“THE RETURN OF… Hondance” replays some of its greatest hits and more

“THE RETURN OF…. Hondance” will be held on Saturday, August 6^th at The Top Floor Theater and will feature a variety of local filmmakers, musicians, and other artists.  Hondance is a collaboration between 37.5 Productions (1^st place, 2004 CAmm Slamm), Better Hollywood Productions (1^st place, CAmm 2004 College Bake-Off), and The Top Floor Theater (Best New Theater Venue, City Paper “Best of 2003”).

Highlights of the one-day mini-fest include a screening of Tepid Fish’s (1^st place, 2002 CAmm Slamm) “Monkey Love”, a comeback performance of self-styled “Thugbilly” group “The Dirty Marmaduke Flute Squad”, and a special teaser preview of the long-awaited zombie feature comedy “Livelihood”.

“The first time we tried to do this festival, we wanted to present a Baltimorean alternative to a bloated festival like Sundance, but nature took a negative turn on us and it snowed the whole time,” says Nikc Miller, Founder of Better Hollywood Productions.  “A lot of people still came out to the festival despite the weather, but we wanted to offer the public and the artists another shot at seeing all of this great work.”

“Our hope,” states Miller, “is that all of the artists who we represented during the original festival will get a chance to gain an audience that might have otherwise been there had it not snowed.” He adds, “We also wanted to add a few new items to our program just to show people that we are still hard at work on films, music, and the festival.”

In the meantime, Hondance is gearing up for a whole new program for next January. The festival plans on opening up a Call for Entries in the near future to open up the festival to worldwide artists while still keeping Baltimore as the main focus.  “We are all for the Call for Entries idea,” says Miller.  “It will be great for the audience and local artists because it will give them a chance to see a lot of up-and-coming artists from different backgrounds. But the main focus will still be Baltimore and we plan to have a sign-up sheet ready for anyone who attends and would like to be considered for showing at Hondance next January.”