Bethesda Film Fest

Bethesda Film Fest

Apr 4
Apr 5
Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema, 7235 Woodmont Avenue
7pm

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District announces the 2025 Bethesda Film Fest.  Six short documentary films were selected from the esteemed panel of judges. The screenings will be held at 7pm on Friday, April 4th; and 7pm on Saturday, April 5th. All films are shown at both screenings, and are followed by a discussion with the filmmakers. Tickets are $15.

2025 Selected Films

Back to the Sky

Film by Amin El Siwi • 13 minutes

Back to the Sky delves into the extraordinary journey of Suzanne Shoemaker, a dedicated licensed falconer whose passion for raptors has reshaped her life and home. In suburban Maryland, Suzanne transferred her basement and backyard into a thriving sanctuary for injured and displaced birds of prey.

Director Biography

Amin El Siwi is an Egyptian filmmaker based in Washington, D.C. He has a Master’s Degree in Film and Media production from American University in Washington, D.C. Currently, he works as a multimedia producer for the World Bank Group in the communications department with a focus on the Middle East and North of Africa. In 2015, he moved from Egypt to Washington, D.C. to work as a producer for the Middle East Broadcasting Networks. In 2019, he won the People’s Voice Webby Award for a short documentary titled Rukiye. Between 2013 and 2015, he worked as assistant producer and assistant director in independent feature films and documentaries in Egypt.

Black Printmakers of Washington, DC: Percy B. Martin & Michael B. Platt

Film by Susan Goldman • 26 minutes

Washington, D.C. has a rich history of Black-owned printmaking workshops where artists thrived and formed community. Printmakers Percy Martin and Michael Platt participated in political movements and had a large impact on American art and arts education. Their story is part of a larger history. Before the 1970’s, Black artists had few opportunities to own their own studios and showcase their art, but the Civil Rights Act of 1964 expanded the number of Black owned businesses. Martin founded WD Printmaking Workshop while Platt established Platt Studios. These studios embraced a steady flow of emerging and established artists. During a time when Black artists were denied access to the city’s galleries, museums and universities, Percy and Michael offered places where Black artists formed community, shared ideas, exhibited their work and made prints.

Director Biography

Susan J. Goldman is an artist, master printmaker, curator, writer and filmmaker. Goldman is the Founding Director of Lily Press, located in Rockville, MD. She is also Founding Director of Printmaking Legacy Project, a non-profit dedicated to the documentation, preservation and conservation of printmaking practice and history. Goldman received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Indiana University, and Master of Fine Arts from Arizona State University. After moving to Washington, D.C. in 1990, Goldman taught printmaking at the Corcoran College of Art and Design, MICA, Georgetown University, and was Master Printer/Program Director at Pyramid Atlantic. Goldman sustains a full-time vibrant studio practice producing and exhibiting her own work nationally and internationally. Her work is in private and public collections worldwide.

DelMar

Film by Lucy Morales Carlisle • 15 minutes

A young surfer on the cusp of adulthood navigates life between two worlds. Brenda spent the majority of her life in El Zonte, El Salvador, a rural beach town famous for its surf. Brenda began competing at the age of 15 and quickly rose through the ranks locally, making her dreams of traveling and surfing around the world seemingly more attainable. In 2017, however, Brenda moved to Maryland, a state not known for its beaches nor its perfect waves, to reunite with her mother, whom she had never met. Brenda now has to figure out how to navigate the two worlds. Back home in El Zonte, she’s a respected surfer who is part of a larger community; in Maryland, she is just another immigrant to the United States.

Director Biography

Lucy Morales Carlisle received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts and a Master of Fine Arts in Media Arts from The City College of New York. As an immigrant displaced by the Salvadoran Civil War, her work deals with themes of identity and isolation, alternate universes and the manipulation of time and space. She won a PanoNetwork Micro Grant for post-production services, Best Experimental film at the CUNY Film Festival in 2015, and a Webby in 2019 for Best Social Food Video. She wishes to tell stories concurrent with the Latinx diaspora, focusing on women and culture.

