EMF alum’s annual film festival returns to Ocean City
6th-annual Ocean City Film Festival features TU alumni, faculty films
By Phaedran Linger ’22 on March 2, 2022
This weekend B.L. Strang-Moya ’17 will bring more than 100 independent films from around the world to Ocean City, Maryland, as the creative director and organizer of the Ocean City Film Festival.
The festival returns for its sixth year March 3–6, for screenings in local venues and an award ceremony. It operates under the Art League of Ocean City, a nonprofit dedicated to bringing visual arts into the local community through education, exhibits, scholarships and projects.
Strang-Moya graduated with a bachelor’s degree in electronic media and film (EMF). He is a videographer for the College of Education and a graduate student in communication management.
An Ocean City, Maryland, native, Strang-Moya spent spring break during his last term teaching classes at the Art League of Ocean City. When he heard the nonprofit’s staff was brainstorming how to have a yearly film festival, Strang-Moya devised a plan to make that a reality.
“The Art League had all the resources, they just needed someone with the vision to bring this to town. It was one of those right place, right time things,” he says.
That summer, he churned out the first one. He remembers juggling class with festival priorities as a senior. Support from professors aided him throughout the chaos and now some are attendees.
“I feel like these people have watched me grow up,” Strang-Moya says.
The festival has grown in scope and attendance since the Art League launched it six years ago.
“Since our launch of the festival in 2017, we have entertained more than 3,500 audience members, received more than 1,500 film submissions, and maintained a consistent monthly and yearly film program,” Strang-Moya adds.
Bringing a film festival to Ocean City
Growing up, Strang-Moya recalls how hard it was to find things to look forward to during the colder months. He wanted to provide local artists with a platform and an accessible opportunity for the young community to keep busy.
When March rolls around, the film festival inhabits the quiet beach town for a weekend. The city revolves around its events, and the film festival has become a valuable part of the town calendar.
Strang-Moya describes the preparation as “deadlines, deadlines, deadlines.” He and fellow team members spend months deciding what movies to screen, selecting awards, making schedules, getting press, recruiting volunteers and working with the community to plan venues.
The effort is a labor of love. “My heart and soul is what goes into it,” Strang-Moya says.
He is focusing his graduate studies on how to better run the festival as well as improve his professional career in other aspects.
“A major [part of being the] creative director of a film festival is being that connection between filmmakers, my committee and the town of Ocean City,” he says.
Festival highlights directors from Maryland, TU
Seventeen films at this year's festival were produced by Maryland artists, three from the Department of Electronic Media and Film.
Max Radbill ’15, an EMF graduate, directed “El Poso,” a short film about a woman who, after a failed suicide attempt, gains the ability to talk to rocks. It was made this past October in Spain under the guidance of legendary German filmmaker Werner Herzog.
“The festival focuses on truly independent films, and they have champion filmmakers from Maryland,” Radbill says. “It's always an honor to be a part of it, and I'm so excited to be going back in person in 2022.”
“All of This is Somehow True,” directed by EMF associate professor Joseph Kraemer, is an experimental narrative short reflecting on the fear and dread during COVID-19 and tells the story of a sick patient seeking medical help that never comes. The film has won best in show at the Overlea ArtsFest and was selected to screen as part of the Quarantine Film Challenge, hosted by the San Diego Film Consortium.
“My film played to a packed house alongside a slate of comedy short films, and it was a raucous good time,” Kraemer says of participating in the film challenge. “This festival is especially important because it supports so many local filmmakers, including many alumni of Towson's EMF department.”
The festival also includes “Ten Degrees of Strange,” a clay-on-glass music video directed and animated by Lynn Tomlinson, an associate professor of electronic media and film. Based on a song by Robert Macfarlane and Johnny Flynn, the film takes inspiration from “The Epic of Gilgamesh,” an ancient story written on clay tablets that tells a story of loss and hope.
For the full film listing and schedule of events or to purchase tickets, visit the Ocean City Film Festival website.
Phaedran Linger is a senior majoring in mass communication at TU. She is a student editorial assistant for University Marketing & Communications.