As early as 13 years old, Pikesville native Jason Michael Berman had a camera in his hand. He initially thought he wanted to be an actor, but he later discovered a knack for filmmaking.

“At a young age, I got really into making movies and teaching younger kids to use video equipment,” says Berman, who has dyslexia and attended Jemicy School and Friends School of Baltimore. He founded the student video programs that still stand at both schools today. “I was able to build programs around my passion. By the time I got into high school, I knew what I wanted my profession to be.”

After high school, Berman was accepted into the film program at the University of Southern California. Throughout his college years, he produced seven students’ thesis films.

“I found out really quickly that my skill set compared to all my other classmates was producing—bringing things to life, putting projects forward, and picking specific types of talent to work with,” Berman says.

Post-college, Bermanworked at talent agency William Morris before producing his first feature film, Dryland, which screened at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. In 2016, Berman returned to Sundance with Mandalay Pictures’ Birth of a Nation.

Ten years after his first trip to Sundance, Berman, now the president of Mandalay Pictures, went back to Park City earlier this year to screen Nine Days, a sci-fi epic starring Winston Duke, Zazie Beetz, Bill Skarsgård and Tony Hale. In the film, Duke’s character holds the power to interview prospective human souls as candidates for the privilege of being born. The film has received lots of positive buzz, and Berman hopes to return home to screen it at the Maryland Film Festival this spring.

“I love movies that have a coming of age component to them,” says Berman, who is in his fifth year at Mandalay, where he has also produced eight movies for Netflix. “[Nine Days] was just something we had never seen before.”

Late last month, on the heels of a Sundance Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, it was announced that Nine Days had been picked up for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics—the same studio that screened the Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith-backed Charm City Kings at the festival.

Ahead of a long rollout for Nine Days, we spoke with Berman about his Baltimore roots, the process of producing the film, and his favorite local haunts.

Have you always known that you wanted to work in the entertainment industry?
I’ve always had a passion for movie making. I think it stems from the fact that reading and writing when I was young was tough. Having dyslexia gave me this outlet to explore the world through filmmaking and telling stories. So I went right towards it and made a career out of that passion. Now, I’m 12 years into my career. It was not easy to get to this place, and it will never be easy. It’s been a constant battle. Every time you get a movie made, it’s like a miracle.

How would you describe what a producer does?
Being a producer is like planning a party for a couple thousand people. We’re in charge of making sure everything goes right—helping find and develop material, working to find filmmakers, cast, and finances, and being present during movie making to make sure we’re staying with the vision of the filmmaker. We also oversee editing, hire the entire crew, and manage budgets and tax credits. I think I’m really good at putting the pieces of a puzzle together.

How have you grown in your job?
As a producer, I have grown so much over the last 11 years. I know how to develop and deal with talent, investors, and crew better. I know how to be a better producer to a director. Every movie you do is different. There’s so many unique components—locations, storylines, relationships, and training people. You just continue to learn with different types of people and different places and parts of the world, and I think that’s one of the cool things about making movies.

With projects that you pursue or work to get made, what are you drawn to?
We look at everything in all genres. As long as we find scripts that have really compelling characters that make meaningful transformations through the course of the narrative they’re in, with distinct roles and visionary filmmakers behind them, that’s what we go after.

You were at Sundance in January for Nine Days. What’s it like to attend—are there different levels of expectations based on what you’re showing?
Yes. I’ve gone to Sundance with movies that have distribution, and I’ve gone with movies where you’re trying to sell distribution. It is really intense and a wild rollercoaster of emotions. I’m 37 now, and I had my first movie at Sundance 10 years before. It’s a lot harder the older you get. You have more experience dealing with it. What becomes harder is managing the stakes—you’re more seasoned in your career and there’s more expectation on you and that you place on yourself. For me, Nine Days was the most intense, but also the most enjoyable.

