Charles Theatre

Two years ago, as if presciently planned, the Washington-based Post-Classical Ensemble took a fresh look at a 1939 documentary called The City that boasts a vivid score by Aaron Copland. The film, made by Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke and scripted by urban planner Lewis Mumford, examines the most unattractive aspects of modern metropolitan life and promotes an environmentally friendly, government-spearheaded alternative. This Great Depression-era product has now re-emerged on DVD by Naxos, with Post-Classical's freshly recorded soundtrack, just as the country is in the grip of the Great Recession and the air is full of talk about government projects, large-scale and green.

The Maryland Film Festival in Baltimore winds up today. Here are a few highlights from the program: 11 a.m.: Nosferatu (1922), Charles Theatre 1, 1711 N. Charles St. German master F.W. Murnau's superbly creepy, silent vampire movie set the ghoul standard. The Alloy Orchestra will augment it with its seductive, clangorous score. 11:30 a.m.: A Sense of Loss, MICA Brown Center, 1301 W. Mount Royal Ave. Marcel Ophuls' engulfing 1972 documentary about Northern Ireland rarely plays on the big screen.

Baltimore's arts and entertainment district's flea market is getting ready to open for business again. Starting Saturday, a parking lot opposite the Charles Theatre will be transformed into a one-stop shopping area for vintage clothing, jewelry, art and knickknacks. More than 50 vendors will participate in the Station North Flea Market every first Saturday of the month through October. Street performers and a DJ will entertain patrons as they shop. Maryland Institute College of Art teacher Sherwin Mark started the flea market last year Mark saw that his students, among others, were accumulating a lot of junk in the school's basement.

It's been a good year for Maryland in the movies, and for Baltimore movie fans in particular.Who didn't swell with pride when the locally filmed "Blair Witch Project" became a certified pop cultural phenomenon? Who didn't get a little rush from seeing Barry Levinson's latest loving depiction of his hometown in "Liberty Heights"? Who can't admit to a secret thrill spying Keanu Reeves in line at the Charles Theatre? (Reeves and Gene Hackman were in town filming "The Replacements.") Hey, even "Runaway Bride," not exactly a runaway hit at the box office, did well by the picturesque Eastern Shore hamlet of Berlin.

Some filmgoers view blaxploitation films as a nadir for African-Americans in cinema. Others realize that by employing black actors and technicians, the films of the '70s gave a generation of film professionals valuable training.Then there are those who love the genre for its campy, over-the-top action and un-intended humor. And no director embodied those values more flamboyantly than Jack Hill, whose classic films "Coffy" and "Foxy Brown" will play at the Charles Theatre Tuesday and Wednesday.

For a brief moment this summer, Baltimore filmgoers may have thought they were seeing things. The Charles Theatre, the venerable art house that had recently added four screens, was playing such big studio movies as "Summer of Sam," "South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut" and "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me."Meanwhile, the 17-screen General Cinema megaplex in Owings Mills was showing "Limbo," the latest low-budget feature from independent filmmaker John Sayles.Was there something wrong with this picture?

"Liberty Heights," Barry Levinson's new movie that was filmed in Baltimore last year, will have its premiere Sunday night at the Senator Theatre. The coming-of-age film, which portrays a young man grappling with race and religion in 1954 Baltimore, opens in theaters Nov. 19.Levinson, as well as members of the movie's cast, will be in attendance at the premiere, which will benefit Dr. John Mann of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Jewish Musuem of Maryland. Dr. Mann will donate his share of the benefit's proceedings to the Osler Scholars Endowment of Johns Hopkins.

Fear and filmmakers were the big attraction at a sold-out benefit screening of "The Blair Witch Project" at Baltimore's Charles Theatre. The filmed-in-Maryland fright flick certainly threw a scare into the audience members, but they loved every minute of it.(For more on the movie's fright quotient, see the "Around Town" item on this page.)After the screening, the movie's makers, Eduardo Sanchez and Daniel Myrick, chatted with the audience about how they created their hair-raising yarn. Then the 450 freaked-out film fans got back to a more rosy reality at a post-show reception.

Albert Maysles has never liked the term "cinema verite," even though he is credited with helping to invent it.Maysles, with his late brother David, used hand-held cameras, synchronous sound and no narration to create an intimate, urgent, occasionally frenetic style of filmmaking that came to be called "cinema verite" -- loosely translated as the cinema of truth. But Maysles has always preferred the term "direct cinema" to describe his work."People talk of the near-death experience as being so revelatory," said Albert Maysles from his Manhattan office during a phone conversation.

Krzysztof Kieslowski died too young, at 54, in 1996. By then, the Polish director already had made an international name for himself with films such as "The Double Life of Veronique" (1991) and the "Red," "White" and "Blue" trilogy of 1993 and 1994.But "Dekalog," a 10-part film series Kieslowski directed for Polish television, was what first brought the director to the attention of audiences and critics. And it has rarely been screened in theaters since it was broadcast in 1988. Kieslowski completists have been forced to watch the most significant work of his career on videotapes of limited scope and quality.

