The 2026 Maryland Film Festival (MdFF) has announced its lineup for the April 8–12 event, promising more than 170 works, free programming, community discussions and events, and an expected attendance from 200 filmmakers. The national festival will be filled with local work and community cu lture, offering a mix of offerings to attendees. Some will be free and open to the public, and others will require tickets. The five-day festival is anchored at the historic SNF Parkway Theater in Baltimore’s Station North District with events also taking place at the Fred Lazarus IV Center at MICA and Current Space on North Howard Street. There will be Opening and Closing Night celebrations, live performances, filmmaker conversations, films by local students, repertory screenings, and programs aimed at showcasing the creative range of MdFF. “We’re thrilled to offer an extraordinary program for 2026, full of powerful docs, entertaining narratives and so many fantastic short films,” said KJ Mohr, director of MdFF and film programming at the SNF Parkway Theatre, in a statement. “We have some great parties and stellar entertainers in store, too, as our audiences have come to expect.” “Being part of the Maryland Film Festival is as easy as seeing one film–you don’t have to be a film expert,” said Nancy Proctor, the SNF Parkway’s executive director, in a statement. “It’s as welcoming and down to Earth as we know Baltimore to be. Audiences will find stories outside of their algorithms, so to speak, and discover something they didn’t know they were looking for.” Proctor is inspired by the number of Black women featured at this year’s festival. “At MdFF 2026, we’re not only going to be able to see their stories on screen, but also hear from game changers like Leslie King-Hammond, Joyce J. Scott, Maria Broom, Sharayna Christmas, Shelley Halstead, and Angela Carroll in person,” she said. Additionally, Proctor is proud of the new features MdFF offers this year, and the improvements made to returning ones. “The verticals program will bring made-for-mobile content to the big screen for the first time, offering a view into a whole new genre of filmmaking that’s being invented before our eyes,” Proctor said. “I’m excited to hear filmmakers pitch their new projects in the Pitch Fest, and of course see all that Cinetech will bring us from new and emerging media.” This year, CineTech is returning with experiences like “The Mirror’s Echo”, an AI-driven interactive installation that turns audience voices into Claymation-style projections; “Performative Salvation”, a dark comedy-style AI Interrogation experience in VR, with participants visualizing themselves aboard a space station with the fate of humanity in their hands; “A Long Goodbye” is an empathy-driven VR story about dementia placing audiences into the life of a 72-year-old pianist with the disease, and many more. Photo via SNF Parkway Theatre / Maryland Film Fest Facebook page. CineTech will also present a special screening celebrating the 10th anniversary of “Late Shift” by Tobias Weber, which is widely considered the first interactive feature designed for theatrical audiences, during which viewers collectively vote on decisions that determine the film’s outcome. “Tall Stories at MdFF: The Vertical Perspective” is a regional showcase that invites filmmakers and digital storytellers to from the region to submit original vertical (9:16) films between 30 seconds and 5 minutes. Finalists will have their work shown on the big screen during the 2026 festival. The films will be curated by Simone Phillips, an award-winning social media influencer and content creator. “So far, the top representative categories are experimental, short form documentary, food, and AI animation,” Phillips said. “The reach is what we hoped for. We have a strong showing from our Baltimore (MD), but we’re seeing representation in DC, Pennsylvania, and Virginia!” In addition to the local creators, Mohr expects filmmakers from around the country and the world to be in attendance, sharing their work, offering QA sessions, pitching their next projects during PitchFest, sitting on panels, and spending time with festival attendees in the lobbies and lounges. “There is a thread of resilience, resistance, persistence and historical reckoning throughout this year’s program that’s empowering, inspiring and exactly what we need right now,” Mohr said. A few of the film highlights will include the world premiere of “Crippled”, a Baltimore production ten years in the making about a man living with Muscular Dystrophy – a horror film about his metaphorical journey of dealing with negligent nursing staff; the mid-Atlantic premiere of “If I Go Will They Miss Me”, the story of a 12-year-old boy in Los Angeles who turns his LAX neighborhood into his personal living mythological world, starring J. Alphonse Nicholson from “They Cloned Tyrone”; the mid-Atlantic premiere of “Kikuyu Land”, set in Kenya’s tea highlands the film follows  a man looking to reclaim land and pursue justice for his family that turns into a deeper historical and personal conflict, and many other films. The MdFF will also once again spotlight emerging filmmakers with its student showcase screenings and opportunities for young people to connect with professional filmmakers. The 3rd Annual Middle School Program will bring Baltimore City Public School classes to a special Parkway Theatre screening and conversation designed to build media literacy and provide direct engagement with MdFF programmers and visiting filmmakers on Wednesday, April 8. Contact Aishat Abiri to see if participation is still possible. The Student Shorts Programs consists of three programs of student-made short films, and In Frame Shorts is free, on Wednesday, April 8, and the Student Filmmaker Summit is open to students in middle school through graduate-level filmmakers across the mid-Atlantic, with workshops, AMA sessions, and more, on Friday, April 10. For the full student schedule, click this link. Maryland Film Festival tickets range from $20 for a single screening to $400 for a Supporter Pass, which is all-access for the entire festival. For a full list of films, click here. ...read more read less