How so?
Managers and agents of our actors loved the film. People wanted to get in a room with [writer-director Edson Oda]. Out of the 25 movies I’ve produced over the past 11 years, I’ve never had so many incoming calls from agents and managers for clients requesting to meet a director. And that was before it was even financed. But people loved the writing so much that they were willing to sit their clients down with the director even though financing wasn’t closed. That is extraordinary. We were able to put together an incredibly talented group of actors to be a part of it. Everything just worked with this movie. It was meant to be, and that’s very rare in a film.

You’re hoping to bring the film back home for the Maryland Film Festival this spring. What are some of your favorite Maryland pastimes?
The most memorable place in Maryland for me is The Crab Claw in St. Michaels. I loved going there growing up. I’m a big Orioles and Ravens fan. I love Linwood’s in Owings Mills. I love boating the Chesapeake Bay—I grew up boating with my family, and we all love Kent Island, where we kept our boat. Most of my family is in Maryland, so it’s always great coming home

Just in time for college-application season, Friends School of Baltimore senior Noah Gainsburg added an impressive title to his resume: St. Francis Neighborhood Center’s Volunteer of the Year. At 18, this Reisterstown native has dedicated more than 300 volunteer hours to Reservoir Hill’s SFNC, a nonprofit that offers youth development programs for families living below the federal poverty line.

Gainsburg was introduced to nonprofit work through his mother’s involvement with local and national organizations, but it wasn’t until he heard about SFNC from a classmate that he knew where he wanted to dedicate his time. “St. Francis is like the hidden little gem of Baltimore,” Gainsburg says. “It’s amazing how much they can do at a relatively small organization.”

Over the past two years, Gainsburg has made a tremendous impact on the center, one that will last long after he trades Charm City for a yet-to-be-determined college town. Through two collection drives last year, he collected enough school supplies for all 60 of SFNC’s enrolled youth, as well as more than 600 coats last winter.

Last summer, he worked as a teaching assistant for SFNC’s third to fifth grade students, and, instead of getting paid, he donated his earnings back to the center. “I grew up with dyslexia and dysgraphia, and, in a lot of the students, I see the issues that they have in school on a more personal level,” he says.

Additionally, Gainsburg’s parting gift to the center, a $5,000 fundraising campaign for its academic program, The Power Project, has surpassed its goal and continues to grow. “For a young man in his teens, I would say Noah’s superhero gift is empathy,” says SFNC Executive Director Christi Green. “It’s very hard for a young teenager to have the level of empathy that he does.”

With a new beginning on the horizon, Gainsburg says he plans to continue his commitment to volunteer work at his new school. “No matter where I end up, I’m going to be building communities,” he says. “I’m going to be involving myself as much as I possibly can.”

EC STRONG
This past Sunday, an estimated 8.4 inches of rain fell in less than three hours in Ellicott City, causing another devastating flood less than two years after another catastrophic storm left a path of local destruction in July 2016—then considered a one-in-a-thousand-year event. This time, the waters gutted businesses, submerged cars, and in some cases rose as high as the first-floor ceilings. One Maryland National Guardsman, Sgt. Eddison A. Hermond, lost his life while trying to rescue a local shopkeeper. Buildings are still being assessed for structural damage, but many residents and business owners have vowed to rebuild, as they did after the last storm. Fundraisers and donation drives are now being organized to help the town in its recovery. Located in a valley at the confluence of three substantial streams feeding into the Patapsco River, experts are now assessing the impact of development and climate change on this already flood-prone geography.

GOOD CATCH
In early May, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources released the results of the 2018 winter survey, which shows that the blue crab’s population remains stable. The overall population is down, with increased mortality for adult females due in part by a cold winter but remains near its long-term average. Meanwhile, the number of juveniles has increased by 34 percent. The study suggests that these numbers may lead to a slow start for the harvest in the spring and early summer months, followed by improvements later in the season.

