Film Forum

The Baltimore Film Forum launches its Directors Showcase series in honor of Jean Renoir and John Ford tonight with the former's "The Crime of Mr. Lange" and tomorrow with the latter's "Grapes of Wrath." Both will be screened at 8 p.m. at the Baltimore Museum of Art's Meyerhoff Auditorium.A highlight of the series, Nov. 15, will be screening of a double feature of Renoir's "A Day in the Country" and Ford's "Stagecoach."Other Renoir films, screened Thursday nights, are: "The Grand Illusion," Nov. 29; "The Human Beast," Dec. 6; "Rules of the Game," Dec. 13. Other Ford films, presented Fridays are: "My Darling Clementine," Nov. 30; "The Searchers," Dec. 7; "The Last Hurrah," Dec. 14.Admission prices are $4 for Film Forum and BMA members, senior citizens and students, and $5 for the general public.

Acting on a hunch that Baltimore just might have enough cineastes to support an annual gathering, Jed Dietz in 1999 launched the Maryland Film Festival. Nine festivals later, Baltimore's early-spring celebration of all things cinematic is still going strong. It's not the world's biggest or flashiest, but with such unique touches as an opening-night shorts program and a film screening chosen and introduced by the incorrigibly decadent John Waters, it suits Baltimore just fine. Over four spring days, films and filmmakers from all over are brought to the five-screen Charles Theatre.

The Baltimore Film Forum will close out its 27-year history Friday with a screening of a restored print of Sam Peckinpah's classic 1969 western "The Wild Bunch." The screening is at 7:30 p.m. at the Baltimore Museum of Art."The Wild Bunch," starring William Holden and Ernest Borgnine, follows a group of aging American gunmen into the violent Mexico of 1913, where they become involved with a corrupt general. It climaxes in a shoot-out photographed in slow-motion that remains one of the most controversial movie sequences of all time.

George Udel, who almost single-handedly created the Baltimore film culture he was such a crucial fixture of, died yesterday. He was 69. Udel, who had fought heart disease for 20 years, succumbed to kidney failure at Union Memorial Hospital.At a time when Baltimore enjoys a bustling film culture -- with the Maryland Film Festival, a rejuvenated Charles Theatre, the Cinema Sundays series and countless other opportunities to screen rarely seen films -- it's easy to forget that when Udel became involved with the newly founded Baltimore Film Forum in 1969, local filmgoers had far fewer choices at their disposal.

Five films by French director Robert Bresson and five modern Latino films highlight the Baltimore Film Forum's Cutting Edge series that begins Thursday at the Baltimore Museum of Art's Meyerhoff Auditorium."

If this is Friday, it must be time for the Baltimore Film Forum to pitch a little Woo.Woo, John Woo. That is, the BFF has given the month of January and the day of Friday over to displaying the excessive, wild and crazy works of Hong Kong film director John Woo, the thinking man's answer to Sam Peckinpah.The series opened last Friday with the delirious "Hard-Boiled," and tonight it will be showing an earlier Woo from way back in 1986, called "Heroes Shed No Tears." This turns out not to be a gangster flick, upon which Woo has made his world reputation, but a war movie.

Helen W. Cyr, the president of the Baltimore Film Forum and a longtime advocate for the art of film, died July 12 of kidney failure at her home in Roland Park.Mrs. Cyr, 66, was also the chief of the Audio-Visual Department of the Enoch Pratt Free Library from 1972 until her retirement in 1988.This spring, she gave tough, passionate testimony before the City Council against a state recommendation that would have eviscerated the Pratt's collection of 16-mm films in favor of videotapes. Yet, under her guidance, the library expanded its collection to include videotapes and other visual material.

After 26 years of providing unusual and provocative fare for film lovers, the Baltimore Film Forum will close its doors -- and its screen in the Baltimore Museum of Art -- forever.Sadly, the greatest drama of its last year may have played off screen. Saddled with a $40,000 debt, controversy and ill feelings that have separated board from administration and a former director from the current director, the organization will dissolve as a corporation in late January."We just reached a point where it was no longer possible to operate," says Caroline Castro, a board member and the last director of the organization.

The Baltimore Film Forum has announced its lineup for the 26th annual Baltimore International Film Festival, which runs from April 5 through April 29 and boasts 22 films representing more than 15 countries."

