| News & Links | AFI-DISCOVERY CHANNEL SILVERDOCS DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL TO HONOR FREDERICK WISEMAN AT GUGGENHEIM SYMPOSIUM SILVERDOCS

AFI-DISCOVERY CHANNEL SILVERDOCS DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL TO HONOR FREDERICK WISEMAN AT GUGGENHEIM SYMPOSIUM

AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival’s annual Charles Guggenheim Symposium honors the legacy of the late four-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Charles Guggenheim. This year the Symposium celebrates Frederick Wiseman for his body of documentary work including: TITICUT FOLLIES, HIGH SCHOOL, SINAI FIELD MISSION, and BASIC TRAINING. Frederick Wiseman has brought a curious, patient and sensitive eye to a diverse spectrum of American culture during his prolific career as a documentarian. From a hospital to a high school, a welfare center to a police precinct, Wiseman’s films reveal the deep inner workings of American society. Whether they reflect the American Dream or American disillusionment, Wiseman’s camera observes human behavior in all its banal, complex, contradictory and unpredictable modes, particularly as they manifest within institutional structures. With extraordinary restraint and minimal intrusion or influence, Wiseman has trained his camera on welfare recipients and victims of domestic violence, doctors and soldiers, ballet dancers and factory workers, Benedictine monks and fashion models, offering striking observations on the grand panorama of American life. The festival will screen a series of excerpts from Wiseman’s body of documentary work. Paula Kerger, President and CEO of PBS, will give the opening remarks. Following the screening, Wiseman will be joined by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN”) to engage in a discussion of his career.

Silver Spring, Maryland, June 23, 2010—AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival’s annual Charles Guggenheim Symposium honors the legacy of the late four-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker, Charles Guggenheim. This year the Symposium celebrates Frederick Wiseman for his body of documentary work including: TITICUT FOLLIES, HIGH SCHOOL, SINAI FIELD MISSION, and BASIC TRAINING. Frederick Wiseman has brought a curious, patient and sensitive eye to a diverse spectrum of American culture during his prolific career as a documentarian. From a hospital to a high school, a welfare center to a police precinct, Wiseman’s films reveal the deep inner workings of American society. Whether they reflect the American Dream or American disillusionment, Wiseman’s camera observes human behavior in all its banal, complex, contradictory and unpredictable modes, particularly as they manifest within institutional structures. With extraordinary restraint and minimal intrusion or influence, Wiseman has trained his camera on welfare recipients and victims of domestic violence, doctors and soldiers, ballet dancers and factory workers, Benedictine monks and fashion models, offering striking observations on the grand panorama of American life. The festival will screen a series of excerpts from Wiseman’s body of documentary work. Paula Kerger, President and CEO of PBS, will give the opening remarks. Following the screening, Wiseman will be joined by Academy Award-winning filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN”) to engage in a discussion of his career.

WHAT: Guggenheim Symposium

WHO: Frederick Wiseman, Guggenheim Honoree

Davis Guggenheim, Filmmaker

Paula Kerger, President & CEO, PBS

Sky Sitney, AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Artistic Director

WHEN: Thursday, June 24, 2010

6:40 p.m. Press Check-in

7:00 p.m. Photo Op

7:30 p.m. Guggenheim Symposium

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

Space is limited for the symposium and reception. 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 THURSDAY EVENTS:

10:45 a.m. Producer Laurens Grant presents Stanley Nelson’s FREEDOM RIDERS which vividly evokes the sense of possibility and danger of the historic rides, masterfully balancing archival footage with first-person accounts. Freedom Riders boarded interstate buses in 1961 and rode into our consciousness, risking their own lives to illustrate segregation at work in the American south.

11:30 a.m. A Conversation with the Honorable Julius Genachowski, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission and Michael Winship. President of the Writers Guild of America, East to discuss the intersection of technology and media, including the future of broadband, net neutrality, and other areas of interest to media makers.

11:30 a.m. Filmmaker Eytan Harris presents 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.

12:00 p.m. Free showing 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.

