Not Quite A Wrap

Works In Progress To Get Screening At Film Festival

Matthew Porterfield, whose Hamilton was one of the breakout hits of the 2006 Maryland Film Festival, hasn't finished his next film yet - in fact, all he has is some test and audition footage. But he's bringing what he has to this weekend's 11th annual festival anyway, unwilling to pass up any invitation to show his work - ny work - to a receptive audience.

"It's so tricky, trying to get films made right now," Porterfield said from New York, where he was busy doing pre-production work on the new film, to be called Metal Gods. "To be able to show anything to a potential audience, it's invaluable."

Porterfield isn't the only local filmmaker offering previews of coming work at the festival, which runs through Saturday at the Charles Theatre and environs. Kurt Kolaja, whose documentary on barn-moving and showing a healthy respect for the old ways, Charlie Obert's Barn, played the 2007 festival, will be back with some rough footage from his next film, Band Together. And Ramona Diaz, whose look at former Philippine first lady Imelda Marcos' shoe obsession, Imelda, played the 2004 festival, will be unveiling a few minutes from her next documentary, Don't Stop Believing: Everyman's Journey.

Festival head Jed Dietz says both the filmmakers and their audiences benefit from seeing and discussing such works-in-progress.

"Part of it is the value of just having filmmakers come back, which we love doing," Dietz says. "For them, as they show pieces of their work, before things are locked up, it will be valuable to get some reactions. Good filmmakers know how to absorb and sort through that feedback."

As for the audience, Dietz says, "It's always pretty exciting to get contact with the process of making this art. You don't get that access very often."

Porterfield, whose Hamilton enjoyed a brief and critically lauded run in New York, will be revisiting familiar territory with Metal Gods. As with the earlier film, shooting will be done in his hometown of Baltimore as well as in Essex, Dundalk and Middle River. And as with Hamilton, which looked at a teenage couple struggling with the responsibilities of adulthood, Porterfield's new script will deal with young adults looking for their place in a world for which they barely seem prepared.

"It's an ensemble piece about teenagers," he says. "It's just about kids finding passage, a tale of first love."