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OPENING NIGHT WORLD PREMIERE Thursday,
May 3, 2001 6:30
p.m. 7:00
p.m. Celebratory Party at the Evergreen House following screening Following in the tradition of "uncommon exposures", the Maryland Film Festival 2001 will open with another once-in-a-lifetime film event with the World Premiere of Lynne Sachs' "Investigation of a Flame" on May 3, 2001 at the Historic Senator Theatre. In 1999, the Inaugural Festival opened with an extraordinary screening of Barry Levinson's never-before-seen documentary, "Diner Guys," which set the tone for future opening nights. In 2000, "King Gimp," fresh from its legendary Oscar win, was shown on opening night with the film's directors and its inspirational hero, Dan Keplinger, together for the only showing of its kind. This year's opening night film, "Investigation of a Flame," is a lyrical documentary based on the 1968 "Catonsville Nine" civil disobedience -- one of the most talked-about events of the Vietnam War era. Those involved in the film, including filmmaker Lynne Sachs, the convicted protestors, the prosecutor, and a jury member will be at the World Premiere, together for the first time since the Baltimore jury's verdict, to lead a post-screening discussion. The film's subject matter is extraordinary in that it demonstrates how this one small act of civil disobedience grew into a nationally-recognized event that brought thousands of people to Baltimore to show their support of the Catonsville Nine. It continued to grab the nation's attention with every network television station covering the trial on their evening broadcasts. Later on, a play was performed on Broadway called "The Trial of the Catonsville Nine." The Maryland Film Festival 2001 opening night attendees will have the unique opportunity to be the only ones to see "Investigation of a Flame" together with the films participants (listed below), most of whom are expected to attend:
Tickets are $50 per person, which includes the screening and the opening night party. A portion of the proceeds benefits Baltimore's Viva House and film preservation. Dress is festive. To RSVP for tickets, please call (410) 752-8083. Photos for "Investigation of a Flame" are available here. About "Investigation of a Flame" On May 17, 1968 nine Vietnam War protesters, including a nurse, an artist and three priests, walked into a Catonsville, Maryland draft board office, grabbed hundreds of Selective Service records and burned them with homemade napalm. "Investigation of a Flame" is an intimate documentary portrait of this disparate band of resisters who chose to break the law in a defiant, poetic act of civil disobedience. A series of informal, yet charged conversations with members of the group encourage viewers to ask their own questions about the relevance of such events today. Over the last two years, Sachs found, met and interviewed six of the seven living members of the Catonsville Nine. They are now in their late sixties, seventies and eighties. By allowing their contradictions, regrets and ambivalence to be revealed, her film also becomes a stage on which to explore the revelations and disappointments of aging. Sachs describes the film as "an anatomy of a moment." The film goes beyond the historical to the profoundly personal, by avoiding some of the traditional methods of documentary filmmaking. She has interviewed people on both sides of the issue who proudly defend their actions and although they have completely opposite positions, they talk about what happened with real understanding and respect for each other. Through it all, the film underscores how political action, no matter how historically important it becomes, always starts by touching a few people Investigation of a Flame" is supported with funding from the Maryland Humanities Council, the Maryland State Council on the Arts, the Puffin Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation |