My third ride on the Black Maria

The Black Maria Film Festival made its annual stop in the Capital City this weekend. As has become my tradition, I only made it to one of the two programs.

This year's event was different for a couple reasons. John Columbus, founder and director of the festival, was in town to introduce the program and conduct a Q&A with Arthur C. Smith, director of the doc Ice Bears of the Beaufort.

The program I caught also had much less narrative than past programs. Five of the nine films were docs, one was experimental and the last three were animated. None were what you would call a traditional narrative. I imagine this was more the luck of my draw than a trend throughout the festival.

My favorite was Yours Truly from director Osbert Parker, a noir story animated with photo cut-outs and real objects in a miniature 3D environment. The mix of media is unique and surreal, and while the occasional jumps into impressionism were a little jarring, I enjoyed every moment of it. You can watch it online here.

I was grateful for the chance to talk briefly with John Columbus after the program and thank him for the traveling festival. There's more on him and the fest in this NPR story.