Frederick Film Festival Highlights International, Underscreened & Documentary Films

The Frederick Film Festival (the F3) has announced all the festival's selected films for the 2015 festival taking place in Downtown Frederick, Maryland on June 26-28. This year's F3 will highlight the short film with offerings of nearly 100 short films from 25 countries over the course of the festival! This year's festival will take place in three great venues: The Weinberg Center for the Arts, right around the corner on Court Street at the All Saints' Episcopal Church parish hall, and at the Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center.

While there will still be 10 feature films at this year's F3, the limelight has been cast on the short film for this year's festival. Short films have become a popular with audiences in the past few years due to the tight story-telling, varied themes, and enhanced production values the short form can provide. The shorter running time also allows viewers to enjoy more films! Short films will be divided into blocks of films throughout the festival so festival-goers can drop in the multiple venues throughout the weekend.

More than 25 countries are represented in the films selected for the 2015 Frederick Film Festival and many of these shorts and features are award winners and highly acclaimed. Special films on tap this year are the SXSW favorites "The Jones Family will Find a Way" and "Planetary." The F3 hopes to broaden the scope of the types of films that movie-goers in our region are offered with a festival that is truly international in spirit, not just in name.

In addition to the films, many film professionals will be attending in support of their films. "Salad Days" director Scott Crawford, "The Stressful Adventures of Boxhead and Roundhead" director Elliot Cowan, and "Southeast 67" director Betsy Cox are just a few of the filmmakers who will be making an appearance. A full list will be on the website as director travel plans are firmed up!

Saturday's programming includes a number of special presentations such as the F3 High School Filmmaker's competition in the morning at the Parish Hall. In the afternoon the F3, in cooperation with National Geographic magazine filmmakers, will present a collection of award-winning National Geographic short films. Filmmakers from National Geographic magazine will be on hand to introduce and talk about the films.

Sunday, as has been the case for the last few years, is Documentary Sunday. All films will be shown at the Delaplaine Visual Arts Education Center and will feature acclaimed documentary films from all around the world.

The F3 is never at a loss for musical entertainment and this year is no exception. In addition to regional favorites Hard Swimmin' Fish (playing our Opening Night Afterparty on June 26), the F3 is also hosting the F3 Blues Review with Bill Wax. Following the Saturday night showing of the film "America's Blues," former BBKing's Bluesville program director Bill Wax will host an evening of blues on the Weinberg stage. Featured blues artists will be Little Bit of Blues, The Big Boy Little Band, and Mary Shaver. The review is designed to highlight various different styles of blues music.

This year's Frederick Film Festival is the most ambitious festival yet. As the event heads into its 7th year, the F3 has proven consistently that every community deserves a great outlet for great film.

Tickets to the Frederick Film Festival are on sale now at the Weinberg Center for the Arts, and can be purchased in person, via phone at 301-600-2828, or online at WeinbergCenter.org.

THE OFFICIAL SELECTIONS

Feature Films (Documentary and Narrative):

• Route 30 Three - John Putch - US
• The Stressful Adventures of Boxhead & Roundhead - Elliot Cowan - US
• America's Blues - Patrick Branson - US
• Salad Days - Scott Crawford - US
• They Will Have to Kill Us First - Johanna Schwartz - UK
• Planetary - Guy Reid - US
• The Jones Family Will Make a Way - Alan Berg - US
• Southeast 67 - Betsy Cox - US
• Listening - Khalil Sullins - US
• Searching For Nepal - Phil Deutschle, Robyn Hutman - US

Short Films:

