Blogging for the Annapolis Film Festival 2015

I’m absolutely thrilled to have been asked to be one of the bloggers for the upcoming Annapolis Film Festival scheduled for March. Having returned to the Annapolis area after residing in Baltimore and then Ellicott City for many years, it is my pleasure to promote such a worthwhile event. Likewise, my first novel entitled “Beneath the Mimosa Tree,” was set in my hometown, where I set out to glorify our beautiful city of Annapolis. In short, I have a love affair with our city, and am happy to do anything I can to help promote it.

Therefore, there is no better way to pay homage to Annapolis than to participate in or attend its annual Film Festival.

Film is such a powerful medium. It has the ability to transport us and transform us. Like books, film can whisk us away to places where we can assimilate or understand people and cultures and places. There is nothing I like better than to turn my brain off and then back on again as I prepare to get lost in a film. For what is film but storytelling through moving images with characters and setting and dialog. Film’s very core is its chance to engage you and envelop you in plot—perhaps one that feels similar to something you’ve experienced, or one that is so foreign to you that you can’t help but become mesmerized by it. Whether it’s a short film or a longer one, it’s transcendent, and the entire experience is worthwhile.

I distinctly remember seeing my first “film” in a movie theater. My mother brought me as a five-year-old to see “The Wizard of Oz” when it was re-released in the early 1970s. There I sat in the first row, that tornado and green witch larger than life, and that was it for me. I may not have known it as kid, but movies were always going to be a part of my life. In a film class I took in college, Dr. Barry Moore at Towson University asked students to sit through classics like “Citizen Kane” starring Orson Wells and “The Kid” starring Charlie Chaplin. I learned a great deal about movies, and although I sometimes still watch them with a critical eye, the goal of viewing a movie is still the same for me now as it was when I was five: to be entertained.

I love that fact that Annapolis is bringing together talent and people who appreciate film. Movies are an integral part of our culture, and the best ones are still those that leave an impact on us, whether small or large. I can’t imagine my life without movies, and I can’t wait to see what the Annapolis Film Festival has in store for us in March.