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SILVERDOCS ANNOUNCES 2009 COMPETITION FILMS

AFI-DISCOVERY CHANNEL SILVERDOCS DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2009 COMPETITION FILMS

Silver Spring, Maryland, May 20, 2009— AFI-Discovery Channel SILVERDOCS Documentary Festival today announced the competition films for the 2009 Festival, taking place June 15-22, 2009 in the Washington, DC area. Films will screen in six sections: Sterling US Feature Competition, Sterling World Feature Competition, Music Documentary, Sterling Short Film Competition, and the to-be-announced Silver Spectrum and Special Programs. SILVERDOCS 2009 will present 122 films representing 58 countries selected from 1,983 submissions with seven World, three North American, 12 US, and 14 east coast premieres, plus 12 retrospective films.

“We received an extraordinary volume of high-quality submissions this year, and the 2009 program represents the very best the documentary form has to offer. It covers a wide range of issues, gives voice to diverse storytellers, and touches upon the most compelling issues of our day,” said Sky Sitney, SILVERDOCS Artistic Director.

SILVERDOCS will confer four additional awards:

The Cinematic Vision Award will be given to a feature film that exhibits excellence and innovation in the craft of visual storytelling. The winner will receive $4,000 in services from Alpha Cine.
WGA Documentary Screenplay Award will be awarded to the qualifying screenwriter (or screenwriters) of a feature-length film who demonstrates excellence in screenwriting in the documentary genre ($1,000 plus a five year membership in the WGAW Nonfiction Writers Caucus or WGAE Nonfiction Writers Committee (value $375).
The WITNESS Award in honor of Joey P. Lozano will be awarded to a theatrical documentary that addresses human rights and social justice issues ($5,000).
HSUS, ACE/Animal Content in Entertainment will again present a development grant for the creation of a documentary highlighting an animal issue ($25,000).

Gibson Guitars will also present a Gibson Les Paul Studio to the Music Documentary winner. The new awards bring the combined cash and in-kind prizes at SILVERDOCS to $70,000.

Award winners will be announced at the SILVERDOCS Award presentation on Saturday, June 20^th, 2009. All films are also eligible for Audience Awards for Best Feature and Short, which will be announced on Sunday, June 21, 2009. The winner of the Feature length Audience Award will receive two market badges to the American Film Market in November.

STERLING US FEATURE COMPETITION

GOOD FORTUNE / USA, 2009, 70 minutes (Director: Landon Van Soest)—The West has spent billions of dollars over the years on aid to Africa, yet poverty persists. GOOD FORTUNE examines two multi-million dollar international aid projects that may actually be undermining the very communities they seek to help. World Premiere.

JUNIOR / USA, 2009, 70 minutes (Director: Jenna Rosher)—Even though he was diagnosed with diabetes in his teens, Eddie “Junior” Belasco, now 75, has always lived life to its fullest. After a long career in show biz, Junior is on the verge of retirement. He struggles to maintain his youthfulness, taking inspiration from his 99-year-old mother.World Premiere.

MRS. GOUNDO’S DAUGHTER / USA/MALI, 2009, 60 minutes (Directors: Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater)—Mrs. Goundo is on a quest to spare her two-year-old daughter, Djenebou, from the same severe act she endured as a child: genital cutting. Millions of young girls have taken part in this West African tradition, which dates back thousands of years. Mrs. Goundo and her husband settle in Philadelphia, only to face deportation and the labyrinthine US judicial system. World Premiere.

MY NEIGHBOR, MY KILLER / USA, 2009, 80 minutes (Director: Anne Aghion)—After Rwanda was torn apart by ethnic division, the government put into place the Gacaca Tribunals—open-air hearings with citizen-judges intended to try their neighbors and rebuild the nation. This remarkable film explores whether it is possible to live again amongst people who slaughtered your family.

OCTOBER COUNTRY / USA, 2009, 80 minutes (Directors: Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher)—This finely crafted portrait of a family in crisis is a beautiful representation of America’s poor. The film is a haunting multigenerational story of a working-class family coping with poverty, teen pregnancy, foster care and the ineffable horrors of child molestation and war. East Coast Premiere.

OFF AND RUNNING / USA, 2009, 80 minutes (Director: Nicole Opper)—Avery is an accomplished African-American teenager adopted by Jewish lesbians. Her curiosity about her birth mother becomes a painful examination of race and identity that upends the family and threatens to derail Avery’s dreams.