Ten, count 'em. Ten. Years that is, logged in residence by the Baltimore Film Forum at the Baltimore Museum of Art. And in celebration of this decade of symbiosis the forum, which is 24 years old chronologically, will hold a little celebration at the museum at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday."

The Baltimore Film Forum will close out its 27-year history Friday with a screening of a restored print of Sam Peckinpah's classic 1969 western "The Wild Bunch." The screening is at 7:30 p.m. at the Baltimore Museum of Art."The Wild Bunch," starring William Holden and Ernest Borgnine, follows a group of aging American gunmen into the violent Mexico of 1913, where they become involved with a corrupt general. It climaxes in a shoot-out photographed in slow-motion that remains one of the most controversial movie sequences of all time.

IT'S THE LAST picture show all over again: After 26 years of enriching its hometown's movie scene, the Baltimore Film Forum has closed its doors forever.The reasons are many and complicated. Suffice to say the organization was deep in debt and decided it was no longer viable.The demise of the Baltimore Film Forum will sadden all those lovers of the silver screen who became accustomed to its annual film festivals in the Baltimore Museum of Art.Not all is lost, though.The film forum was created to fill a void caused by the closing of two early North Avenue cinema art houses, the 5 East and the 7 West.

Blue Cross chief won't share steakI could only feel betrayal after reading the Nov. 22 article, ''Blue Cross gave CEO 7.3 percent raise.'' This is the same company that, under the leadership of William L. Jews, is trying ++ to cut benefits to 300 former employees.These dedicated employees were promised a basic health/life insurance benefits package, since the company was trying to cut costs by eliminating certain positions. We kept our part of the agreement by retiring earlier than planned and were assured our benefits would be locked in, due to our mutual part.

Though it will end its 26-year life in January, the Baltimore Film Forum is going out in style. Tomorrow at 7 p.m., at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Forum will screen "Giant," the epic George Stevens film with Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean, in commemoration of World AIDS Day. Professor David Bergman, editor of "Men on Men," will discuss the significance of Hudson as the first major celebrity "outed" by AIDS.Admission is $4 for BMA and BFF members, seniors and students; $5 otherwise.

After 26 years of providing unusual and provocative fare for film lovers, the Baltimore Film Forum will close its doors -- and its screen in the Baltimore Museum of Art -- forever.Sadly, the greatest drama of its last year may have played off screen. Saddled with a $40,000 debt, controversy and ill feelings that have separated board from administration and a former director from the current director, the organization will dissolve as a corporation in late January."We just reached a point where it was no longer possible to operate," says Caroline Castro, a board member and the last director of the organization.

A single, sharp point of view can sometimes broaden everybody's vision. So contends the programmer behind "Independent Eye," a Maryland Public Television series premiering tonight that showcases the work of local filmmakers and videographers."

Jeff Schmale wasn't out to make the great American movie. He only wanted to make a little experimental film about two of his favorite obsessions. The rapid-fire editing scheme and mixture of live action and animation in his 51-second "Coffee/Cigarettes" gets across just how avidly he and his girlfriend indulge in these habits."

CHANG" leads you deeper and deeper into the jungles of Thailand like an old-fashioned storyteller with plenty of time to build suspense. No flashbacks or foreshadowing, no quick cuts or split screens mar this smoothly flowing tale of a Siamese frontiersman who sets out with his family to forge an independent and dangerous existence with the wild.Filmed in 1927, the silent film classic is as exciting as it was when New York audiences first saw its elephants stampede through its village. With a cast of 500 native hunters, 400 elephants, tigers, leopards and pythons, "Chang" was one of the first film triumphs of the legendary Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack, a pair better known now for a later movie, "King Kong.

Here is the schedule for the remaining films for the Baltimore Film Forum's 26th annual Baltimore International Film Festival.* "The Forbidden Quest" (Netherlands, 1993), tonight at 7:30* "Rhythm Thief" (United States, 1994), tonight at 9:30* Festival closing night, Maryland winners from the 1995 Independent Film and Video Makers' Competition, Sunday, April 7:30 p.m.Tickets are $6, $5 for BFF members, BMA members, seniors and students. They can be bought from the Film Forum or at the BMA box office.

Jeff Schmale wasn't out to make the great American movie. He only wanted to make a little experimental film about two of his favorite obsessions. The rapid-fire editing scheme and mixture of live action and animation in his 51-second "Coffee/Cigarettes" gets across just how avidly he and his girlfriend indulge in these habits."