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Friday at SILVERDOCS

FRIDAY AT SILVERDOCS

SOUL POWER Screening with Performance by Fred Wesley

BEST WORST MOVIE and TROLL 2 Double Feature

Plus Free Outdoor Screening of FOR ALL MANKIND

Silver Spring, Maryland, June 19, 2009—Filmmaker Jeffrey Levy-Hinte presents a screening of SOUL POWER. 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 in SOUL POWER 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 Africa International. There will be a post-screening discussion and performance featuring filmmaker Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and legendary funk/jazz trombonist Fred Wesley. Wesley will also be performing prior to the screening.

WHAT: Screening and Performance of SOUL POWER

WHO:

Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Filmmaker
Fred Wesley, Musician

WHEN: Friday, June 19, 2009

7:00 p.m. FRED WESLEY QUARTET Performance
9:45 p.m. Screening
11:15 p.m. Discussion

WHERE:

Performance: Silver Plaza, Ellsworth Drive, Silver Spring, MD
Screening: AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD

OTHER FRIDAY EVENTS:

10:00 a.m. SILVERDOCS Conference—AND THE WINNER IS... featuring filmmakers Jon Blair and Barbara Kopple; Dr. Horace Newcomb, Director of the Peabody Awards; and Abi Wright, director of the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards for excellence in broadcast journalism. Moderated by Michael Lumpkin, Executive Director, IDA.

10:30 a.m. Filmmaker Yoav Shamir presents DEFAMATION, a provocative and humorous look at contemporary anti-Semitism. Yoav Shamir manages a balanced approach while traveling around the world on a quest to comprehend the difference between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.

11:30 a.m. Filmmaker Anne Aghion presents MY NEIGHBOR, MY KILLER. 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 the people who slaughtered your family. Post-screenign discussion with the filmmaker and Lars Waldorf, director of the Centre for International Human Rights, University of London.

11:45 a.m. Filmmaker Havana Marking and producers Martin Herring and Mike Lerner present AFGHAN STAR. After living through decades of conflict and oppressive regimes, Afghans engage in democracy by voting for their favorite singer on the hugely popular TV show Afghan Star. The film follows four contestants as they contend with each other and fellow compatriots who are influenced by the Taliban.

12:00 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents “CROSSING BORDERS,” a free showing of short films LEAVENWORTH, WA, LA CAMINATA (THE JOURNEY), NUTKIN'S LAST STAND, and WAGAH.

12:00 p.m. SILVERDOCS Conference—MASTER CLASS: DIRECTING. Featuring Leon Gast, documentarian, editor and photographer and Jeffrey Levy-Hinte, Producer/Director and President of Antidote Films. Moderated by Andrea Meditch, an independent film and media consultant who launched and built Discovery Films.

12:15 p.m. Filmmakers Gemma Cubero and Celeste Carrasco present the US premiere of their film SHE IS THE MATADOR (ELLA ES EL MATADOR). The surprising history of female bullfighters is revealed in this artful portrait of two women struggling to succeed in one of the last strong holds of Spanish machismo. Post-screening discussion with the filmmakers and film subjects, Maripaz Vega and Eva Bianchini.

1:00 p.m. Filmmaker Michel Orion Scott presents THE HORSE BOY, which tells the story of the Isaacsons, who raised their autistic son with patience and hope. Unlike any other loving family, the Isaacsons traveled to another continent in search of a remedy that Western medicine couldn’t give them.

1:45 p.m. Filmmaker Emma Franz presents INTANGIBLE ASSET NUMBER 82. 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.

2:00 p.m. Filmmaker Ondi Timoner presents WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, which chronicles Josh Harris’ social experiments for ten years. In 1999 he invited 100 people to live in a Manhattan loft under 24-hour surveillance. After that failed, he tried again with just his girlfriend and himself. Timoner’s footage is at times titillating and at times disturbing, but never short of engrossing. Post-screening discussion with the filmmaker and the film subject, Joshua Harris.

