ARGO's Tony Mendez, Ben Affleck Attend Opening Night at Maryland Int'l Film Festival

The Maryland International Film Festival, Hagerstown (MDIFF) will screen Oscar-winning film Argo at 6:45 pm, April 11, at the Maryland Theatre on opening night of the festival. Tom Riford, MDIFF president said, "Tony Mendez is a big part of our community and has been for years. It is fitting that we would open the festival with a film that celebrates Tony and his accomplishments."

Argo is based on the true story of Mendez' rescue of six U.S. diplomats from Iran during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. Joseph Tovares, Senior VP of Diversity and Innovation at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, will be hosting the award winner in a Q & A session after the film. During this discussion, festival attendees will be able to ask a wide variety of questions that relate to the film including what it is like to win an Oscar. Tony Mendez said, "The Motion Picture Academy of America and the revolutionaries in Iran had one thing in common. Terror. Watching Argo win the Oscar for Best Picture was almost as terrifying and satisfying as the actual operation itself."

MDIFF-H is scheduled to run over three days and will screen 50 films from around the globe. All screenings will take place downtown Hagerstown at the Maryland Theatre, Bridge of Life, and Academy Theater from April 11-13, 2013.

Sponsors for the film festival include the Hagerstown-Washington County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Power Marketing, The City of Hagerstown, Maryland Theater, Bridge of Life, Academy Theater, High Rock Studios, Anderson Photographs, Thompson Gas, Washington County Arts Council, 28 South, The Gourmet Goat, Bowman Hospitality, and Kaplan University.

The MDIFF-H mission is to be a platform for independent filmmakers to engage audiences, collaborate with other filmmakers and educate the community with the celebration of film. For more information about MDIFF please call 916-712-2781, email Tracie(at)marylandiff(dot)com or access the website http://www.marylandiff.com.