Baltimore?s reel man, Barry Levinson, will return home Thursday for the 10th annual Maryland Film Festival.
Levinson will introduce an evening of shorts to kick off the celebration of cinema.
Why are you returning to the festival?
The festival is 10 years ofbringing people together to talk about film. And there?s nothing more exciting than an exchange of ideas. Out of those discussions comes an inspiration to do what someone else hasn?t tried before.
Do you think Baltimore still has a wealth of stories in it, or is it tapped out?
I don?t know how it could possibly be tapped out. It?s a question you would never ask about New York. … Any town or area can have an infinitesimal amount of stories. It depends on the people who come from that area and what they choose to write about. Some write about the town in the beginning of their careers and then move on ? a lot do. In the case of Baltimore, there seems to be a strong connection [to it], and people do write about it. There?s many, many stories about Baltimore that I would like to do but [am] never going to get to. I?d still like to do “66” in some time, the final “Diner” chapter.
Is there an aspect of your career the media often overlook?
I?ve been eclectic in the work. A lot of times, I talk to various people writing articles, and they don?t realize some of the movies I?ve done because they were so radically different from each other. They know I did the “Baltimore movies” but they forget I did “The Natural” or “Sleepers.”
