Baltimore Public Media's New/Next Film Festival returns to the Charles Theatre October 3 - 6. This year's event has expanded to showcase more than 100 films from filmmakers near and far.

Today on Midday we discuss the inspiration for this year's festival, review a few featured films and highlight contributions from the Maryland cinematic community.

Guests for today's show include:

• Sam Sessa, Director of Events and Community Management for Baltimore Public Media

• Eric Hatch, Co-Founder and Director of Festival Programming

• Alexi Wasser, Director of the opening night film 'Messy'

• Max Weiss, Editor in Chief of Baltimore Magazine and film and pop culture critic

• Jed Dietz, Founder and Former Director of the Maryland Film Festival