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AFI-DISCOVERY CHANNEL SILVERDOCS DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL KICKS OFF “PEACEBUILDING ON SCREEN” STRAND WITH WAR DON DON

Silver Spring, Maryland, June 21, 2010

Filmmaker Rebecca Richman Cohen presents WAR DON DON as the first film in the AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs and United States Institute of Peace’s “Peacebuilding on Screen” strand. The USIP program will feature six independently produced documentaries from around the globe followed by panel discussions with leading thinkers and will continue throughout the week of the festival. WAR DON DON follows a trial in the United Nations’ “special court” in the heart of Freetown that attempts to reveal the answer to these questions: Is Issa Sesay a war criminal guilty of crimes against humanity? Or a reluctant fighter who protected civilians and played a crucial role in forging peace in Sierra Leone? Post-screening discussion features US Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues and former Chief Prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone, Stephen Rapp, Trial Monitor for the Open Society Justice Initiative, Alpha Sesay, and is moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Chairman of the Crimes of War Project, Roy Gutman.

WHAT: “Peacebuilding on Screen” Strand with WAR DON DON

WHO: Rebecca Richman Cohen, Filmmaker

Stephen Rapp, former Chief Prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone

Alpha Sesay, Trial Monitor for the Open Society Justice Initiative

Roy Gutman, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Moderator

WHEN: Tuesday, June 22, 2010

4:15 p.m. Film

6:00 p.m. Q&A

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

Space is limited for screening. All media may not be accommodated. Accredited media can use their pass to enter the screening but must arrive at least 15 minutes before the scheduled start time. Non-accredited press wishing to attend should RSVP to joshuadgardner@gmail.com.

OTHER TUESDAY EVENTS:

10:30 a.m. SPOTLIGHT ON FESTIVAL TALENT: DOCUMENTARY ETHICS INSIDE THE FAMILY. Featuring Doug Block, director, THE KIDS GROW UP; Kaleo La Belle, director, BEYOND THIS PLACE; Alexandra Codina, director, MONICA AND DAVID; Chico Colvard, director, FAMILY AFFAIR; and moderated by Pat Aufderheide, professor and director, Center for Social Media

11:00 a.m. Filmmaker Chico Colvard presents FAMILY AFFAIR which follows three sisters who grow up being terrorized and sexually abused by their father on a regular basis. It isn’t until their younger brother, the filmmaker, accidentally injures one of them—sending her to the hospital—that the truth begins to come to light. A riveting film from first-time director Colvard, FAMILY AFFAIR explores the complex psychology of incest.

12:00 p.m. Free showing of “A Kid’s Life,” short films featuring ALBERT’S WINTER, BORN SWEET, ON THE RUN WITH ABDUL and UNEARTHING THE PEN.

12:15 p.m. PUBLIC PURPOSE MEDIA IN THE AGE OF THE INTERNET. Join actor/director Robert Townsend and global nonprofit One Economy Corporation as they showcase and discuss their work to create and distribute online media geared toward improving the lives of minority and traditionally under-served communities through the Public Internet Channel (pic.tv).

1:30p.m. Filmmaker Uli Stelzner presents LA ISLA – ARCHIVES OF A TRAGEDY, a film about Guatemala’s violent history of repression at the hands of extremist political regimes that is laid bare following the discovery of a vast archive of secret police documents. As a team of dedicated forensic specialists sort through the files, the voices of the disappeared challenge the culture of impunity that plagued the nation.

1:45p.m. Producer Michael Chamberlain presents SECRETS OF THE TRIBE, where anthropology comes under the microscope in José Padilha’s (BUS 174) riveting ethnography about an isolated indigenous population and the scientists who study them. The Yanomami tribe of Venezuela was heralded as untouched by modern civilization until they accepted one American anthropologist into their fold, followed by many more, with shocking lapses in ethical, moral and scientific judgment.

2:30 p.m. Using never before seen footage from a lost reel of an incomplete Nazi-produced propaganda film about Warsaw’s Jewish ghetto in 1942, A FILM UNFINISHED captures images of manipulated and staged ghetto life mixed with stunning photographic evidence and testimony—all making for a riveting experience. Showing with OVERNIGHT STAY.

3:15 p.m. International Premiere of GRACE, MILLY, LUCY… CHILD SOLDIERS about Grace Akallo, one of many northern Ugandan women attempting to live a normal adulthood after being forced as children to fight for the Lord's Resistance Army, a notoriously brutal rebel group. Akallo and several others have become activists, striving to help female ex-rebels find a voice in the world, acceptance at home and forgiveness from one another. Showing with FOUND.

3:30 p.m. FUNDING/SELF-DISTRIBUTION CASE STUDY: THE WAY WE GET BY and the Companion Online 2.0 Returning Home Project. THE WAY WE GET BY is one of the top 300 all time grossing documentaries––and director/producer team Aron Gaudet and Gita Pullapilly did it all through self-distribution. Join these intrepid creative entrepreneurs for the nitty gritty as they share the innovative business model, developed with the help of the Harvard Business School, that allowed them to leverage key opportunities within public broadcasting.