Dora Fugh Lee: A Life in Art

Film by E. Samantha Cheng • 27 minutes

Visual artist Dora Fugh Lee was born in 1929 to a Manchurian Chinese noble family in Beijing, China. Dora is a direct descendant of Empress Xiaoxianchun of the Fuca clan. She grew up during extraordinarily tumultuous times in China’s history: fallout from the abdication of the last Emperor, two invasions by the Empire of Japanese, World War I, and the civil war between Chinese Nationalists and the Communist Party. Through a personal lens, Dora’s life is explored as her art developed and reveals why her works are so compelling. Trained by many of the great artists of China, Dora is often referred to as one of the last of the Chinese Literati Painters. This film reveals a unique Chinese and American story.

Producer Biography

E. Samantha Cheng is an American producer, director, writer, documentarian and journalist. She has devoted much of her career to raising the visibility of Asian Pacific Islander Americans, and women in technology and their contributions to United States history. Cheng is the president and co-founder of Heritage Series which specializes in educational programs about ethnic minorities in the United States. She owned and operated the multi-media company, Television Production Services (TPS), for 25 years. Ms. Cheng’s broadcast and media production spans over 40years. She has worked extensively both in the United States and throughout the world. Prior to establishing TPS in 1992, Ms. Cheng’s broadcast credits include: World News Tonight, ABC Weekend News, ABC This Week with David Brinkley, ABC Nightline, and Maryland Public Broadcasting.

Monument

Film by Jeremy Drummond • 17 minutes

Monument pairs hand-processed and chemically-altered Super 8mm film footage of the decaying monuments of Presidents Park in Croaker, VA with original and appropriated community video footage captured at Marcus-David Peters Circle in Richmond, VA during the Covid-19 pandemic and the George Floyd/Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. Themes of registration and re-calibration, and metaphor and analogy, are explored through form and content and the distinct features of the media employed.

Director Biography

Jeremy Drummond is an artist, filmmaker, and programmer who teaches experimental film, video art, and alternative media in the Department of Art & Art History, University of Richmond. Drummond’s work has been exhibited in festivals, galleries and museums worldwide. His films and videos have received awards such as the National Film Board of Canada Award at the Images Festival of Independent Film, Video and New Media (Toronto), Best Experimental Video at the Chicago Lesbian & Gay International Film Festival, the People’s Choice Award at the New Forms Festival (Vancouver), and the No Budget Award at the Cinematexas Festival of International Film & Video (Austin). He has received grants and fellowships from the Canada Council for the Arts, the National Film Board of Canada and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Moon Crab

Film by Leah Claire Michaels • 10 minutes

Moon Crab is a meditation on the horseshoe crab, one of Earth’s oldest living species now struggling with extreme population decline. Blending reflections on nature’s cycles with experimental visuals, the film employs an array of techniques, including eco-processed film developed with seaweed, to immerse the viewer in the crab’s subaquatic world. Narrated with intimate depth by physiologist Dr. Abner Lall, the filmmaker’s neighbor, this documentary captures a timeless story of resilience and fragility, urging us to reconsider our connection to the natural world. 

Director Biography

Leah Clare Michaels is a Baltimore native, artist, activist, historian, writer and surfer. She has produced documentary films, multi-media installations, and performance art rooted in historical research, social justice, and cultural exchange. Michaels has taught and presented in the United States, Europe and Asia. Her written work has appeared in BmoreArt, UMBC Magazine, and the Debutante Journal based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She teaches film, media art, and cinema studies at Towson University and Anne Arundel Community College. She was awarded a Fulbright grant to Poland for the 2023-2024 academic year. She received a Bachelor of Arts in History with a focus in Classics from the University of Washington in Seattle in 2012 and a Master of Fine Arts in Intermedia and Digital Arts from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County in 2019.

Jury

Samirah Alikassim

Samirah Alkassim is an experimental documentary filmmaker and Assistant Professor of Film Theory at George Mason University. She has taught film studies and film/video production at a range of institutions of higher education in Singapore, Egypt, and the United States. She is the co-editor of the Palgrave Studies in Arab Cinema and her publications include the co-authored book The Cinema of Muhammad Malas, contributions to Cinema of the Arab World: Contemporary Directions in Theory and Practice, the Historical Dictionary of Middle Eastern Cinema, 2nd Edition, as well as chapters in Refocus: The Films of Jocelyne Saab, Gaza on Screen, and an anthology text book Global Horror: Hybridity and Alterity in Transnational Horror Film which she co-edited. She is currently editing a documentary about Jordanian artist Hani Hourani and researching for her book, A Journey of Screens in 21st Century Arab Film and Media.

