THE RETRIEVER May 4, 2004 17 Features Maryland Film Festival 2004: a preview of the best picks

STEVE WILEY “LSD A Go Go.” Terri Edda Miller directs Retriever Weekly Staff Writer “Dysenchanted,” a comical deconstruction of fairy tales that features Cinderella, Sleeping This year marks the sixth annual Beauty, et al. in group therapy. Then comes Maryland Film Festival, a celebration for Matthew Modine’s bittersweet nostalgia movie buffs that trots out an assortment of “When I Was a Boy,” and Shawn Ku’s outra- unique works of art, few of which you would geous “musical necromance,” the 22-minute ever likely come across in your local megaplex “Pretty Dead Girl.” theater. Thursday, May 6 through Sunday, The rest of the weekend, most of the 80- May 9 will be a can’t-miss treat for anyone odd film screenings will be held in the five- seeking diverse delights for the senses. screen Charles Theater, with the exception of Moviegoers, here’s what to look forward to: Saturday night’s special showing of the surfing Opening night will kick off the festival documentary “Riding Giants” at Bengies with a “7 by 7 Shorts” Program, at The Drive-in Theater and seven events at MICA. Maryland College Institute of Art (MICA)’s Friday evening holds some surprises for Brown Center on Thursday starting at 8 p.m., fans of shock cinema. Baltimore’s own “auteur and followed by a party to initiate the fun and d’trash” John Waters, who last year introduced festivities. Highlights from the night will the notorious “Irreversible,” again shows why include “The Frank International Film he’s known as an expert in bad taste, with his Festival,” Bob Odenkirk’s (Mr. Show) trave- pick, the Viennese “Dog Days,” which is fol- Courtesy of airamericaradio.com logue in which he discovered “just how many lowed by the ultra-gory French thriller “High Leaning left: From top left, Al Franken and Katherine Lanpher of “The O’Franken Factor” and Lizz film festivals there are in this world. A lot!” Tension. Other focal points for the day may be Winstead, Chuck D, and Rachel Maddow of “Unfiltered.” Matthew Thomas’ “That Day,” Bill “Word Wars,” a documentary which promises Plympton’s animated “Guard Dog,” and Scott to do for Scrabble what “Spellbound” did for Calonico’s bizarre 10-minute documentary The left side of the dial: see FILM, page 23 liberal radio signs on

KYLE MAHANEY The star attraction of AAR is “The Retriever Weekly Staff Writer O’Franken Factor” hosted by comedy syco- phant and intellectual gadabout Al Somewhere between St. Augustine and Franken. He is joined by the charming Colonel Kurtz lies the temperament of the Katherine Lanpher, something of a celebri- majority of hosts on national talk radio. ty in the world of public radio, which By-and-large, they are conservative, blus- translates to precious little anywhere else. tery and extreme in their opinions. Is there Lanpher’s presence alongside Franken’s dry, an answer to this kind of quasi-magazine, informed wit make “The Factor” seem like shock-jock journalism? There is now. an NPR show, with perhaps the influence Air America Radio is a network of AM of a bottle of peach schnapps thrown in to stations dedicated to advancing liberal account for the on-air name-calling. ideals. Their immediate mission is to pro- Franken seems to be in this business vide an alternative to all those qualities so more to poke fun at conservatives than to despised in other talk radio hosts – except press any agenda of his own, as the title of of course the extreme opinions. the show indicates. He delights in bashing The founders of the network are a sur- blowhards through erudite analysis, quippy prisingly unremarkable lot of former execu- insights, and of course, childish voice tives from the standard handful of major impressions. The man is a worthy oppo- media companies such as AOL and NBC, nent to any conservative and his show is in addition to a wagon-load of smaller west perhaps the single greatest reason to tune in coast radio-station owners. As for the on- to AAR. air talent, AAR features an intriguing mix Another AAR show, “Unfiltered” is of hosts, from activist actors to members of hosted by the unlikely trio of Lizz the Manhattan upper crust to angry politi- Winstead, Rachel Maddow and Chuck D. Courtesy of savedmovie.com cal foot soldiers, all labeled under the blan- Talent from Campus: Saved!, one of the movies that will be shown at the MD Film Festival, is ket term “liberal.” see RADIO, page 20 written and directed by a UMBC alumnus, Brian Dannelly.