Videopolis

With the Maryland Film Festival taking over the Charles Theater this weekend, the nearby Metro Gallery holds its fourth annual Videopolis festival, a free, nonprofit event that showcases nontraditional video/film work that doesn’t always get the same sort of play from more conventional film festivals. The 2011 Videopolis includes installations, music performances and videos, and a panel discussion about the changing face of film-/videomaking in Baltimore. Below are some highlights; for the full schedule visit themetrogallery.net/videopolis.

MAY 6 Nicky Smith and Chang Park provide the music performances for the opening night of the video installations, featuring works by BenniiD., Julie Benoit, Linda Franklin, Fabrice Métais, Ryan Murray, MacKenzie Peck, Nick Prevas, Thom Stromer, and Sandy Triolo. Doors open at 7 p.m.

MAY 7 Doors open at 3:30 p.m. and the fest runs well into the evening. Documentaries open the day, with Michael Ivan Schwartz’s short about Michael Owen’s Baltimore Love Project “Love: Baltimore Style” and Justin Nethercut’s pair of street-art docs, “The Story of Ceda and Dume” and “The Story of Gaia.” An hour of experimental shorts starts at 4:30 p.m., including pieces by Bethany Dinsick, musician/artist Jim Doran, Alexandra Gilwit, Riki Kim, Julia Kim-Smith, Lloyd Lowe Jr., Ryan Murray, Robby Rackleff, Brinson Renda, and Luke Rollins. At 5:30 p.m. begins the program “A Different View,” featuring shorts from Rahne Alexander and Jaimes Mayhew, Mike Bartolomeo, Kevin Blacistone, Jerry James, Billy “Bardot” O’Connell, Miranda Pfeiffer, and Bernard Stiegler; the 6:30 p.m. “Femme” program includes Christine Ferrera’s “Google Art Video,” Hannah Brancato’s “Something Funny About Rape,” Lilly Pop’s “Human Hot Dog: A New Fetish,” and Jackie Wang’s “Lonely and Hungry” and “Body Soliloquies.” The evening concludes with a series of music videos leading into the 9 p.m. panel discussion featuring Mark Brown, Owen Lang, Brian Morrison, Miranda Pfeiffer, and moderator Guy Werner.