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Wednesday at SILVERDOCS

WEDNESDAY AT SILVERDOCS: World Premiere of CONVENTION followed by Town Hall with Filmmakers, Subjects, DNC Convention Organizers and Administration Representatives Sony Picture Classics’ Tom Bernard to Give Conference Keynote Silver Spring, Maryland, June 17, 2009—SILVERDOS presents the World Premiere of AJ Schnack’s CONVENTION, the highly anticipated ensemble documentary. Schnack assembled an all-star crew of documentary filmmakers to tell the story of the collective efforts to mount one of the biggest events of the past decade: the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The film captures Denver through the eyes of organizers, reporters, police, and protestors leading up to the historic nomination of Barack Obama. Following the screening, there will be a Town Hall discussion with many of the film’s filmmakers and subjects, including: Chantal Unfug, Special Assistant to the Mayor, Deputy City Liaison to the DNC; Katherine Archuleta, Chief of Staff at the US Department of Labor (formerly Lead City Planner for the DNC); Representative Chris Van Hollen; Kevin Scott, Permit and Protest Liaison for the City of Denver; Curtis Hubbard, Political Editor and Allison Sherry, Staff Writer, Denver Post. Moderated by NPR’s “Tell Me More” host Michel Martin.

WHAT: SILVERDOCS Presents CONVENTION followed by Panel Discussion

WHO:

AJ Schnack, Filmmaker
Reverend Leah Daughtry, 2008 Democratic National Convention CEO
Chantal Unfug, Denver’s Deputy City Liaison to the DNC
Katherine Archuleta, Chief of Staff at the US Dept. of Labor
Allison Sherry, Denver Post staff writer
Michel Martin, NPR Tell Me More host
Chris Van Hollen, Congressman
Curtis Hubbard, Political Editor of the Denver Post
Kevin Scott, Permit and Protest Liaison

WHEN: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 6:30 p.m. Press Check in 6:45 p.m. Photo Opportunity 7:00 p.m. Film 8:30 p.m. Town Hall

WHERE: AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD

OTHER WEDNESDAY EVENTS:

10:45 a.m. SILVERDOCS Conference—presents Editing Master Class with award-winning and longtime Spike Lee editor, Sam Pollard.

12:00 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents “Lost & Found,” a free showing of short films featuring LEFT BEHIND (WAS ÜBRIG BLEIBT), POCKETS, POSTE RESTANTE, PRESIDIO MODELO, SALT, and STEEL HOMES.

12:15 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents Part Two of the Albert Maysles Shorts Program, showcasing the short films of Maysles, this year’s Charles Guggenheim Symposium honoree. The program includes MEET MARLON BRANDO, WITH LOVE FROM TRUMAN, ORSON WELLES IN SPAIN, CHRISTO’S VALLEY CURTAIN.

12:30 p.m. Filmmakers Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater present the World premiere of MRS. GOUNDO’S DAUGHTER, following Mrs. Goundo’s quest to spare her two-year-old daughter, Djenebou, from the same severe act she endured as a child: genital cutting.

12:45 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents the East Coast premiere of RENE, an intelligent account of recidivist criminal René Plásil’s life and nihilistic beliefs in his twenty-year evolution from teen delinquent to career felon.

1:30 p.m. Filmmaker Emma Franz presents INTANGIBLE ASSET NUMBER 82, the story of the musical and spiritual exploration that ensued when an Australian jazz drummer embarked 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.

2:15 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents THE APPRENTICE (L’APPRENTI), a film following Mathieu, a young French man studying at a vocational high school in a small town who begins an internship at a farm where he acquires real-world knowledge that can never be learned in a classroom.

2:30 p.m. Filmmaker Jocelyn Cammack presents THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES, a wonderful profile of three vibrant women who live in a home for active seniors in North London that offers an unflinching perspective on aging.

2:30 p.m. SILVERDOCS Conference—PLENARY SESSION WITH KEYNOTE SPEAKER Tom Bernard, co-President and co-founder of Sony Pictures Classics, which distributes, produces, and acquires independent films from the United States and around the world. Bernard explores storytelling in an ‘always on’ world through his “The Future is Strange” address.

3:00 p.m. Filmmaker Leila Kilani presents OUR FORBIDDEN PLACES (NOS LIEUX INTERDITS), which tracks four Moroccan families’ search for the truth through the Equity and Reconciliation Commission, established in 2004 to investigate the state-sponsored disappearance of many citizens after the country won independence in 1956.

