MicroCineFest

After 5 years of underground film screenings at The Mansion Theater (a now-defunct microcinema in the Waverly neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland), the time was right to launch an underground film festival. The inaugural MicroCineFest (MCF) took place at The Mansion Theater in the fall of 1997. Figuring other underground film festivals had already cornered the market on transgressive cinema, MCF quickly distinguished itself by focusing more on low-budget, off-beat, psychotronic fare. 1998 saw the festival move to two locations in the Fells Point area: the sadly-missed Orpheum Theater, and a second venue that became the Baltimore Tattoo Museum. In 1999, a new home was found at The G-**ot, an “audio-visual playground” housed in a Hampden area mill building. 8 editions of MCF took place at The G-**ot, with occasional events also happening around town at the Charles Theater, the Bengies Drive-In, the Coffee Mill, Mission Space, Wind Up Space, Ottobar, Creative Alliance and the American Visionary Art Museum. After the 10th MCF in 2006, the decision was made to discontinue the annual event. In the years since, the people responsible for MicroCineFest have continued to arrange occasional film screenings under the MicroCineFest name, including best-of and revival events, screenings of new work from festival alum, and Baltimore tour stops for admired filmmakers. Besides Baltimore, MCF has hosted film screenings in places like Liverpool, England; Park City, Utah; Atlanta, Georgia; Memphis, Tennessee; Cincinnati, Ohio; Washington, DC; Rockville, Maryland; Bend, Oregon; Arlington, Virginia; Frederick, Maryland; and Shepherdstown, West Virginia.