Baltimore Premiere of Albert Birney’s Maryland-Made
Sci-Fi/Fantasy Feature to Open 2025 Edition
New/Next Film Festival, presented by Baltimore Public Media and taking place October 2-5, 2025 in Baltimore’s historic 5-screen Charles Theatre, announced its opening night film today as the Baltimore premiere of OBEX, while also launching All-Access Pass sales.
Albert Birney (Strawberry Mansion, Sylvio) co-writes, directs, and stars in OBEX, which world-premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Conor Marsh (Birney) lives a secluded life in 1987 Baltimore with his dog, Sandy, until one day he begins playing OBEX, a new, state-of-the-art computer game. When Sandy goes missing, the line between reality and game blurs and Conor must venture into the strange world of OBEX to bring her home. OBEX was co-written and shot by Pete Ohs, scored by Josh Dibb of Animal Collective, and co-stars Callie Hernandez (Invention, Under the Silver Lake), Paisley Isaacs, and Frank Mosley.
“OBEX embodies the spirit of adventurous filmmaking we love to champion at New/Next,” says New/Next co-founder and director of programming Eric Allen Hatch. “It’s a DIY production that achieves world-class results, combining the science-fiction, fantasy, and midnight-movie genres with excellent craft and a huge heart. It was also made right here in Baltimore, and showcases an amazing array of talents from our homegrown indie filmmaking community.”
Director/star Albert Birney says, “New/Next weekend has become my favorite weekend of the year and I am incredibly honored that OBEX was chosen this year as the opening night film. We made this movie in my hometown of Baltimore and the lead actress, my dog Dorothy, finally gets to walk the red carpet.”
Sales are now live for New/Next Film Festival all-access passes, as well as individual tickets to New/Next’s Opening Night screening of OBEX with Albert Birney the evening of Thursday, October 2. The opening night screening at The Charles Theatre will be followed by New/Next’s Opening Night Party with DJ Amy Reid at Metro Gallery.
OBEX was produced by Cartuna, True Friend, and Spartan Media Acquisitions, and will be distributed by Oscilloscope Laboratories (12 O’Clock Boys, Sollers Point).
New/Next Film Festival’s lineup announcements will continue over the next two weeks, with individual ticket sales to follow. For updates, please visit newnextfilmfest.com | Twitter and Instagram: @NewNextFilmFest | BlueSky: @newnextfilmfest.bsky.social
Support for the 2024 New/Next Film Festival comes from the Maryland State Arts Council, Deutsch Foundation, William G. Baker, Jr. Memorial Fund, Leidy Foundation, Baltimore Community Foundation, Whiting-Turner and Modera Wealth.