12:30 p.m. Filmmaker Lisa Gossels presents MY SO-CALLED ENEMY, filmed over a seven-year period, which 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.

1:30 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.

1:45 p.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. Post-screening discussion featuring the filmmaker Uli Stelzner; Tani Adams, Research Director, Institute of Learning for Social Reconciliation (Guatemala); Ambassador Francisco Villagrán de León, Embassy of Guatemala; and moderated by Tom Gjelten, NPR senior correspondent.

2:30 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.

3:00 p.m. Screening of “Creature Comforts,” short films featuring ARSY-VERSY, BIG BIRDING DAY, THE HERD, A MOTH IN SPRING and THE POODLE TRAINER.

4:00 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.

4:00 p.m. DOC TALK: A Conversation wit Acclaimed Director Steve James (HOOP DREAMS, STEVIE, AT THE DEATH HOUSE DOOR) and AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Artistic Director Sky Sitney.

4:30 p.m. Filmmakers Georgia Sugimura Archer and Kristin Armfield present the World Premiere of BARBERSHOP PUNK, about software engineer Robb Topolski who became the unlikeliest hero in the “net neutrality” debate when he discovered his effort to share legal turn-of-the-century barbershop quartet music was being secretly censored. Post-screening discussion includes Robb Topolski of the New America Foundation and Future of Music Coalition Policy Director Michael Bracy, President, Writers Guild of America East, Michael Winship, and moderated by Marketplace Senior Reporter Nancy Marshall-Genzer.

5:00 p.m. Filmmaker Malcolm Murray presents the East Coast Premiere of CAMERA, CAMERA. In Laos, the digital camera is the universal sign of the tourist, but when westerners take photos in seemingly exotic locals, what are they really capturing? A snapshot of reality, or a highly-distorted caricature that reveals more about the photographer than the landscape? This poetic film invites you to reconsider what it means to be a stranger in a strange land. Showing with BETWEEN DREAMS.

5:15 p.m. Filmmaker C. Scott Willis presents THE WOODMANS, an intimate portrait of a creative clan touched by tragedy. “There is a psychic risk in being an artist,” says George Woodman, the patriarch of the family profiled in the film. This carefully crafted film explores the continuing artistic endeavors of the family while recounting the troubled life of Francesca, whose prescient photographic work achieved acclaim decades after its creation.

6:30 p.m. Filmmaker Robin Hessman presents MY PERESTROIKA, an intimate and heartfelt portrait of the last generation of Soviet children brought up behind the Iron Curtain. The film presents a complex picture of the challenges, dreams and disillusionments of this cross-over generation. Post-screening discussion featuring the filmmaker, moderated by former NPR President and The Washington Post Moscow Bureau Chief Kevin Klose.

7:15 p.m. Filmmaker Julia Bacha presents BUDRUS, a rousing film about one Palestinian village and its unlikely hero—humble family man turned activist Ayed Morrar. It reveals the power of ordinary people to peaceably fight for extraordinary change. Post-screening discussion featuring the Filmmaker and subject Ayed Morrar.

7:30 p.m. THE CHARLES GUGGENHEIM SYMPOSIUM honors Frederick Wiseman for his body of documentary work including: CENTRAL PARK, SINAI FIELD MISSION and BASIC TRAINING. Discussion with Wiseman moderated by Filmmaker Davis Guggenheim (WAITING FOR “SUPERMAN”, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH).

7:45 p.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.

9:00 p.m. Filmmaker Crayton Robey presents the North American Premiere of MAKING THE BOYS about the 1968 play by Mart Crowley that opened off-Broadway called The Boys in the Band featuring homosexual friends who gather for a birthday party that quickly turns ugly. No one could have guessed the impact that the small production would have on the tempestuous social climate of the 1960s. The film sheds new light on a cultural milestone now mostly forgotten.

9:30 p.m. Filmmaker Henry Corra presents the World Premiere of THE DISAPPEARANCE OF MCKINLEY NOLAN. Forty years after Pvt. McKinley Nolan vanished in Vietnam, his family learns there is hope the beloved brother, husband and father is alive and the decades-long mystery of his disappearance may be solved. Post screening discussion with Henry Corra and members of the Nolan family.

