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Saturday at SILVERDOCS

SATURDAY HIGHLIGHTS AT SILVERDOCS:

World Premiere of THE NINE LIVES OF MARION BARRY to Close Festival

Silver Spring, Maryland, June 20, 2009—SILVERDOCS will close the Festival with World Premiere of THE NINE LIVES OF MARION BARRY, directed by Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer. Many people remember Marion Barry as the philandering drug-using mayor of the nation's capital, who was famously caught in a 1990 FBI sting operation. Yet others know him as a folk hero, a civil rights champion and defender of the poor. Barry’s soaring achievements, catastrophic failures and phoenix-like rebirths have made him a symbol of mythic indestructibility. Who is Marion Barry, really? A hero? A scoundrel? Why is he such a polarizing force? And why do people still vote for him? Directors Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer are scheduled to attend along with Marion Barry. Post-screening discussion moderated by NPR’s Juan Williams, featuring Civil Rights activist Lawrence Guyot, and NBC4 News reporter Tom Sherwood.

WHAT: World Premiere of THE NINE LIVES OF MARION BARRY

WHO:

Dana Flor, Filmmaker
Toby Oppenheimer, Filmmaker
Marion Barry, Politician/Subject
Lawerence Guyot, Civil Rights activist
Tom Sherwood, NBC4 News Reporter
Juan Williams, NPR, Moderator

WHEN: Saturday, June 20, 2009
6:15 p.m. Photo Op
6:30 p.m. Film
8:00 p.m. Panel

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

OTHER SATURDAY EVENTS:

9:00 a.m. SILVERDOCS Conference—SNEAK PREVIEW: VOICES UNBOUND: THE STORY OF THE FREEDOM WRITERS featuring a discussion with the film's director, Daniel Anker and Erin Gruwell, the Freedom Writers' teacher. Moderated by Matt Boratenski, Education Program Coordinator, AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center.

10:00 a.m. SILVERDOCS presents “CROSSING BORDERS,” short films featuring LEAVENWORTH, WA, LA CAMINATA (THE JOURNEY), NUTKIN'S LAST STAND, and WAGAH.

10:00 a.m. SILVERDOCS Conference—THE BACK STORY: TELLING THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY WORKSHOP WITH SPEAKEASY featuring Jon Blair, Oscar and Emmy Award-winning Director of DANCING WITH THE DEVIL IN THE CITY OF GOD; Samantha Buck, Director of 21 BELOW; Aron Gaudet, Director and Gita Pullapilly, Producer, THE WAY WE GET BY.

10:45 a.m. Filmmaker Peter Esmonde presents TRIMPIN: THE SOUND OF INVENTION. 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. Filmmaker Peter Esmonde and Trimpin in attendance.

11:00 a.m. Filmmakers Magus Gertten and Elin Jönsson present the North American Premiere of LONG DISTANCE LOVE. In Osh, Kyrgyzstan, if you are a young man like Alisher with a new bride, you might very well decide to strike out from home in the hope of finding a little work. While his bride Dildora stays behind with her new in-laws, Alisher heads for Moscow, where nothing goes according to plan.

11:00 a.m. SILVERDOCS Conference—MASTER CLASS: CINEMATOGRAPHY featuring Louie Psihoyos, who has been widely regarded as one of the top photographers in the world. This year at SILVERDOCS he is presenting his film THE COVE.

11:15 a.m. Filmmaker Marshall Curry presents RACING DREAMS, a rousing look at youth, passion and tricked-out go-karts, Oscar-nominated director Curry (STREET FIGHT) profiles three unforgettable pre-teen speedsters as they dream of professional racing stardom while competing in the World Karting Association championships.

12:15 a.m. SHORTS PROGRAM 5: DERAILED DREAMS, featuring UTOPIA, PART 3: THE WORLD’S LARGEST SHOPPING MALL, LONG DISTANCE, SANZA HANZA (KING SURFER), 12 NOTES DOWN (12 TONER NED), and GLASS TRAP (SZKLANA PULAPKA).

12:30 p.m. Filmmakers Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater present the WORLD PREMIERE of MRS. GOUNDO’S DAUGHTER. Mrs. Goundo is on a quest to spare her 2-year old daughter, Djenebou, from the same severe act she endured as a child: genital cutting. Mrs. Goundo and her husband settle in Philadelphia, only to face deportation and the labyrinthine US judicial system.

1:00 p.m. SILVERDOCS Conference—THROUGH A LENS DARKLY AND DIGITAL DIASPORA FAMILY REUNION, featuring award-winning filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris.

1:15 p.m. Filmmaker Danae Elon presents PARTLY PRIVATE, which asks the question, “To cut or not to cut?” Elon travels from her home in New York to Washington, D.C., 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.

1:45 p.m. Filmmaker Geralyn Pezanoski presents the East Coast premiere of MINE. Hurricane Katrina is bearing down on you. You have to leave your home. You can’t take your pet with you. When the rain stops and the water recedes, you find out that your pet is alive and well. Only he’s in another state with a new family. Imagine your surprise when they refuse to give him back. Post-screening discussion with filmmaker and subjects Jessie Pullins and Lorrainne Pullins.

2:15 p.m. Filmmaker Jocelyn Cammack presents THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES, profiling three vibrant women who live in a home for active seniors in North London. These are not your average old ladies—they are intellectuals with storied careers in journalism, literature, and activism. Jocelyn Cammack’s unflinching perspective on aging is highlighted by these truly inspirational characters.

2:30 p.m. Filmmaker Coco Schrijber presents BLOODY MONDAYS & STRAWBERRY PIES. Narrated by John Malkovich, the film uses Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground and Bret Easton Ellis’s American Psycho as touchstones to examine boredom and the human condition through portraits of a stockbroker, pie factory worker, artist, nomad, and school shooter.