SLIM PICKINGS
At the same time, the Maryland seafood industry has felt the ripple effects of the Trump administration’s immigration stance, with nearly half of the Eastern Shore’s crab-picking houses left with no workers to pick the meat. Since the 1980s, the seasonal workforce has largely consisted of Latin American women who arrive by the hundreds on guest work visas. This year, for the first time, those H-2B visas were awarded by lottery, compared to the traditional first-come, first-served basis, with federal labor officials receiving some 81,000 applications nationwide while only 33,000 were approved. In Maryland, at least 200 applications were denied. With the local crab season nearly two months underway, it is unclear what impact this could have on prices. Some within the industry fear a sharp increase in picked meat prices, due to a decreased supply from the worker shortage, doubled with a decrease price for steamed crabs because of surplus of hard shells that would have otherwise been picked. According to Rep. Andy Harris, the Trump administration has agreed to approve more visas, but no update has been given at this time. Gov. Larry Hogan has requested the federal government take immediate action to increase the cap.

HAPPY SWIMMING
In late May, the Waterfront Partnership’s Healthy Harbor Initiative announced dramatic progress documented in an annual report on the Baltimore Harbor, making the nonprofit’s goal of a swimmable, fishable harbor by 2020 all the more realistic. Thirty-two out of 49 monitoring stations showed substantial improvement, including every stream, with parts of the Jones Falls now considered safe for swimming. They hope that a new $430 million infrastructure upgrade to reduce sewer overflows by 80 percent will also have a dramatic impact by its completion in 2020. An overhaul of the storm water system is also in the works, with an expected completion by 2021. In 2017, 150 tons less trash was collected in the harbor, and bacteria scores have shown signs of improvement as well.

AQUATIC TLC
On Thursday, the National Aquarium opened its new Animal Care and Rescue Center on East Fayette Street in Jonestown. Previously located in an anonymous Fells Point warehouse, the $20 million state-of-the-art facility will now be open for limited tours to the public. Starting this summer, visitors will be allowed a behind-the-scenes look at the aquarium’s 50,000-square-foot space that will provide animal care and veterinary services for up to 5,000 creatures, ranging from fish and sea turtles to stingrays and seals. New features include individually temperature-controlled tanks, specialized lighting that mimics natural sunrises and sunsets, and the ability to produce some 15,000 gallons of saltwater. The space will also be used to fabricate the aquarium’s intricate animal habitats.

SHELL GAME
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources and local scientists are working to bring freshwater mussels back to the state’s rivers and streams where the bivalves were once prolific along local waterways. These tiny filter-feeders have all but disappeared, due to pollution, runoff, dams, and the loss of host fish, but efforts are underway to propagate 10,000 baby Eastern Elliptio mussels to be planted in the Patapsco River. Once established, they can live for up to 20 or 30 years. As oysters are being used to help restore the Chesapeake Bay, scientists hope these native mussels will help clean the rebounding river, which runs from central Maryland to Baltimore before flowing into the estuary. Similarly, volunteers from The Great Baltimore Oyster Partnership planted more than 200,000 oysters this month along a protected reef near Fort Carroll on the Patapsco, part of its ongoing mission to plant 5 million oysters on by the year 2020.

FINDING FLIPPER
With increased sightings taking place along local waterways, researchers have confirmed that dolphins are now appearing in the Chesapeake Bay by the hundreds. While such reports are not new for the estuary, with records dating back to the 1800s, it is leading to increased efforts to track the sea mammals and study the role of improved water quality and rebounding fisheries. Last June, researchers launched the Chesapeake Dolphin Watch website for citizens to submit their sightings. They plan to release a mobile app version of the website in the future.

FORWARD THINKING
The Friends School of Baltimore has announced plans to start using 100 percent renewable energy starting by July 1, 2018. Using CleanChoice Energy, the Quaker school will now receive electricity from regional wind and solar farms, with the move being inspired in part by the upper school’s student-faculty Green Club. Committed to environmental stewardship, Friends was named an official Maryland Green School in 2017.