THE PHILOSOPHER KINGS / USA, 2009, 70 minutes (Director: Patrick Shen)—Some people we revere, some we despise and others we simply ignore. The figure of the invisible janitor at last acquires a face, name, and personality in this probing look at the wisdom that comes from lives lived fully. World Premiere.

RACING DREAMS / USA, 2009, 93 minutes (Director: Marshall Curry)—In this rousing look at youth, passion and tricked-out go-karts, Oscar-nominated director Marshall Curry (STREET FIGHT) profiles three unforgettable pre-teen speedsters as they dream of professional racing stardom while competing in the World Karting Association championships.

SHE IS THE MATADOR (ELLA ES EL MATADOR) / USA/SPAIN, 2009, 62 minutes (Directors: Gemma Cubero and Celeste Carrasco)—The surprising history of female bullfighters is revealed in this artful portrait of two women struggling to succeed in one of the last strongholds of Spanish machismo. As Italian-born novice Eva fights for recognition and her veteran counterpart Mari Paz contemplates retirement, the travails of both athletes illuminate this controversial blood sport. US Premiere.

SWEETHEARTS OF THE PRISON RODEO / USA, 2009, 90 minutes (Director: Bradley Beesley)—Once a year at the Oklahoma Prison Rodeo in McAlester, Oklahoma, an eight-second bull ride becomes the most important time in the world. Director Bradley Beesley takes us along with male and female convicts as they compete and train for slots at this unique rough-stock rodeo. East Coast Premiere.

THE WINDMILL MOVIE / USA, 2008, 80 minutes (Director: Alexander Olch)—Richard P. Rogers was a celebrated documentarian who, despite amassing more than 20 years’ and 200 hours’ worth of footage, was never able to complete his autobiographical magnum opus. After his death, a former student, Alexander Olchs, excavates Rogers’s archives and creates a complex portrait of an endearing and contradictory artist and man.

US Feature Jury: Margaret Brown, Filmmaker (ORDER OF MYTHS); David Kwok, Director of Programming, Tribeca Film Festival; Cian Smyth has worked for all the major Irish festivals, including Dublin, Cork, Galway and Belfast.

STERLING WORLD FEATURE COMPETITON

ANOTHER PLANET (MÁSIK BOLYGÓ) / HUNGARY, 2008, 96 minutes (Director: Ferenc Moldoványi)—This powerful globe-spanning film introduces us to children who are struggling to survive as trash scavengers, soldiers and sex workers. The children speak plainly to the camera about their work, resulting in a film that lands like a hard punch. ANOTHER PLANET offers a rare opportunity to open your heart to another—often forgotten—world. East Coast Premiere.

BLOOD TRAIL / UNITED KINGDOM/USA, 2008, 79 minutes (Director: Richard Parry)—Follow war photographer Robert King for 15 years as he works war zones worldwide. Along the way, the brutality of the subject steadily takes its toll on King. We rely on war reporters to take us where we never want to go, but rarely do we consider the costs.East Coast Premiere.

COOKING HISTORY / AUSTRIA/SLOVAKIA/CZECH REPUBLIC, 2009, 88 minutes (Director: Peter Kerekes)—This innovative film re-imagines Europe’s troubled past through the unheralded culinary workers who “catered” some of the pivotal armed conflicts of the modern era. Punctuated by recipes, cooking demonstrations and sometimes-fanciful interviews, this record of the quotidian details of military cuisine underscores the futility—and unfortunate persistence—of ethnic and political warfare. US Premiere.

DANCING WITH THE DEVIL / UNITED KINGDOM, 2009, 102 minutes (Director: Jon Blair)—This gripping film by Oscar winner Jon Blair offers an intimate look at the running battle between police and drug lords in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. In the midst of staggering violence, Pastor Dione dos Santos tries to broker peace among all parties.World Premiere.

A GOOD MAN / AUSTRALIA, 2009, 79 minutes (Director: Safina Uberoi) Chris Rohrlach is an Australian farmer in remote New South Wales where farming is not the most lucrative profession. A GOOD MAN follows boisterous Chris and his awe-inspiring wife Rachel—who is paralyzed from the neck down—as they try to operate a brothel in the hopes that the extra income will help them make ends meet. US Premiere.

HUNTING DOWN MEMORY (JAKTEN PÅ HUKOMMELSEN) / NORWAY, 2009, 80 minutes (Director: Thomas Lien)—Imagine waking up in a foreign country and not knowing who you are, what you’re doing there or how you even got there in the first place. For 27-year-old Øyvind Aamot, finding his way home turns out to be only the beginning of yet another journey. US Premiere.

MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN / UNITED KINGDOM, 2009, 90 minutes (Director: Lucy Bailey)—Told through the lens of 74-year-old white farmer Michael Campbell and his family, the film explores Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s deeply controversial land seizure program, which was intended to redistribute white-owned land to poor black Zimbabweans. Instead it has led to an increase in poverty, hunger, violence and intimidation among the majority of the country’s citizens. US Premiere.

PARTLY PRIVATE / CANADA, 2009, 82 minutes (Director: Danae Elon)—Elon faces the question "To cut or not to cut?" in this charming, heartfelt and highly personal documentary. Elon travels from her home in New York to Washington, DC, Israel, Turkey, Italy and back again in search of guidance, as she and her husband address the question of whether to circumcise their sons. Along the way, she consults rabbis, doctors, priests, parents, activists and Buster, a slightly cracked anti-circumcisionist on horseback.

RENE / CZECH REPUBLIC, 2008, 83 minutes (Director: Helena T?eštiková)—For 20 years, Czech director Helena T?estíková filmed recidivist criminal René Plásil in his evolution from teen delinquent to career felon. Plásil offers an intelligent accounting of his life and nihilistic beliefs, but the whole truth is more elusive. East Coast Premiere.

SEA POINT DAYS / SOUTH AFRICA, 2008, 93 minutes (Director: Francois Verster)—Under Apartheid, the public pools and promenade at Sea Point were reserved for whites. Today this gorgeous section of Cape Town is a lively mix of people that epitomizes South Africa’s diversity. Nevertheless, an underlying malaise permeates SEA POINT DAYS. Francois Verster ponders the state of post-Apartheid South Africa in this lyrical feature. US Premiere.

THE SOUND OF INSECTS – RECORD OF A MUMMY / SWITZERLAND, 2009, 87 minutes (Director: Peter Liechti)—A hunter stumbles upon a ragged tent in a remote forest. Within lies a mummified corpse. A detailed journal found on site reveals that the man committed suicide by self-imposed starvation. Inspired by this true event and by Shimada Masahiko’s novella Until I Am a Mummy, Peter Liechti, known for his experimental and impressionistic style, evokes the mysterious man’s last days. US Premiere.

World Feature Jury: Esther Robinson, Filmmaker (A WALK INTO THE SEA); Karina Rotenstein (Programmer, Hot Docs); Geoffrey Smith, Filmmaker (THE ENGLISH SURGEON).

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY AWARD

INTANGIBLE ASSET NUMBER 82 / AUSTRALIA/JAPAN, 2008, 90 minutes Director: Emma Franz)—When an Australian jazz drummer embarks on a journey to find a South Korean shaman and master musician who also happens to be one of the country’s “intangible” cultural assets, the trip proves to be not only a musical exploration, but also a spiritual one.

RISE UP / ARGENTINA, 2009, 88 minutes (Director: Luciano Blotta)—Three Jamaican musicians fight for a place in the overcrowded reggae field. Ice Anastasia hails from a posh neighborhood in Kingston, while Turbulence is from Trenchtown. Kemoy Reid, a weighty female presence, is a country girl at heart. RISE UP looks at the grit behind the glamour and explores class and gender issues in Jamaica today. US Premiere.

SOUL POWER / USA, 2008, 93 minutes (Director: Jeffrey Levy-Hinte)—Before Muhammad Ali and George Foreman’s 1974 boxing match in Zaire, the biggest names in R&B assembled for a three-day music festival. Jeffrey Levy-Hinte takes this never-seen footage and shows us the talents of James Brown, Bill Withers, B.B. King, the Spinners and top African acts such as Miriam Makeba and Orchestre Afrisa International.

STILL BILL / USA, 2009, 78 minutes (Directors: Alex Vlack and Damani Baker)

—Grammy-winning songwriter and musician Bill Withers stopped making albums in 1985, after a 15-year career that included such hits as “Lean on Me” and “Just the Two of Us.” STILL BILL offers a multifaceted look at the intriguing and insightful Withers, where he’s been and what’s next. East Coast Premiere.

TRIMPIN: THE SOUND OF INVENTION / USA, 2008, 78 minutes (Director: Peter Esmonde)—In this intriguing sonic biography, Trimpin—composer, instrument inventor, installation artist and engineering savant—guides audiences through his quirky realm of acoustic wizardry, reflecting on a long career of musical innovation as he plans a new performance piece with the esteemed Kronos Quartet.