Johnny Holder

Johnny Holder is an award-winning filmmaker who has worked with a variety of organizations including NASA and National Geographic. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Geography and an Master of Fine Arts in Science and Natural History Filmmaking from Montana State University, after serving for eight years in Army Special Operations. He focuses on inclusive and humanizing storytelling that explores humans’ relationship to the environment and was selected for fellowships with Jackson Wild and the International Wildlife Film Festival. His most recent short film, Sonora, was made with Juan Pablo in Colombia. The film has received over 20 official selections, and won nine awards from some of the top festivals in the industry including Jackson Wild’s Special Jury Award for Diversity and Inclusion.

H. Paul Moon

H. Paul Moon is a filmmaker whose works concentrate on the performing arts. Films include Sitka: A Piano Documentary about the craftsmanship of Steinway pianos, Quartet for the End of Time about Olivier Messiaen’s transcendent WWII composition, and an acclaimed feature film about the life and music of American composer Samuel Barber that premiered on PBS. Moon has created music videos and opera films for composers ranging from Handel to Moondog, and is currently finishing documentaries about Western poetry, music legends and U.S. history. His films have been screened to live audiences at over 200 film festivals around the world, with several awards and museum exhibitions. Highlights include works featured at the Nevada Museum of Art and the City Museum of New York, PBS television broadcasts, and best of show awards in over a dozen international film festivals.

Tickets

The 13th annual Bethesda Film Fest will feature six short documentaries by regional filmmakers. The screenings will be held at Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema located at 7235 Woodmont Avenue in downtown Bethesda.  All films are shown at both screenings, and are followed by a discussion with the filmmakers. Tickets are $15.  All ticket sales are final. There are no refunds. Parking is available adjacent to the theatre.

Friday, April 4 at 7pm – Online ticket sales for Friday, April 4th will close at 3pm that day, and resume at 6pm at Landmark’s Bethesda Row Cinema.
Saturday, April 5 at 7pm – SOLD OUT

Sponsors

We also thank our community sponsors for their support:

  • The Jane Fairweather Team 
  • Arlene Begelman 
  • The Donohoe Companies 
  • The Jane Fairweather Team 
  • Bethesda-Chevy Chase Regional Services Center
  • Bethesda Row
  • Bonnie Fogel 
  • The Greenhill Companies 
  • Robert Hebda 
  • Amy Kaslow Gallery 
  • Lerch, Early and Brewer 
  • Robin Sherman
  • Wendy Susswein

2025 Application

The Bethesda Arts & Entertainment District invites filmmakers to submit recent short documentary films to the Bethesda Film Fest.  The deadline to apply is January 10, 2025.

Eligibility

Up to five films will be selected to be shown. A film by a young filmmaker, under the age of 18, may also be chosen. Filmmakers whose films are selected will receive an honorarium of $1,000. Young filmmakers will receive a $250 honorarium. Short (5-30 minutes), documentary films by filmmakers in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. will be considered. Films must have been completed within the last two years. All topics are eligible. Filmmakers chosen for the 2024 festival are not eligible and may submit again for the 2026 festival.

Filmmakers are required to attend the film festival screening and speak about their work.

Deadline

All entries must be submitted by Friday, January 10, 2025. Notification of the selection panel’s decision will be sent in mid February. The selection panel will choose up to five documentaries to screen at the Bethesda Film Fest.

Submission Guidelines

  • Filmmakers must be current residents of Maryland, Virginia or the District of Columbia.
  • Films must be between 5 and 30 minutes in length.
  • Films must have been completed within the last two years.
  • Filmmakers may only submit one film for consideration
  • Filmmakers chosen for the 2024 festival are not eligible
  • Films with non-English dialogue must be submitted with English subtitles.

Deadline

  • All entries must be received by January 10, 2025.
  • There is a $25 entry fee. Filmmakers under the age of 18 do not have an entry fee.
  • Entries may be submitted online.

Rights

The Bethesda Film Fest will not be held responsible if copyrighted materials or unauthorized materials are included in the film. It is the sole responsibility of the applicant to secure proper permission from the copyright holder of music, stock footage, or any other material which could violate another entity’s copyright or exclusive use of the material.

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