In 2023, directors and JHU Film & Media Studies Faculty Marly Hernández Cortés and Stephen Schuyler shot their debut feature film, Stealing Cars, in Baltimore with a small production team which included UWP Senior Lecturer Nate Brown. Previously, Hernández Cortés and Schuyler, the married filmmakers behind Filmico Pastiche, wrote, shot, and produced a series of documentary shorts introducing the University Writing Program to the broader JHU community and to the public. 

This special community sneak peek of their debut feature film, Stealing Cars, will be the public’s first opportunity to see the movie and will take place on Friday, May 2 at 7:30 p.m. at Baltimore’s historic Parkway Theatre. 

Featuring an original score by the Peabody Institute’s Chris Kennedy and a cameo by Brown, Stealing Cars tells the story of Matías (Carlos Pagan Cruz), who moves to Baltimore to live with his estranged father following the unexpected death of his mother. A story of grief, love, reconciliation, and adolescence, Stealing Cars is part cautionary tale about an increasingly unattainable American dream and part love letter to Baltimore City. 

[Note: Film still is attached featuring actor Carlos Pagan Cruz as Matías.]