Takoma Park's 'Age-Defying' Festival

Friday, November 18, 2005; Page WE48

LIKE TOWN, like festival: Press materials for the fourth annual Takoma Park Film Festival refer to it as "age-defying, non-conformist and radically creative" -- an apt description of Takoma Park itself. Accordingly, Friday through Sunday, the festival will screen a hodgepodge of films, from quirky comedies to more serious works, from documentaries about local history to animated shorts for and by local children.

"The film festival committee decorated my green pickup truck for Takoma Park's famous Fourth of July parade and distributed 1,500 fliers requesting film submissions," says the festival's communications director, Jeannine Mjoseth, speaking of how the movies -- more than 50, ranging from 10 seconds to 101 minutes -- were chosen. "We received more than twice as many submissions as we have in years past and won second prize for a themed float in the parade." All the films, Mjoseth adds, are "made by people who live, work or consider Takoma Park their spiritual homeland."

On opening night, the festival will screen two short films as well as Michael Horelick's coming-of-age story, "Pee Stains and Other Disasters," about two teenage boys' quest for girls and skateboard glory. (Note: The full-length feature contains nudity, sex scenes and profanity.) Parents looking for kid-friendly fare can head to "Future Filmmakers of America" on Saturday afternoon, when a long roster of shorts -- some just a few seconds long -- will feature wacky animated stories about robots, aliens, break dancers and more. Highlights include brief films by third- and fourth-graders from Friends Community School in College Park, whose art teacher, Laurie Stepp, will give a demo on stop-motion animation. Then sit back and enjoy such irresistibly titled fare as "The Duckbilled Aliens From McDonalds."

That evening you can see "Generation Engaged," which Mjoseth calls "a program of films with an activist voice." Then local history will be examined in four documentaries, including "Duel: Hamilton Versus Burr," by Lynn Falcon, actor Richard Dreyfuss and Chris Intagliata. The film was produced by Dreyfuss's Takoma Park production company, Illumine.

Sunday puts local activists, artists and athletes in the spotlight with the festival's final program, "Committed." Mjoseth describes the collection of films as being "about interesting, sometimes idiosyncratic, characters both real and fictional."

The Takoma Park Film Festival is at the Takoma Park City Council Chambers (next to the library) at 7500 Maple Ave. The opening-night screening is Friday at 8; "Future Filmmakers of America" is Saturday at 2; "Generation Engaged," Saturday at 7; "Landmarks Reborn," Saturday at 9; "Committed," Sunday at 2. Free; for information, call 301-891-7259 or visit http://www.takomaparkfilmfestival.org .