2:00 p.m. SILVERDOCS Conference—THE LEGAL 411 ON FILM AND MEDIA IN THE CLASSROOM featuring Pat Aufderheide, Professor and Director, Center for Social Media, American University, Peter Jazsi, Professor of Law, American University, and Della Curtis, Coordinator, Office of Library information Services Baltimore County Public Schools. Moderated by Gail Bailey, Director, School Library Media Programs, Montgomery County Public Schools.

2:15 p.m. Filmmaker Aron Gaudet presents THE WAY WE GET BY, the story of a group of senior citizens in Bangor, Maine who decide to get involved and greet hundreds of thousands of troops in the airport. These seniors offer comfort to many who otherwise have been forgotten by society, sharing the bonds of mortality and the need for human contact.

2:30 p.m. Filmmaker Oded Adomi Leshem presents the East Coast premiere of VOICES FROM EL-SAYED (SHABLUL BAMIDBAR), which documents the separation and isolation of a Catholic nursing home as an Israeli dividing wall creeps up around it.

2:30 p.m. SILVERDOCS Conference—SIX WAYS FROM SUNDAY: 21ST CENTURY DISTRIBUTION STRATEGIES A TWO-PART PRESENTATION, a two-part panel discussion. Part I features Nancy Abraham, Vice President, Programming, HBO, Josh Braun, Submarine, Jim Browne, Argot Pictures, Marshall Curry, Director, RACING DREAMS, and Steve Savage, President, New Video/Docurama. Moderated by Cynthia Lopez, Vice President, American Documentary | P.O.V. Part II features Eric D’Aberoff, Co-President, Road Side Attractions, Matt Dentler, Head of Marketing and Programming, Cinetic Rights Management, Liz Ogilvie, Vice President, Marketing, B-Side, Julie Goldman, Founding Partner, Cactus Three, and Molly Thompson, Director of Programming, A&E IndieFilms. Moderated by Kelly DeVine, Reframe Acquisitions Consultant, Tribeca Film Institute.

3:30 p.m. Filmmaker Mitch McCabe presents YOUTH KNOWS NO PAIN. McCabe is the daughter of a plastic surgeon and decides to immerse herself in the vast anti-aging industry. After meeting doctors, experts and others fighting the onset of old age, McCabe struggles against the ever-present temptation of eternal youth.

4:00 p.m. SILVERDOCS Conference—RADIO STORIES featuring John Barth, Managing Director, PRX; Neal Conan, Host and Sue Goodwin, Executive Producer, NPR’S “Talk of the Nation”; Richard Paul, Julie Shapiro, Artistic Director, Third Coast International Audio Festival. Moderated by Kathy Merritt, Director of Program Investments for Radio, CPB.

4:15 p.m. Filmmaker Mercedes Stalenhoef presents the East Coast Premiere of CARMEN MEETS BORAT. While 17-year-old Carmen makes her way through the trials and tribulations of her teenage years, her sleepy Romanian town gets an unexpected visit from a man named Borat with an American film crew in tow.

4:30 p.m. Producer Amy Dotson presents the East Coast Premiere of SWEETHEARTS OF THE PRISON RODEO. 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.

4:45 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents the US Premiere of HUNTING DOWN MEMORY. 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. Film subject Øyvind Aamot in attendance.

5:30 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents DOC TALK: THE STATE OF DOCUMENTARY FILM CRITICISM featuring Cindy Fuchs, Professor, George Mason University; David Edelstein, Film Critic, New York Magazine and NPR’s “Fresh Air”: Thom Powers, Documentary Programmer, Toronto Film Festival and Stranger Than Fiction Documentary Film Screenings,; Lisa Schwarzbaum, Film Critic, Entertainment Weekly; and Amy Taubin, film critic and contributing editor, British Sight & Sound and American Film Comment. Moderated by Philip Kennicott, Culture Critic, Washington Post.

6:00 p.m. Filmmaker Jon Blair presents the World Premiere of DANCING WITH THE DEVIL, which 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.

