In two years, Baltimore’s New/Next Festival has quickly lived up to its name.

The film festival, created in 2023 when the Maryland Film Festival took a year off, has become an imaginative playground for many emerging filmmakers in Maryland and beyond.

“Just as we’re establishing ourselves as a festival, they’re also coming into their own with their filmmaking voice,” said co-founder and programmer Eric Hatch.

Ahead of the third annual New/Next, which runs Thursday through Sunday at the Charles Theatre on North Charles Street, Hatch chatted about some of the weekend’s highlights, including an ’80s-inspired video game fantasy, an award-winning documentary and a screening handpicked by comedian Stavros Halkias.

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‘OBEX’

8 p.m. Thursday, Screen 1

If you aren’t paying attention to Albert Birney, start now, Hatch said. “OBEX,” the Baltimore writer and director’s latest full-length, is New/Next’s opening night film — a black-and-white, ’80s-inspired video game fantasy starring Birney and his dog, Sandy.

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The Maryland-made movie, which premiered at January’s Sundance Film Festival, has received early positive reviews for its “ingenuity” and “fabulously creepy appeal,” with nods to the late David Lynch’s “Blue Velvet.”

“He’s had quite a success in France with his work,” Hatch said of Birney. “So it’s really a big deal to have such a talented and acclaimed filmmaker not just from here but making this his base of operations.“

Short films

Various times, Friday-Sunday

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New/Next’s reputation as a welcoming platform for short films continues to grow. Throughout the weekend, the festival will present 14 “shorts programs,” clusters of brief movies loosely tied together by themes like “Transgressor,” “Maryland Narratives,” “Building Character” and more.

“I’ve definitely leaned into how many filmmakers making short work are hungry for a festival like ours — that really embraces people at that point in their career,” Hatch said.

‘Natchez’

8:30 p.m. Sunday, Screen 1

“Natchez,” the festival’s closing night film, often catches audiences off-guard, Hatch said. Suzannah Herbert’s documentary, at turns funny and shocking, depicts a small Mississippi town and its uncomfortable reliance on antebellum tourism.

“It’s really a film about right now, and the prevalence of racism — the prevalence of hate and bigotry — and how that holds us all back,” he said.

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In June, “Natchez” won the Tribeca Film Festival’s top documentary award for its ability to offer “hope not for an America that can agree, but one that might understand each other.”

Suzannah Herbert’s documentary “Natchez” focuses on a small town in Mississippi that reckons with its past.
Suzannah Herbert’s documentary “Natchez” focuses on a small town in Mississippi that reckons with its past. (Courtesy of New/Next Film Festival)

Other picks to know

With more than 30 feature-length movies and 100 short films, New/Next is a true choose-your-own cinematic adventure. As you map out your schedule, keep these selections in mind, too.

“$POSITIONS” (4 p.m. Saturday, Screen 1): This SXSW Film Festival standout about cryptocurrency dreams gone wrong makes its Maryland debut.

“Commando” (7:15 p.m. Saturday, Screen 1): Halkias, the rising comedian known as Stavvy, will present the 1985 Arnold Schwarzenegger-led hit “Commando,” a pick surely cosigned by Ronnie, Halkias’ tormented Ravens fan alter-ego.

Secret screening (5:30 p.m. Sunday, Screen 1): New/Next organizers delight in keeping the identity of its top-secret movie under wraps. Hatch, when pressed by a nosy reporter, offered only more ambiguity. “Whatever someone guesses it’s going to be, it’s not that,“ he said.