Private Project

Echoes from the Key Bridge: A Baltimore Longshoreman

Aldana writes, directs, produces and edits the first of a series of documentary shorts Echoes from the Key Bridge: A Baltimore Longshoreman. The 11 minute-film features Scott Ambrose, a Dundalk resident and longshoreman. Ambrose describes waking up in the middle of the night to the sudden crash of the Key Bridge from his bedroom window after completing his work shift. Despite 15 years of seniority with the International Longshoreman's Association, Local 333, and a business owner of Recent History Prop Rentals, he lost work immediately and struggled to make ends meet, considering selling his home.

  • Maria Gabriela Aldana
    Director
    Bangkukuk, Executive Producer
  • Maria Gabriela Aldana
    Writer
  • Maria Gabriela Aldana
    Producer
  • Scott Ambrose
    Key Cast
    "Longshoreman, Union 333 International Longshoreman Association"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Short
  • Runtime:
    11 minutes 11 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 31, 2025
  • Production Budget:
    9,600 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Nicaragua
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English, Spanish
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Digital Cinema Package:
    Unavailable
  • Richmond International Film Festival
    Richmond
    United States
    September 24, 2025
    World Premier
    Official Selection
Director Biography - Maria Gabriela Aldana

Maria Gabriela Aldana is Art of Solidarity's cofounding director. She is a bilingual community artist, filmmaker, muralist, oral historian, folklorist, and teacher. For over 20 years, Aldana has produced community-centered oral histories, murals, exhibitions, parades, documentary films, traveling exhibitions, family festivals, and multicultural events. Originally from Managua, Nicaragua, Ms. Aldana is a proud immigrant with a lifetime of experiences between cultures as a former asylee raised in Miami as a child by her family. She calls Baltimore, Maryland home where she earned her BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2003 and was part of the first group to earn a MA in Community Arts in 2006. Aldana has earned prestigious award for top 30 Baltimore Visionaries named by Baltimore Magazine. She holds K-12 Fine Arts Teacher license in the state of Maryland from Notre Dame, University of Maryland.

Ms. Aldana has been awarded multiple competitive grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Maryland Humanities, Maryland Traditions, a program of the Maryland State Arts Council (MSAC), Maryland Humanities, Baltimore Community Foundation, and MSAC’s Public Arts Across Maryland (PAAM) Planning Grant in 2024 and PAAM Implementation Grant in 2025.

Most recently, Aldana directed, wrote, and produced “Echoes from the Key Bridge: A Baltimore Longshoreman” oral histories and documentary, officially selected as part of the 2025 Richmond International Film Festival.

Project press:

Baltimore Beat, Issue 58 (Grace Hebron, March 26, 2025): https://baltimorebeat.com/no-invisible-jobs-baltimore-museum-of-industry-exhibit-will-highlight-immigrant-workers-who-died-in-the-key-bridge-collapse/

WYPR (Ashely Sterner, Melissa Gerr, March 26, 2025): https://www.wypr.org/show/on-the-record/2025-03-26/echoes-from-the-key-bridge-continues-to-capture-personal-stories-of-memory-resilience-hope

Baltimore Magazine (Ron Cassie, March 2025): https://www.baltimoremagazine.com/section/community/key-bridge-one-year-later-rebuild-begins-amid-ongoing-grief-maritime-legal-issues/

Baltimore Sun (Cassidy Jensen, September 30, 2024): https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/09/28/key-bridge-bmi-oral-history/

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