• Mit Besten Gruesse - Bernhard Wenger - Austria
• The Match - Kurt Spenrath - Canada
• The Healing Song - Deborah Libby - US
• Tony Windberg: A Painter in the Woods - Thomas Schumacher - Germany/Australia
• Alegria - A Humanitarian Expedition - Christoph von Toggenburg - Switzerland
• Outlook Not So Good - Andy Novak - US
• Think Ink - Wally Chung - US
• Romy, Ich bin Krank - Andreas Grützner - Germany
• 2O mètres d'amour à Montmartre - Pierre Gaffié - France
• The Dead Bird - Damian Overton - Australia
• Casitas - Javier Marco - Spain
• Bear Me - Kasia Wilk - Poland/Germany
• Religatio - Jaime Giraldo - Canada
• Umbra - Pedro Atienzar - US
• Ocean - Stephanie Maxwell - US
• A Way Out - Jason Tostevin - US
• Wallas on Velos - Alton Valadares - Belgium/India:
• Abaskun Eyes - Mahdi Saebi, Mohammad Tabarsa - Iran
• I've Just Had a Dream - Javi Navarro - Spain
• Infinite - Ryan Stratton - US
• The Illusion - Mohammad Reza Hanafi - Iran
• Red Point - Motahareh Ahmadpour - Iran
• The Blue Marble Of Joys And Sorrows - Paolo Pizzi - US
• Counsellor - Venetia Taylor - Australia
• Salomea's Nose - Susan Korda - US/Germany
• 55 Days - Patrick Mason - US
• Kiko's Paradise - Paco Gisbert, Ramon Alos, Paqui Ramirez - Spain
• YouTupolis - Wojciech Lorenc, Valentina Trevino - US
• Swan - Oleksandr Danylenko - Ukraine
• Face to Face - Chung Chuan - Taiwan
• La Trompeta (The Trumpet) - Andrés Nieves - Spain
• Ocule - Kris Ruff-Frederickson - Canada
• Sink in the Soil - Doug Stanford - US
• Une passion d'or et de feu (A Passion for Gold and Fire) - Sébastien Pins - Belgium
• España Is Different - Salvador Guerra - Spain
• Luke Spiller-The Struts - Christian Tama Roberts - UK
• Gutty - Seyed Sajad Moosavi - Iran
• Sneeze Freeze - Gabriel Borgetto - Germany
• The Things We Keep - Rosalie Miller - US
• The Treehouse - Amy Coop - UK
• Das, was Bleibt - Liv Scharbatke - Germany
• Renewing Mikael - Joonas Makkonen - Finland
• The Palace - Venetia Taylor - Australia
• Image - Yousef Jafary - Iran
• World Spins Madly On - Jeremy Jed Hammel - US
• NonCritical - Daniela Perez Frias, Kelsey Marsh - US
• La Semaine des 4 Jeudis (A Month of Sundays) - Franck Janin - France
• Mute - Johanna Thalmann - Germany
• Disenchanted - Matthew Myslinski - US
• Antoine - Cyrus Neshvad - Luxembourg
• Le Risque Zero (The Diminished Risk) - Philippe Lacoeuille - France
• Prinzip Mensch (The Human Principle) - Marco Gadge - Germany
• Impact - Jean-Pierre Michael - France
• Blinder Passagier (The Stowaway) - Maria Brendle - Switzerland
• Lovesick - Dago Schelin - Brazil/Germany
• MeTube: August sings Carmen Habanera - Daniel Moshel - Austria
• Si Lunchai - Hannes Rall - Germany/Singapore
• Passé composé (In the Past Tense) - Ted Hardy-Carnac - France
• Lumberjacked - Joel Mackenzie - Canada
• Lobster fra Diavolo - Oriana Oppice - US
• Le temps d'un tango (The Time of a Tango) - Frederic Hontschoote - France/Argentina
• Condo - Trevor Hardy - UK
• Eloïse, Little Dreamer - Myriam L. Obin - Canada
• We Got Your Back - Viktor Hertz - Sweden
• Rosso Papavero - Martin Smatana - Slovakia
• Matices (Shades) - Saul Masri - Mexico
• Golden - Dir: Kai Stänicke - Germany
• Zack & Luc - Dir: RW Gray - Canada
• Magda's Lesbian Lover - Dir: Will Moore - UK
• Obama is/and me - Dir: Stevan Lee Mraovitch - France
• UMBRA - Dir: Pedro Atienzar - US
• That's So Straight - Dir: Will Clements - Canada
• Growing Out - Dir: Andrew Walsh - Australia
• Strawberries - Dir: Jelena Lela Miloševi? - Montenegro
• Life of Silence - Dir: Cheng-Ru Ying - Taiwan
• Not Funny! - Dir: Katharina Woll - Germany
• Blut, Reis, und Tranen - Dir: Johannes Rosenstein - Germany

ABOUT THE FREDERICK FILM FESTIVAL
For more information, please visit TheF3.com or email info(at)frederickfilmfest(dot)com.

ABOUT THE WEINBERG CENTER FOR THE ARTS
The Weinberg Center for the Arts is one of the region's premier performing arts presenters, offering film, dance, music, theatre, and family-focused programming. Located in the historic Tivoli movie theater in downtown Frederick, Md., the Weinberg Center strives to ensure that the arts remain accessible and affordable to local and regional audiences alike. Weinberg Center events are made possible with major support from the City of Frederick, the Maryland State Arts Council, the Ausherman Family Foundation, and other corporate and individual donors.

Follow the Weinberg Center on social media for the latest news: Facebook.com/WeinbergCenterfortheArts and on Twitter at @WeinbergCenter.