Filmmakers to Travel With Films to
Public Screenings Across the Mid Atlantic Region

Baltimore, MD – June 19, 2019 – Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation has announced the film lineup for the 2019-2020 season of the On Screen/In Person program. On Screen/In Person tours independent American filmmakers to communities across the mid-Atlantic region to screen their recent work and increase accessibility and appreciation for film through direct audience engagement. The 2019-2020 films include:

Badger Creek and The Thick Dark Fog
Director and Producer Jonathan Skurnik 
Badger Creek is the documentary portrait of a Blackfeet (Pikuni) family, the Mombergs, who live on the lower Blackfeet Reservation in Montana near the banks of Badger Creek. In addition to running a prosperous ranching business, they practice a traditional Blackfeet cultural lifestyle that sustains and nourishes them. The film takes us through a year in the life of the family, and through four seasons of the magnificent and traditional territory of the Pikuni Nation.

Walter Littlemoon was forced to attend a federal Indian boarding school in South Dakota sixty years ago, where any expression of native identity was met with beatings, humiliation, and abuse. After carrying this unresolved trauma into adulthood, Walter decided to write and publish his memoirs as a way to explain his past abusive behaviors to his estranged children. But dealing with the memories of his boarding school days nearly put an end to the project. The Thick Dark Fog tells the story of how Walter confronted his past so that he could heal himself and his community.

The Blood is at the Doorstep
Director Erik Ljung
On April 30, 2014, Dontre Hamilton, a black, unarmed man diagnosed with schizophrenia, was shot 14 times and killed by a Milwaukee police officer responding to a non-emergency wellness check. Filmed over the course of three years in the direct aftermath of Dontre’s death, The Blood is at the Doorstep is an intimate vérité documentary that follows his family as they struggle to find answers and challenge a criminal justice system stacked against them.

Detroit 48202: Conversations Along a Postal Route
Director Pamela Sporn
Detroit 48202: Conversations Along A Postal Route examines the rise, demise, and contested resurgence of the City of Detroit through the lens of African-American mail carrier, Wendell Watkins, and the committed community he faithfully served for thirty years. Though stories of resistance and resilience, Wendell’s customers share how they pushed back against racial segregation in housing and challenged disinvestment, proposing creative ways to re-imagine an inclusive, productive, and re-invigorated city.

The Interpreters
Co-Directors: Andrés Caballero and Sofian Khan
Iraqi and Afghan interpreters were key to the U.S. war effort, but now many face danger in their countries because of their work. The Interpreters follows the lives of a chain-smoking Iraqi codenamed “Phillip Morris” who was able to make it to the U.S. with the help of an American soldier, an Afghan called Malik who is still working as an active interpreter at the U.S. base in Kabul despite threats to his life, and an Afghan named Mujtaba who fled with his family as refugees to Turkey, as they work to rebuild their lives.

Pizza, A Love Story
Director Gorman Bechard
Most everyone has a passion for pizza, but only New Haven, CT, lays claim to the Holy Trinity of pizza joints with Sally’s, Pepe’s, and Modern. They are not only a cornerstone of New Haven’s Italian-American heritage but also the establishments that set the bar for this immediately recognizable comfort food. Pizza, A Love Story follows the evolution of the modern day food staple from old world Italy into present day New Haven. Just wait ’til you get a taste…

Risking Light
Producer Miranda Wilson
From the streets of Minneapolis, the aboriginal lands of Australia, and the killing fields of Cambodia, Risking Light is an exploration of resilience, and the painful process of moving from grief to compassion and forgiveness. This powerful documentary challenges us to examine our own beliefs about forgiveness and asks “What would the world look like if we could learn to forgive one another?”

Regional nonprofit venues and arts organizations actively participate in the program by serving as host sites for the touring filmmakers through a partnership with Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation. The filmmakers will tour with their films to the venues for public screenings which include question and answer sessions with the audience. Each filmmaker visit will also include a community engagement activity collaboratively developed by the filmmaker and local host site. 

The tour will travel to five venues in three states during fall 2019 and spring 2020. Host sites include: Atlas (Washington, DC), Appell Center for the Performing Arts (York, PA), BlackRock Center for the Arts (Germantown, MD), Millersville University of Pennsylvania – The Ware Center (Lancaster, PA), Reading Area Community College – Miller Center for the Arts (Reading, PA), Wayne Theatre (Waynesboro, VA) and The Z (Virginia Beach, VA). For a complete list of dates, times, locations, and other program activities, please contact the venues directly.

Please visit the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation website for film synopses, filmmaker biographies, and host site information.

Questions concerning On Screen/In Person should be directed to Kimberly Steinle-Super at kimberly@midatlanticarts.org.

On Screen/In Person is a program of Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation made possible through the generous support of the National Endowment for the Arts.

About Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation 
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation develops partnerships and programs that reinforce artists’ capacity to create and present work and advance access to and participation in the arts. The Foundation was created in 1979 and is a private non-profit organization that is closely allied with the region’s state arts councils and the National Endowment for the Arts. It combines funding from state and federal resources with private support from corporations, foundations, and individuals to address needs in the arts from a regional, national, and international perspective. To learn more about MAAF, its programs and services, visit our website at www.midatlanticarts.org.

Contact:
Karen Newell
Director, External Affairs
Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation
karen@midatlanticarts.org
410.539.6656 x104