THURSDAY DAVID KELTZ: POE IN PERSON: The Edgar Allan Poe impersonator performs tales of the macabre all weekend at Theatre Project, 45 W. Preston St. The celebration starts at 8 tonight with performances of "The Black Cat," "The Cask of Amontillado," "The Tell-Tale Heart," "Annabel Lee" and "The Raven." Classic tales will also be performed at 3 p.m. Saturday. Other programs, "Beyond the Grave" and "Humor & Horror," are performed throughout the weekend. Single tickets are $10-$20. A three-play package is available for $20-$40.

SUNDAY SUNDAY IN THE COUNTRY: Darius Rucker of Hootie and the Blowfish comes to town without his Blowfish. Little Big Town, Zac Brown, Keith Anderson, Jason Michael Carroll, Trent Tomlinson and Love & Theft also perform at Merriweather Post Pavilion, 10475 Little Patuxent Pkwy., at noon. Tickets are $40-$75. Go to ticketmaster.com. LA BOHEME: The inspiration for "Rent" gets the cinematic opera treatment by Robert Dornhelm, starring Anna Netrebko as Mimi, Rolando Villazon as Rodolfo and Nicole Cabell as Musetta.

What's new Here are some of the newest offerings for Artscape 2009: Getting there: : This year, you can ride on over to the bike parking zone at Maryland Avenue between Oliver Street and Mount Royal Avenue to receive a free goody bag. A shuttle service that had been planned for this year has been postponed until 2010. ArtEscape VIP lounge: : Purchase an Artscape VIP credential for only $25 per day to score some shade, snacks, a view of the goings-on below and even a 10-minute massage to prepare you for the next exciting activity.

A record number of teams, 53 as of Friday afternoon, are out frantically making movies in and around Baltimore this weekend, part of the annual exercise in creative cinematic anarchy otherwise known as the 48-Hour Film Project. "There will be at least 500 people out on the streets," said Rob Hatch, project organizer for Baltimore. "If they're aiming something at you, it's just a camera." Under the competition's rules, teams of filmmakers have exactly 48 hours to make a film between four and seven minutes long.

Classic film screenings continue at the Senator Theatre this weekend with Carol Reed's magnificent The Third Man, starring Joseph Cotten as a pulp novelist visiting postwar Vienna, where he learns that his good friend, Harry Lime (Orson Welles), has died. Or has he? Gorgeous (Robert Krasker won an Oscar for his stark black-and-white cinematography) and witty, the 1949 movie includes a great monologue from one of the principals in which we learn the connection between Western morality and the cuckoo clock.

SUNDAY Vivaldi Project Concertos by Vivaldi and Bach will be performed in this program by the Vivaldi Project, featuring keyboard artists Andrew Willis and Joseph Gascho and violinist Elizabeth Field, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Baltimore Basilica, 409 Cathedral St. $10-$20. Call 410-385-2638 or go to andiemusiklive.com. Durufle Requiem The exquisite Requiem by Maurice Durufle, who was inspired by Gregorian chant, will be performed by the Central Presbyterian Chancel Choir and Orchestra at 3 p.m. at the church, 7308 York Road, Towson.

Though the full lineup has yet to be announced, this year's Maryland Film Festival will include plenty of favorite features from years past, according to director Jed Dietz. Keeping with tradition, it will kick off with an evening of short films. That's rare for any festival, Dietz said, let alone one of this size. "We're the only film festival anywhere that devotes its opening night to shorts," Dietz said. Filmmaker John Waters will again select a movie he likes and host a screening.

In the beginning, I brushed off the Metro Gallery. When the sparsely decorated art gallery and live-music venue opened across from the Charles Theatre in mid-2007, I didn't think it would last. It had no liquor license, it had sporadic hours and it occasionally played host to a smattering of local indie bands. Underground performance spaces and art galleries have a habit of closing as quickly as they open, and I didn't want to direct people to a place that might be shuttered in a couple of months.

Two years ago, as if presciently planned, the Washington-based Post-Classical Ensemble took a fresh look at a 1939 documentary called The City that boasts a vivid score by Aaron Copland. The film, made by Ralph Steiner and Willard Van Dyke and scripted by urban planner Lewis Mumford, examines the most unattractive aspects of modern metropolitan life and promotes an environmentally friendly, government-spearheaded alternative. This Great Depression-era product has now re-emerged on DVD by Naxos, with Post-Classical's freshly recorded soundtrack, just as the country is in the grip of the Great Recession and the air is full of talk about government projects, large-scale and green.

ARTS Cuba's art movement The contemporary art movement in Cuba will be the subject of a discussion and talk featuring curator Ana Joa and photographer Vince Gragg from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. Sunday at Galerie Myrtis, 2224 N. Charles St. The talk is held in connection with the current show at the gallery, Cuba: The Island and Its People, which runs through Jan. 11. Go to galeriemyrtis.com. FILM 'One Foot In the Grave' Boasting influences that range from the classic Hammer horror films featuring Christopher Lee to a pompous writing instructor, director Chris LaMartina, homegrown Baltimore horror specialist, has scheduled the debut of One Foot In the Grave tomorrow night at the Creative Alliance.