10:00 p.m. Filmmaker Lucy Walker presents WASTE LAND, which documents the creative process of accomplished Brazilian artist Vik Muniz who muses on the idea for his next project. What begins as a physical journey from an art studio in Brooklyn all the way to Jardim Gramacho, a staggeringly large garbage dump on the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, soon becomes a more profound journey of the transformative power of art. Showing with PLASTIC AND GLASS.

American Airlines, the official airline of AFI, is a sponsor of the Festival.

About AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs

AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival is a seven-day internationally recognized event that honors excellence in filmmaking, supports the diverse voices and free expression of independent storytellers and celebrates the power of documentary to improve our understanding of the world. Now in its eighth year, the 2010 festival runs June 21–27 at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in the Washington, D.C. area. The 2009 Festival featured 122 films from more than 60 countries and attracted over 27,000 attendees, including the influential audiences of the nation’s capital and media professionals from around the world. The concurrent five-day AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs International Documentary Conference presents thought-provoking presentations and engages a diverse group of over 1,000 filmmakers and industry leaders concerned with the future of non-fiction storytelling, production and distribution. For more information, go to Silverdocs.com.

About the American Film Institute

AFI is America’s promise to preserve the history of the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work, and to educate the next generation of storytellers. As a national, public-supported educational and cultural organization, AFI provides leadership in film, television and digital media and is dedicated to initiatives that engage the past, the present and the future of the moving image arts.

AFI preserves the legacy of America’s film heritage through the AFI Catalog of Feature Films, an authoritative and scholarly record of American films made from 1893 to the present, and the AFI Archives, which contains rare footage from AFI’s history.

AFI honors the artists and their work through a variety of annual programs and special events, including the AFI Life Achievement Award and AFI Awards. For 38 years, the AFI Life Achievement Award has remained the highest honor for a career in film while AFI Awards, the institute’s almanac for the 21st century, honors the most outstanding motion pictures and television programs of the year. AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies television events and definitive movie reference lists, as well as AFI Night at the Movies, have introduced and reintroduced classic American movies to millions of film lovers. And as the largest nonprofit exhibitor in the United States, AFI offers film enthusiasts a variety of events throughout the year, including AFI Fest presented by Audi, the longest running international film festival in Los Angeles; AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs, the largest documentary festival in the US; AFI Project: 20/20, a global exchange initiative; and year-round programming at the AFI Silver Theatre in the Washington, D.C. area.

AFI educates the next generation of storytellers at its world-renowned AFI Conservatory, offering a two-year Master of Fine Arts degree in six filmmaking disciplines: Cinematography, Directing, Editing, Producing, Production Design and Screenwriting. AFI also explores new digital technologies through special workshops, and showcases the work of young storytellers through AFI ScreenNation.

Additional information about AFI is available at AFI.com.

About Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is the world’s number one nonfiction media company reaching more than 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers in 180 countries. Discovery empowers people to explore their world and satisfy their curiosity through 100-plus worldwide networks, led by Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, Science Channel, Investigation Discovery, Planet Green, and HD Theater, as well as leading consumer and educational products and services, and a diversified portfolio of digital media services including HowStuffWorks.com. For more information, please visit discoverycommunications.com.

About the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center

AFI Silver is among the nation's premier film theaters, building an appreciation of the art and artists through exploring and celebrating new and classic films and filmmakers from around the globe. AFI Silver offers a year-round program of the best in American and international cinema, featuring a dynamic mix of retrospectives, special events, tributes, on-stage guest appearances, specialty first-run movies, festivals, premieres, and education and community-based programs in a theatrical setting of the highest standards. Anchored by the stunningly restored 1938 Silver Theatre, the three-screen AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center is a state-of-the-art film and digital media exhibition venue that serves as a national model for preserving and honoring our shared film and film-going heritage. American Airlines is the official airline of the American Film Institute.