3:30 p.m. Filmmaker Renzo Martens presents EPISODE 3: ENJOY POVERTY. With a deadpan, satirical style that is part Nicholas Kristof, part Andy Kaufman, filmmaker Renzo Martens travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo, attempting to persuade the poor that their poverty is a natural resource they should learn to exploit, given the perverse ways in which Western interests profit from African poverty. Post-screening discussion with the filmmaker and WAMU’s “Kojo Nnamdi Show” host, Kojo Nnamdi.

3:30 p.m. STERLING AWARDS CEREMONY

4:00 p.m. Filmmaker Louie Psihoyos presents THE COVE, which follows Richard O’Barry, the man who made “Flipper” a household name, as he and his team try to stop Japanese fishermen from slaughtering dolphins for the consumer marker. Psyhoyo’s film is an indictment of human greed and arrogance, a tale of redemption and a desperate call to action.

4:15 p.m. Filmmaker Jean-Marie Teno presents the East Coast premiere of SACRED PLACES, telling the story of a popular neighborhood of Ouagadougou, home of FESPACO, the premier pan-African film festival. SACRED PLACES is a beautifully constructed mediation on the economics of cinema and storytelling in postcolonial West Africa.

4:45 p.m. Producer Young-Jae Goh presents OLD PARTNER, the story of Mr. Lee, an old farmer living in a remote South Korean village, who has the most unlikely soul mate—his 40-year-old ox. The peculiar yet touching relationship between them evolves into an unforgettable companionship, sustaining them through failing health and a disappearing way of life.

5:00 p.m. Co-Director Lucy Bailey presents the US premiere of MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN, 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, but led to violence and intimidation among the country’s citizens.

6:00 p.m. Filmmakers David Barba and James Pellerito present POP STAR ON ICE, a funny, fast-paced and intimate film that follows the tumultuous career of ice skating superstar Johnny Weir, who hasn’t quite achieved Olympic glory. Ice skating fans will rejoice and newcomers will be pleasantly entertained with Johnny’s antics on and off the ice.

6:15 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 collife as this family tries to cope with tragedy. Post-screening discussion with filmmaker and film subjects Jason Downs and Sophia Raab Downs.

6:30 p.m. Filmmakers Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer present the World Premiere of THE NINE LIVES OF MARION BARRY as the Closing Night Film, examining the complexity of Barry’s persona as both hero and scoundrel. See advisory lead for details of post screening discussion.

7:00 p.m. Filmmaker Nicole Opper presents OFF AND RUNNING, the story of Avery, 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. Film subject Avery Klein Cloud in attendance.

7:15 p.m. Filmmaker Richard Parry presents the East Coast premiere of BLOOD TRAIL, which follows 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.

8:15 p.m. Filmmaker Michael Paul Stephenson presents the East Coast premiere of 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. And yet, it became 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.

8:30 p.m. Filmmaker Kimberly Reed presents PRODIGAL SONS, an absorbing and unpredictable family drama documenting Reed’s journey home to small-town Montana to reconcile with her estranged adoptive brother. The film evolves into a surprising mediation on gender, sibling rivalry, mental illness, and cinematic royalty.

9:00 p.m. Filmmakers Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein present NO IMPACT MAN. Colin Beavan is determined to trim his environmental impact to zero—from his eleventh-floor New York apartment. The catch is that he needs his wife and 3-year-old daughter to join him. Once the novelty of farmers markets, bicycles, and candlelight wears off, the family deals with its new reality.

9:15 p.m. Filmmakers Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher present the East Coast premiere of OCTOBER COUNTRY. This finely crafter portrait of a family in crisis is a beautiful representation of those suffering poverty in America. The film is a multi-generational story of a working-class family coping with poverty, teen pregnancy, foster care and the ineffable horrors of child molestation and war.

9:30 p.m. Filmmaker Jenna Rosher presents the World Premiere of JUNIOR. Even though he was diagnoses with diabetes in his teens, Eddie “Junior” Belasco, now 75, has always lived life to its fullest. On the verge of retirement after a long life in show biz, “Junior” struggles to maintain his youthfulness, taking inspiration from his 99-year-old mother. Post-screening discussion with filmmaker and Junior himself.

10:30 p.m. Filmmaker Luciano Blotta presents the US premiere of RISEUP, the story of three Jamaican musicians fighting for a place in the overcrowded Reggae field. The film looks at the grit behind the glamour and explores class and gender issues in modern Jamaica.

11:15 p.m. Filmmaker Ben Steinbauer presents WINNEBAGO MAN. While filming a promotional video for Winnebago 20 years ago, during 14 days of blistering summer heat, Jack Rebney’s frustration led to a series of expletive-filled tirades that stand in perfect contrast to the relaxation the Winnebago promises. But, Rebney doesn’t know the outtakes have made him famous.

11:30 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents RIP: A REMIX MANIFESTO. Pivoting off the example of mash-up artist Girl Talk, web activists and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores the nature of creativity, commerce and copyright in the 21^st century.

11:45 p.m. Filmmaker Ondi Timoner presents WE LIVE IN PUBLIC, which chronicles Josh Harris’ social experiments over the course of ten years. In 1999, he invited 100 people to live in a Manhattan loft, dubbed the “Bunker,” under 24-hour surveillance. Harris’ predictions of the digital age have come true, making this film relevant, titillating, at times disturbing, but never short of engrossing.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT:

Jody Arlington, SILVERDOCS

301.495.6759, jarlington@AFI.com

Tammy Shea, Discovery Communications

240.662.6506, Tammy_Shea@Discovery.com