The New/Next Film Festival's second-year lineup will bring multiple world premieres to Baltimore next month when it graces screens at The Charles Theatre in Station North from Oct. 3 through Oct. 6.
The world premiere of New York filmmaker Alexi Wasser's "Messy" -- described in a news release as a "neurotic sex comedy romp about a promiscuous love addict named Stella," played by Wasser -- will kick off the festival on opening night.
The screening will be Wasser's feature film directorial debut and will be followed by a party at The Metro Gallery with The Ion Pack's KJ Rothweiler and Curtis Everett Pawley, podcasters who play supporting roles in the film.
The festival presented by Baltimore Public Media will also feature world premieres of Jinho Myung's "Softshell," a Thai-American sibling dramedy, and "Removal of the Eye," a dark comedy by Prashanth Kamalakanthan and Artemis Shaw, according to a Monday news release.
There will be U.S. festival premieres of Eugene Kotlyarenko's romantic comedy called "The Code," an American Dream documentary titled "The Dells" by Nellie Kluz and a comedy noir from Neal Wynne, "The Trick."
"All of these premieres are thrilling discoveries in different ways," New/Next co-founder and director of programming Eric Allen Hatch said in the Monday announcement. "All are truly independent, exceptionally crafted projects, each with their own unique approach to aesthetic, genre, and form."
The New/Next festival got its start in 2023 after the Maryland Film Festival's announcement the previous year that it would postpone its annual event until 2024.
The Maryland Film Festival indeed returned, and the New/Next Film Festival is coming back for a "bigger and even better" second year, Hatch said in April. Hatch was formerly the director of programming for the Maryland Film Festival.
In addition to world and U.S. festival premieres, the New/Next lineup includes films such as Crystal Moselle and Derrick B. Harden's "The Black Sea," which premiered at South by Southwest; the Cannes-premiered thriller "Gazer," from director Ryan J. Sloan and co-writer and star Ariella Mastroianni; and a narrative feature called "Jimmy," by Yashaddai Owens, about James Baldwin's early travels outside of the country, which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival.
The film festival's daily screening schedule has not yet been released, but all-access passes are available online and cost $175 ($150 for WTMD and WYPR members). Tickets are also on sale for the opening night screening of "Messy," the opening night screening plus party, and a revival screening of Gabriel Axel's 1987 film "Babette's Feast."