Photo of Skizz Cyzyk,left, and Joe Tropea at the Democracy Now TV studio in New York City, getting ready to shoot Amy Goodman for 'Hit and Stay'; courtesy, Skizz Cycyk
Fans who packed the Creative Alliance a couple of months ago for "Going All Pro," Charles S. Cohen's portrait of legenday Camden Yards vendor "Fancy Clancy," could have caught an advance glimpse of it several years ago at a Maryland Film Festival "work in progress" screening.
This year the Wind-Up Space (12 W. North Avenue), on Saturday at 3 p.m., will host a two-hour slate of works in progress, including "Recipe for Change," a documentary about bringing the sustainable food movement into the Baltimore City school system; cinematographer Richard Chisolm will explain it all for you. Also on the bill is "VACATION!," whose director, Zach Clarke, will desconstruct what he means when he calls it "An existential beach party about life, death, sex, drugs... ."
But the four Skizz Cyzyk pieces set for this show on Saturday are of special interest to longtime MFF-goers. He served as Programming Manager for nine years (he stepped down in 2009) and was an omnipresent force during actual festival weekends. Audiences got to know him through his gracious, humorous and knowledgeable introductions. He stuck to a self-imposed rule of never putting his own films into the hometown festival. So they never got to know his films.
Until now.
Festival 2010 presents Skizz Cyzyk Filmmaker, Unleashed.
Skizz' works in progress, as outlined by Skizz, are:
1. "An extended trailer for 'Icepick to the Moon,' a feature-length documentary about Rev. Fred Lane, an obscure musician who became the frontman for an outrageous artists collective in mid-70s Alabama." (This has been in progress since 1999).
2. "An extended trailer for 'Hit & Stay,' a feature-length documentary co-directed with Joe Tropea, about the influence the Catonsville Nine has had on the anti-war movement."
3. "Scenes from 'Freaks in Love,' a feature-length documentary co-directed with David Koslowski, about how the band Alice Donut has navigated the ever-changing underground rock world for the past quarter century."
4. "An animated music video for The Jennifers' song, 'Well Intentioned World.' "