BERLIN – The public is invited to celebrate the movies of Berlin with a new film festival next weekend.
The Calvin B. Taylor House Museum will host its first ever Movies of Berlin Film Festival June 11-13. Melissa Reid, president of the Berlin Heritage Foundation, says it’s a chance for people to relive memories from Tuck Everlasting and Runaway Bride and enjoy commentary from some of those involved with the movies.
“They’re movies you’ve seen but we’ve added some new twists, some new viewpoints,” Reid said.
In an effort to refresh the museum’s schedule for 2021, volunteers created a handful of new events for the Taylor House. One of the new additions is next weekend’s film festival. The event features a talk by Jack Gerbes of the Maryland Film Office on Friday, a showing of Tuck Everlasting with a special video from Director Jay Russell on Saturday and a showing of Runaway Bride on Sunday. Friday’s event features a new format for the museum, as it will be free for members but will cost $20 a person for non-members.
“You can pay the $20 and that will be your membership for the year,” Reid said.
She added that offering the event free to members was something the museum wanted to do more of in the future.
“We really wanted to thank our members for joining the museum,” she said.
The film festival events on Saturday and Sunday will be free for all attendees. On Saturday, the 8:30 p.m. showing of Tuck Everlasting will be prefaced by a special video from Russell. On Sunday, Runaway Bride will be shown at 8:30 p.m.
Reid said she was hoping attendees would come into town early on Sunday and stop by the town’s welcome center to pick up a Runaway Bride self-guided walking tour brochure. They can meander through town and check out places featured in the movie and then stop at one of the downtown restaurants for dinner before heading to the museum lawn for the 8:30 p.m. movie.
While the movies aren’t new, Reid is hopeful that with the addition of the director video and commentary from Gerbes people will be excited to reexamine the films. Because of their economic impact on the town, she believes it’s important the Taylor House Museum highlight them.
“Our mission is to share the history of Berlin,” she said. “These movies being filmed here are a part of the history of Berlin.”
Along with the movies themselves, the museum will have photos and memorabilia from the filming of each movie to display during the festival. The event is meant to provide visitors as well as residents with a chance to look back on what were important moments in the town’s recent history. Reid said the Movies of Berlin festival would also showcase the museum.
“We’re really hoping to put the museum in front of the community as much as possible,” she said. “It’s such a beautiful space in the middle of Berlin. It is s a tourist attraction but we hope we can get some locals to come and explore what it has to offer.”
For more information or to purchase advance tickets, go to www.taylorhousemuseum.org.