4:00 p.m. Filmmaker Richard Press presents BILL CUNNINGHAM NEW YORK. As a mainstay of the “Sunday Styles” section of the New York Times, Bill Cunningham is constantly taking photographs for his “Evening Hours” and “On the Street” columns that showcase the fashion trends of New York City. Devoted to his work, Bill travels by bike and lives frugally in a studio above Carnegie Hall that is mostly storage space for his archives, a time capsule of how we dressed.

4:15 p.m. Filmmaker Rebecca Richman Cohen presents WAR DON DON a film about a trial in the United Nations’ “special court” in the heart of Freetown that attempts to reveal the answer to these questions: Is Issa Sesay a war criminal guilty of crimes against humanity? Or a reluctant fighter who protected civilians and played a crucial role in forging peace in Sierra Leone? Post-screening discussion includes Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues and former Chief Prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone, Stephen Rapp, human rights lawyer from Sierra Leon, Alpha Sesay, and moderated by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Roy Gutman.

5:00 p.m. Filmmaker Christian Frei presents SPACE TOURISTS, a film that looks into the crumbling infrastructure of the former Soviet military space program where Russians allow civilians to travel into space for the low, low price of $20 million. Meanwhile, poor herders in Central Asia wait expectantly for the discarded remains of the rocket to sell on the black market.

5:30 p.m. Filmmaker Stephanie Wang-Breal presents the East Coast Premiere of WO AI NI MOMMY (I LOVE YOU, MOMMY), about eight-year-old Chinese Fang Sui Yong adopted by a Jewish couple from Long Island who name her "Faith." The film follows Faith and her family’s twist-and-turn journey over a year and a half. Post-screening discussion featuring the filmmaker and film subjects.

6:30 p.m. Filmmaker Stephen Marshall presents the World Premiere of HOLYWARS, a film that follows two deeply committed men of faith–a Muslim and a Christian–as they travel the world spreading messages they both feel represent “the truth.” What happens when the men are put in the same room? This thought-provoking film is sure to push buttons and instigate discussions about the nature of religion, extremism and tolerance. Showing with THE VEIL.

6:30 p.m. Filmmaker Susan Koch presents the Washington, DC Premiere of THE OTHER CITY at The Newseum. A film about Washington, D.C., a city to the outside world that is full of gleaming white monuments and powerful people. But there is another city, the one experienced by those who live here, who are in the throes of an HIV/AIDS epidemic spiraling out of control. The film chronicles the efforts of a community to save itself while showcasing the impact of poor policy, denial and apathy. Space is limited so please respond to rsvp@kimballstroud.com to attend.

7:00 p.m. Filmmaker Doug Block presents THE KIDS GROW UP, the second of a planned trilogy that explores parenting from a different vantage point, turning the camera on his daughter, and only child, Lucy as she prepares to leave for college. The result is an intimate and poignant story of a family in transition and a father learning to let go. Post-screening discussion featuring the filmmaker and the subjects Lucy Block and Marjorie Block.

7:30 p.m. Filmmakers Geoffrey Smith and Roberto Hernández present the East Coast Premiere of PRESUMED GUILTY, a stunning look into the indictment of Mexican jurisprudence. The film invites unsettling suspicion that legions of hapless prisoners face groundless decades behind bars.

7:45 p.m. Producer Jerome Aglibert presents WE DON’T CARE ABOUT MUSIC ANYWAY…about the metaphorical edge of Tokyo where music crumples and the musicians are to blame. They wire themselves for sound, treat familiar instruments like cheap playthings, get lost in technology, and embrace every hiss, pop, thud, buzz and drone.

9:15 p.m. Filmmaker Eytan Harris presents the East Coast Premiere of AS LILITH which features an Israeli mother, Lilith, who wants the body of her 14-year-old daughter cremated after she commits suicide. Before she can proceed, she must fight ZAKA, one of Israel’s most powerful religious organizations, which is fundamentally against cremation.

9:30 p.m. Filmmaker Kaleo La Belle presents the US Premiere of BEYOND THIS PLACE, a film that follows his father Cloud Rock La Belle, a quintessential hippie still living a perpetually stoned and carefree lifestyle 40 years after the ‘60s ended. Kaleo attempts to re-connect with his absentee father by taking a 500-mile bike trip together around the Pacific Northwest.

10:00 p.m. Filmmakers Jennilyn Merten and Tyler Measom present SONS OF PERDITION that offers an eye-opening look into the world of The Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS), a branch of Mormonism that has continued the practice of polygamy since its emergence in the early 20th century. Far too often they exile young men, who are forced to find their way in a world previously unknown.