The Reel Life of Josh

Filmmakers of the world unite!

Talking about movies is all I seem to do these days.  I’ve had to talk about it in class, write a paper on it, discuss it at job interviews for the summer, and, well, that’s all my friends and I do.  But recently there has been a lot of activity surrounding the Baltimore and Hopkins film community.

The Q&A at MFF

Maryland Film Fest was just a short 2 weeks ago.  This means the Station North area was packed with filmmakers from across the world, putting on a great display of films, workshops, and discussions.  It also meant time for the Putty Hill Maryland premiere.  For those who don’t know, I got the opportunity to work as a crew member on the feature film one of my professors, Matt Porterfield, shot last summer.  Well, at the premiere me and the friends that worked on set with me got the VIP treatment.  For a sold out screening, we got free tickets and moved up to the front of the line.  We were also invited up to the front with the rest of the cast and crew for the Q&A afterwards.

Last week, the Film Program threw a going away party for the seniors like they do every year.  Since the program is so small, they really go all out for these things.  There was incredible food courtesy of

Carlos after a good meal

Cafe Azafran (located in the Space Telescope building adjacent to campus).

I also spent lots and lots (and lots) of time at the DMC working on my short film.  Doing an independent study allowed me complete creative control to create a short film this semester under the guidance of one of my professors.

Each semester, the Film and Media Studies Program hosts a student showcase where work done in that semester’s film classes is screened for an audience of peers, family, friends, and faculty.  It gives students of every level an outlet to show their work.  Everything from Intro to Film Production’s 16mm 2 min. silent B&W shorts to more involved Senior Projects are shown.  I got to show my short second to last in the night followed by my good friend (and cinematographer) Carlos, who just finished up his senior project.  It was nice to have all my friends, professors, and much of the cast and crew there to check out something many of them had not seen anything from before.  (And it was also nice to get encouraging responses from them)

Professor + Karaoke = night well spent

After the screening, the night got pretty interesting.  2 of our professors invited a group of us out to dinner.  We went to The Dizz, a really great restaurant/bar a few blocks from campus.  After a fun dinner, we were actually invited with Matt to a party over at his friends’ house in Waverly.  (The concept seems weird when you initially picture a professor, but a lot of my professors are actually younger and I would consider some of them more like friends.)  One of his friends who hosted, Ben, is one of the Charm City Cakes guys (of Ace of Cakes fame)  so there were a few of the people from over there at the party.  It was incredibly fun and we even got to see Matt perform karaoke (singing Ginuwine’s “In Those Jeans”).

Maybe you too can come to Hopkins and witness such a feat!