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AFI-DISCOVERY CHANNEL SILVERDOCS PRESENTS WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN” AS CENTERPIECE SCREENING

WEDNESDAY HIGHLIGHTS:

Festival to also Present North American Premiere of Oliver Stone’s SOUTH OF THE BORDER

Silver Spring, Maryland, June 22, 2010—AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival presents the East Coast Premiere of WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN” directed by Davis Guggenheim (AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, IT MIGHT GET LOUD) as its Centerpiece Screening. When we think of ‘No Child Left Behind,’ we likely think of the 2001 legislation that expanded the federal role in schools and has become a controversial focal point of education policy. In Guggenheim’s epic assessment of the rise and fall of the U.S. school system, we are confronted with both sobering information and hope that education reformers may reshape education culture to truly leave no student behind. There will be a post-screening discussion featuring Davis Guggenheim, Filmmmaker; Michelle Rhee, DC Public Schools Chancellor; Randi Weingarten, President, United Teachers Federation and moderated by Claudio Sanchez, NPR Education Correspondent.

WHO: Davis Guggenheim, Filmmaker

Michelle Rhee, Subject and DC Public Schools Chancellor

Randi Weingarten, President, United Teachers Federation

Claudio Sanchez, NPR Education Correspondent, Moderator

WHEN: Wednesday, June 23, 2010

6:40 p.m. Press Check-in

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

Space is limited for the Centerpiece Screening. All media may not be accommodated. Media wishing to attend event or participate in the photo op should RSVP to Joshua Gardner at joshuadgardner@gmail.com.

OTHER WEDNESDAY EVENTS:

11:00 a.m. THE GOOD PITCH @ SILVERDOCS - PART I. Presented in association with Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, The Good Pitch @ Silverdocs is aimed at directors and producers of any nationality eager to work in partnership to harness the power of documentary to create positive change. Eight inspiring film projects that tackle important global and national issues will be presented to a group of experts from charities, foundations, advertising agencies, and public and commercial media interests.

11:15 a.m. Filmmaker Susan Koch presents THE OTHER CITY, 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. Showing with LAST ADDRESS.

12:00 p.m. Free showing of “Creature Comforts,” short films featuring ARSY-VERSY, BIG BIRDING DAY, THE HERD, A MOTH IN SPRING and THE POODLE TRAINER.

12:30 p.m. THE INVENTION OF DR. NAKAMATS features perhaps the most famous inventor that you’ve never heard of, 80-year-old Dr. Nakamats; a brilliant and eccentric holder of the world record in patents—3,300 and counting. A cult figure in Japan, the unforgettable Dr. Nakamats is credited for the creation of the floppy disk, the first digital watch, flying “PyonPyon” shoes and “Love Jet” spray to heighten sexual stimulation.

1:45 p.m. Filmmaker Boris Miti? presents the US Premiere of GOODBYE, HOW ARE YOU? An unseen protagonist searches for opponents to challenge to a duel—the weapon: language. Specifically, the Serbian tradition of the satirical aphorism, a punchy escapade with a subversive twist deployed as a buffer against political corruption and the ravages of war. Showing with LIES.

2:00 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.

2:30 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.

2:30 p.m. THE GOOD PITCH @ SILVERDOCS - PART II. Presented in association with Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, The Good Pitch @ Silverdocs is aimed at directors and producers of any nationality eager to work in partnership to harness the power of documentary to create positive change. Eight inspiring film projects that tackle important global and national issues will be presented to a group of experts from charities, foundations, advertising agencies and public and commercial media interests.

3:30 p.m. Shorts: “A Kid’s Life,” featuring ALBERT’S WINTER, BORN SWEET, ON THE RUN WITH ABDUL and UNEARTHING THE PEN.

4:00 p.m. US Premiere of WOMAN WITH THE 5 ELEPHANTS about eighty-five-year old Svetlana Geier, witness to unspeakable horrors, who has dedicated her life to language. Considered the greatest translator of Russian literature into German, Svetlana has just concluded her magnum opus, completing new translations of Dostoyevsky’s five great novels—known as the five elephants. Showing with PARA FUERA.

