Maplewood Library’s 7th Annual Ideas Festival officially starts on March 21, with a special pre-Festival event on March 11 at 8 pm at Main Library.

The library is happy to host Barry Sonnenfeld, award-winning producer, director and actor, and author of Barry Sonnenfeld, Call Your Mother. Sonnenfeld was the cinematographer for the Coen Brothers’ first three films and director of photography on Throw Mamma from the Train, Big, When Harry Met Sally, and Misery. He directed the Addams Family movies, Get Shorty, and the first three Men in Black films. His television credits include Pushing Daisies, for which he won an Emmy, and most recently Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events.

He’ll be in conversation with Matthew Galkin. Galkin, a South Orange resident, is a documentary filmmaker who founded New York-based production company Fairhaven. His film work includes HBO’s Kevorkian, the award-winning HBO documentary I am an Animal: The Story of Ingrid Newkirk and PETA, and loudQUIETloud, a film about the rock band The Pixies. Television work includes Showtime, CNN, HBO, A&E, and the forthcoming CNBC limited series Empires of New York, about the city’s rebirth in the 1980’s.

Words Bookstore will be at the event to sell copies of Sonnenfeld’s book.