Music Documentary Jury: To be announced.

STERLING SHORT COMPETITION

The Festival also presents a Sterling Award for Best Short, in recognition of this increasingly acclaimed art form. The Short Film program will be released in the subsequent program announcement. Shorts programmed in SILVERDOCS have gone on to be nominated for an Academy Award each year of the Festival, and last year’s World Premiere of SMILE PINKI won the Oscar. THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT, directed by Ruby Yang, which had its world premiere at SILVERDOCS 2006, received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short and 2007’s FREEHELD won the Oscar.

Short Film Jury: Bryan Stamp, producer and executive at Participant Media; Angela Tucker, Filmmaker and producer (ELECTION DAY, ASEXUALITY: THE MAKING OF A MOVEMENT)

The SILVERDOCS festival runs June 15-22 at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in the Washington, DC area. SILVERDOCS presents eight days of programming showcasing 122 films plus special screenings, music performances and dozens of panel discussions featuring hundreds of filmmakers, subjects and media professionals. Now in its seventh year, SILVERDOCS—along with its concurrent International Documentary Conference—is the pre-eminent documentary Festival in the US.

WHATS NEW FOR SILVERDOCS 2009

Special Programs. Muhammad Ali in attendance for FACING ALI, which chronicles 10 heavyweight boxers who faced and fought ‘The Greatest’. Centerpiece Screening: in CONVENTION, A.J. Schnack assembles an all-star crew of documentary filmmakers to tell the story behind the mounting of one of the biggest events of the decade: the 2008 Democratic National Convention.

Guggenheim. The Festival’s signature program, the Charles Guggenheim Symposium, honors the legacy of artistic excellence, profound respect for humanity and democratic values of the late four-time Academy Award winning Guggenheim. In 2009, the Symposium will fete the legendary pioneer of “direct cinema” Albert Maysles in person for his extraordinary body of work, including THE SALESMAN, GIMME SHELTER, GREY GARDENS and last year’s THE GATES.

The Good Pitch. The Good Pitch, an innovative documentary pitch forum for filmmakers will be featured for the first time in the US at SILVERDOCS. Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation, in partnership with Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program created The Good Pitch in 2008 to give filmmakers a unique opportunity to pitch social-issue documentary projects with associated campaign strategies to NGOs, Charities, foundations, campaigners, advertising agencies, brands and media.

2009 Sponsors. Founding Sponsor: Discovery Communications; Founding Sponsor – International Documentary Conference: Corporation for Public Broadcasting; Official Hotel: Courtyard by Marriott Downtown Silver Spring; Official Airline: American Airlines; Official Media: Comcast; Official PR Agency: PR Collaborative; Major Sponsors: Montgomery County Maryland, Team Group, Downtown Silver Spring, Jackie’s

About SILVERDOCS

AFI-Discovery Channel SILVERDOCS Documentary Festival is an eight-day internationally recognized event that honors excellence in filmmaking, supports the diverse voices and free expression of independent storytellers and celebrates the power of documentary to improve our understanding of the world. Now in its seventh year, the festival runs June 15-22 at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in the Washington, DC area. The 2008 Festival featured 108 films from 63 countries presented to over 25,000 attendees, including the influential audiences of the nation’s capital and media professionals from around the world. The concurrent five-day SILVERDOCS International Documentary Conference presents thought-provoking presentations and engages a diverse group of over 1,000 filmmakers and industry leaders concerned with the future of non-fiction storytelling, production and distribution. For more information, go to SILVERDOCS.com.

About the American Film Institute

AFI is a national institute providing leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television and digital media. Additional information about AFI is available at AFI.com.

About Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications is the world’s number-one non-fiction media company reaching more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in over 170 countries. Discovery empowers people to explore their world and satisfy their curiosity through 100-plus worldwide networks, led by Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Planet Green, Investigation Discovery and HD Theater, as well as leading consumer and educational products and services, and a diversified portfolio of digital media services including www.HowStuffWorks.com. Discovery Communications is owned by Discovery Holding Company (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB), Advance/Newhouse Communications and John S. Hendricks, Discovery's founder and chairman. For more information, please visitwww.discoverycommunications.com.

CONTACT:

Jody Arlington, 301.495.6759
jarlington@AFI.com

Tammy Shea, 240.662.6506
Tammy_Shea@discovery.com