs with sites around the country, I think it’s a really innovative and smart way of making sure that there can still be an in-person space.”
In addition to the SNF Parkway Theatre, the six other Satellite Screen theaters include the Amherst Cinema in Amherst, Mass.; a/perture cinema in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Indie Memphis in Memphis, Tenn.; mama.film in Wichita, Kans.; Media Arts Center of San Diego/Digital Gym in San Diego, Calif.; and Northwest Film Forum in Seattle, Wash.
Tickets can be purchased for any of the screenings on the SNF Parkway Theatre/Maryland Film Festival’s website.
The schedule for the Sundance films being screened at the SNF Parkway Theatre includes:
Friday, Jan. 28
6 p.m. – “Sirens,” directed by Rita Baghdadi
9:30 p.m. – “Alice,” directed by Krystin Ver Linden
Saturday, Jan. 29
3:30 p.m. – “Free Chol Soo Lee,” directed by Eugene Yi and Julie Ha
6:30 p.m. – “Every Day in Kaimukī,” directed by Alika Tengan
9:30 p.m. – “Emergency,” directed by Carey Williams
Sunday, Jan. 30
1 p.m. – “Marte Um (Mars One)“, directed by Gabriel Martins
4 p.m. – “Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul,” directed by Adamma Ebo
7 p.m. – “La Guerra Civil,” directed by Eva Longoria Bastón
“Truly all eight movies in the weekend are great,” LeMasters said.
One highlight for LeMasters is the documentary “Sirens,” which follows a metal band composed entirely of young women in Beirut.
“How they come together creatively, how they find a way to share their work in the environment they’re in, it’s really a wonderful portrait of young women,” they said. “It’s also a wonderful portrait of artistic collaboration, and it’s just got a lot of energy and fun.”
Other films in the lineup that stand out for LeMasters are “Honk for Jesus, Save Your Soul,” a mockumentary-style short film starring actors Sterling Brown and Regina Hall as a pastor and first lady of a mega church attempting to recover from a lawsuit; “Emergency,” a dark comedy about three roommates – two Black men and one Latino man – who stop by their home on their way to a party only to find an unconscious white woman in their living room and have to figure out how to handle the situation; “Marte Um (Mars One),” which follows a lower-middle-class Black family of four in Brazil navigating life after the election of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro; and “Alice,” starring Keke Palmer as an enslaved woman who flees a Georgia plantation and discovers the year is 1973 when a Black activist named Frank (played by the rapper and actor Common) picks her up at the roadside.
Also in the lineup are “Free Chol Soo Lee,” which chronicles the movement to exonerate Korean American man Chol Soo Lee who was wrongfully convicted of the murder of a San Francisco gang leader; “Every Day in Kaimukī,” about a 20-something, Hawaiian skateboarder and radio show host who is preparing to move to New York with his girlfriend; and “La Guerra Civil,” about the fight between boxers Oscar De La Hoya and Julio César Chávez, and the line drawn between Mexican fans of the two athletes.
Before the screening of “Emergency,” the SNF Parkway Theatre will also show a 12-minute short film called “F^¢k ‘Em R!ght B@¢k,” LeMasters said. The film is about an aspiring rapper who accidentally eats a weed edible and then has to undergo a random drug test. The film was made in Baltimore and stars Baltimore rapper Emmanuel “DDm” Williams.
“DDm is such a wonderful performer and super hilarious in this film, and so we’re so, so excited to be sharing that short in front of ‘Emergency’ on Saturday night,” LeMasters said.
LeMasters added that Sundance Institute has also recorded Q&As with the filmmakers, which will also be available for viewing in person.
The SNF Parkway Theatre is requiring patrons to show proof of vaccination and to wear a mask at all times. The theatre has worked with health experts from the University of Maryland School of Medicine to develop COVID-19 safety protocols, including sanitation and air filtration.
When buying tickets for the screenings, audience members will be seated in a way that keeps them socially distanced from people who are not in their group, LeMasters said.
“It’s important to us that everybody feel like they have a safe and comfortable experience,” they said.