4:30 p.m. Filmmaker Oliver Stone (WALL STREET, JFK) presents the North American Premiere of SOUTH OF THE BORDER, his new documentary in which Stone embarks on a road trip to five different South American countries interviewing seven South American heads of state to examine what he considers to be the mainstream media’s misrepresentation of them. Post-screening discussion with Filmmaker Oliver Stone, Mark Weisbrot, Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Cynthia Arnson, Director Latin American Program, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, and moderated by NPR Talk of the Nation host Neal Conan.

5:00 p.m. Filmmaker Michael Madsen presents INTO ETERNITY, a film that ponders how to caution explorers from future civilizations who may be driven by curiosity, or a desire to understand their distant past, to stay clear of buried nuclear waste.

6:00 p.m. HIS & HERS is a gentle and moving documentary featuring 70 Irish women whose years range sequentially from infancy to old age who share their unique stories of life and love with the men closest to them, whether it be fathers, boyfriends, husbands or sons. Showing with THE HERD.

6:45 p.m. Filmmakers Mika Hotakainen and Joonas Berghäll present the US Premiere of STEAM OF LIFE. It’s neither a therapist’s office nor a lover’s bed where Finnish men’s deepest feelings about life, love and family are brought to the surface: It’s the sauna. The film allows the viewer to become a fly on the wall as it listens in on men—naked men—talking to other men (or occasionally a grizzly bear) in the sanctuary of the country’s ubiquitous saunas.

7:15 p.m. Filmmaker Lisa Gossels presents the World Premiere of MY SO-CALLED ENEMY. Filmed over a seven-year period, it follows a group of teenage Israeli and Palestinian girls committed to mutual understanding and a just solution to the conflict that continues to rage in their homeland. There will be a post-screening discussion featuring Lisa Gossels, Filmmaker; Manal Omar, United States Institute of Peace; Robin Wright, Journalist and Foreign Policy Analyst; and moderated by Tara Sonenshine, Executive Vice President, United States Institute of Peace.

7:30 p.m. Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim presents WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN,” which follows the way we think of ‘No Child Left Behind,’ the 2001 legislation that expanded the federal role in schools that has become a controversial focal point of education policy. In Guggenheim’s epic assessment of the rise and fall of the U.S. school system, we are confronted with both sobering information and hope that education reformers may reshape education culture to truly leave no student behind. There will be a post-screening discussion featuring Davis Guggenheim, Filmmmaker; Michelle Rhee, DC Public Schools Chancellor; Randi Weingarten, President, United Teachers Federation and moderated by Claudio Sanchez, NPR Education Correspondent.

8:00 p.m. Producer Peter Engell presents THE RED CHAPEL about Danish journalist and provocateur Mads Brügger who arranges to take a small comedy troupe dubbed The Red Chapel to North Korea under the guise of a cultural exchange, using humor to challenge and expose one of the world’s most notorious regimes, with far more success than he anticipated. Showing with ARIRANG - LETTER TO BARACK.

9:00 p.m. Filmmaker Nicole N. Horanyi and producer Karoline Leth presents the East Coast Premiere of THE DEVILLES about the Gearys who aren't your typical suburbanites. Terri (aka Kitten DeVille) is a burlesque star and Shawn fronts an L.A. punk band. After 26 years of good times and bad, they find themselves at a pivotal moment in a complicated marriage with no certain outcome.

10:00 p.m. Screening of “Still Here,” short films featuring THE DARKNESS OF DAY, HOLDING STILL, IF THESE WALLS COULD TALK, LISTENING TO THE SILENCES and THIS CHAIR IS NOT ME.

10:30 p.m. Producer Will Schluter presents RIDE, RISE, ROAR, a rare look into the creative process of the enigmatic musician David Byrne and frequent collaborator Brian Eno. The film moves beyond “concert film” to illuminate the creative act itself, seamlessly weaving footage from conception, rehearsal and performance revealing how Byrne’s music comes into being.