6:30 p.m. Filmmaker Safina Uberoi presents the US Premiere of A GOOD MAN, which tells the story of Chris Rohrlach, an Australian farmer in remote New South Wales where farming is not the most lucrative profession. The film 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.

7:00 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents “CULTURE CLASH,” short films featuring BRONX PRINCESS, THE FIRST KID TO LEARN ENGLISH FROM MEXICO, ME BRONI BA (MY WHITE BABY), and TEAM TALIBAN.

7:00 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents a free performance of the FRED WESLEY QUARTET in conjunction with the screening of SOUL POWER.

7:15 p.m. Filmmaker R.J. Cutler presents the East Coast Premiere of THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE, which allows viewers unprecedented access to Vogue editor Anna Wintour and her colleagues as they put together their largest publication of the year, the September issue. Cutler takes us to Europe on shoots, introduces us to fashion’s cognoscenti and shows us the competitive and contentious relationship between Wintour and her talented stylist, Grace Coddington. Post-screening discussion with the filmmaker, moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning Washingon Post fashion writer Robin Givhan.

8:45 p.m. Filmmaker Michael Paul Stephenson presents BEST WORST MOVIE. Called the Citizen Kane of bad movies, TROLL 2 was voted by Internet users as the worst movie ever made. The film humiliated and ruined the careers of every actor in the film. Yet it’s a cult phenomenon that brings joy to thousands. Michael Paul Stephenson, the film’s former child star, chronicles the unlikely popularity of a film so bad that it’s brilliant. Special showing of TROLL 2 following screening with star George Hardy in attendance.

9:00 p.m. Filmmaker Samantha Buck presents 21 BELOW, an engrossing and provocative portrait of a middle-class Jewish family in turmoil. Pregnancy, illness, class and race collide as this family tries to cope with tragedy. Post-screening discussion with the filmmaker and film subjects Jason Downs and Sophia Raab Downs.

9:00 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents a free outdoor screening of FOR ALL MANKIND. Forty years ago, in July 1969, the space race ended when Apollo 11 fulfilled President Kennedy's challenge of "landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth." No one who witnessed the lunar landing will ever forget it. Breathtaking both in the scope of its vision and the exhilaration of the human emotions it captures, FOR ALL MANKIND is the story of the 24 men who traveled to the moon, told in their words, in their voices, using the images of their experiences.

9:15 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents the North American Premiere of LET’S BE TOGETHER. Fourteen-year-old Hairon has a waifish figure, the bee-stung lips of a supermodel and a fondness for eyeliner and fine couture. Hairon is also a boy. In this touching and insightful film, complex questions of identity, gender performance and difference are explored through Hairon’s relationship with his accepting but concerned family.

9:15 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents the East Coast Premiere of RENE, which follows Czech director Helena T?estíková as she 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.

9:45 p.m. Filmmaker Jeffrey Levy-Hinte presents SOUL POWER. 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. Post screening discussion and performance featuring filmmaker Jeffrey Levy-Hinte and legendary funk / jazz trombonist Fred Wesley.

11:15 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents GREY GARDENS as part of its Albert Maysles Retrospective. In 1976, Albert and David Maysles introduced the world to Big Edie and Little Edie—high-society dropouts and reclusive relatives of Jackie O. This fantastically intimate portrait reveals a mother and daughter living in a world of their own, thriving together amid the decay and disorder of their ramshackle East Hampton mansion.

11:30 p.m. Christie Callan-Jones presents the US Premiere of CAT LADIES, A revealing look into the lives and motivations of four “cat ladies.” One thinks she’s gone too far, taken in too many. Another thinks there’s room for more. This quirky film sensitively takes us beyond the stereotypes to explore the extreme edge of the “cat lady” psyche. Showing with FORTY MEN FROM THE YUKON.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:

Jody Arlington, SILVERDOCS

301.495.6759, jarlington@AFI.com

Tammy Shea, Discovery Communications

240.662.6506, Tammy_Shea@Discovery.com