Featuring the genre-busting talent of James Nasty and TT the Artist, The Real Wi-Fi Of Baltimore offers a punny and nuanced view of Baltimore neighborhoods in a short film edited from iPhone screenshots of Wi-Fi network names. The Real Wi-Fi Of Baltimore poses this challenge: Are we connected? This project is supported in part by a Rubys Artist Project Grant. The Rubys Artist Project Grants were conceived and initiated with start-up funding from the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation and are a program of the Greater Baltimore Cultural Alliance. Official Selection Slamdance Film Festival, Park City, UT, 2017 Official Selection Cinequest Film Festival, San Jose, CA, 2017 Official Selection Calgary Underground Film Festival, Calgary, Canada, 2017 Sondheim Prize Semi-Finalist Exhibition, Maryland Institute College Of Art, Baltimore, MD, 2017 Vimeo Curated Collection: Comedy (rough cut) BIOS James Nasty is a Baltimore-based DJ and club producer. http://jamesnasty.com TT the Artist is a Baltimore-based singer, rapper, and producer. Julia Kim Smith is a Baltimore-based multidisciplinary artist whose work takes on issues of racism, sexism, misrepresentation, and underrepresentation—by any means necessary. https://juliakimsmith.com PRODUCTION NOTE “Baltimore is the world. The world is Baltimore.” Your Face In Mine, Jess Row In the wake of the Freddie Gray uprising, I was traveling around Baltimore, lost and looking for a Wi-Fi connection, and was fascinated by the Wi-Fi network names that came up on my phone. I started taking screenshots which I edited into a short film. Thanks to a Rubys Artist Grant, I was able to remaster the film for projection on the big screen and combine forces with James Nasty and TT the Artist to produce an original soundtrack for the film, “Are U Connected?”—both a question and a challenge. Julia Kim Smith