3:45 p.m. SILVERDOCS Conference—The Future of Public Media, a fun-filled, role-playing simulation that asks a diverse cast of experts to step out of 2009 realities and project themselves into the public media of the future: It’s 2016, and the new titans are Ticketmaster, Google, Amazon, and Hulu.

3:45 p.m. SILVERDOCS Conference—Social Media: Does it Make a Difference with Joe Berlinger, CRUDE filmmaker; Dan Cogan, Executive Director of Impact Partners; and Michael Markarian, COO and Executive Vice President for External Affairs, Humane Society of the United States.

4:30 p.m. Filmmaker Leon Gast presents WHEN WE WERE KINGS, a fascinating film that documents one of the greatest sporting and cultural events in recent history, Muhammad Ali and George Foreman’s 1974 journey to Zaire for the “Rumble in the Jungle” and the accompanying music festival organized by promoter Don King.

5:00 p.m. Filmmakers Gemma Cubero and Celeste Currasco present the US premiere of SHE IS THE MATADOR (ELLA ES EL MATADOR), an artful portrait of two women struggling to succeed in one of the last strongholds of Spanish machismo: bullfighting. Post-screening discussion with the filmmakers and the film subjects, Maria Vega and Eva Bianchini. Showing with MA BAR.

5:30 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents Doc Talk: Ensemble Filmmaking with AJ Schnack and members of the CONVENTION filmmaking team, in an exploration of the approach to ensemble filmmaking, the trials and tribulations, joys and triumphs of documenting an event on this scale, and the mechanics of the convention itself.

5:45 p.m. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer presents WINNEBAGO MAN, a film that depicts Jack Rebney’s unwitting rise to fame resulting from the expletive-filled outtakes of a Winnebago promotional video he starred in 20 years ago.

6:00 p.m. SILVERDOCS Filmmaker Landon Van Soest presents the World Premiere of GOOD FORTUNE, a thought-provoking feature examining two multi-million dollar international aid projects in Africa that may actually be undermining the very communities they seek to help. Showing with CHINA’S WILD WEST.

6:45 p.m. Filmmaker Peter Kerekes presents the US premiere of COOKING HISTORY, an innovative film that re-imagines Europe’s troubled past through the unheralded culinary workers who “catered” some of the pivotal armed conflicts of the modern era.

7:00 p.m. Filmmaker A.J. Schnack presents a SILVERDOCS Centerpiece Screening and World premiere of CONVENTION. See lead of Advisory.

7:15 p.m. Filmmaker Jennifer Baichwal presents ACT OF GOD, a film that captures stories from people who have been struck by lightening and the surprisingly different ways in which the experience changed their lives. Showing with ALI SHAN.

8:00 p.m. Filmmaker Oded Adomi Leshem presents the East Coast premiere of VOICES FROM EL-SAYED (SHABLUL BAMIDBAR), a film that examines the Israeli Bedouin village of El-Sayed which has the world’s largest percentage of deaf people and whose inhabitants have developed a unique sign language over generations.

8:15 p.m. Filmmaker Jenna Roasher presents the World premiere of JUNIOR, which follows Eddie “Junior” Belasco, age 75, who has always lived life to the fullest despite being diagnosed with diabetes in his teens. After a long career in show biz, Junior is on the verge of retirement and struggles to maintain his youthfulness, taking inspiration from his 99-year-old mother. Post-screening discussion with filmmaker and film subject, Eddie Belasco.

9:00 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents the US premiere of THE SOUNDS OF INSECTS- RECORD OF A MUMMY, an experimental and impressionistic evocation of the last days of a mysterious man whose mummified corpse was found in a remote forest after his self-imposed starvation.

9:30 p.m. Filmmaker Michel Orion Scott presents THE HORSE BOY, a moving feature charting a family’s hopeful journey to another continent in search of a remedy to their son’s autism that Western medicine couldn’t give them.

10:00 p.m. Filmmaker Helle Faber presents the North American premiere of LET’S BE TOGETHER, a touching and insightful film exploring issues of identity, gender performance, and difference that follows Hairon, a 14-year-old boy with a waifish figure, the bee-stung lips of a supermodel and a fondness for eyeliner and fine couture, and his relationship with his accepting but concerned family.

10:15 p.m. Filmmaker Brett Gaylor presents RIP: A REMIX MANIFESTO, an exploration of the nature of creativity, commerce and copyright in the 21st century pivoting off the example of mash-up artist Girl Talk. Post-screening performance by audiovisual remix kings Eclectic Method. Showing with THE ARCHIVE.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:

Jody Arlington, SILVERDOCS 301.495.6759, jarlington@AFI.com

Tammy Shea, Discovery Communications 240.662.6506, Tammy_Shea@Discovery.com