The main subject of Julie Wyman’s STRONG!, Olympic weightlifter Cheryl Haworth, greets Silverdocs volunteers after a screening at this year’s 2012 festival.
Posts tagged "Documentary film"
2012 Silverdocs “BEST OF THE FEST”:
These films came back by popular demand for “Best of the Fest” on Monday, June 25th.
TRASH DANCE
Andrew Garrison
Audience Award for Best Feature
A trash collector pulls to the side of the road, picks up a can and dumps its contents into the back of his truck as thousands watch, captivated. TRASH DANCE documents the creation of a beautiful dance piece inspired by the work of often unnoticed public servants – sanitation workers. Audiences will fall in love with the characters of this film, and cheer them on as they give the performance of their lives.
-Silverdocs
SPARKLE
Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert
Audience Award Winner for Best Short
Sheri “Sparkle” Williams has been a star dancer with the Dayton Contemporary Dance Company for nearly 40 years – a track record virtually unheard of in the professional dance community. When the powerhouse dancer suffers her first serious injury, she must work to recover in time for a triumphant return to the stage at the age of 49.
-Silverdocs
THE WAITING ROOM
Peter Nicks
The complexity of the nation’s public health care system is etched in intimate detail in this poignant vérité portrait of an American public hospital and the community of patients and caregivers that intersect with it. The ER waiting room in Oakland’s Highland Hospital serves as the backdrop to an encounter with a diverse community of largely uninsured patients – a young victim of gun violence, small business owners, international asylum seekers – alongside an indefatigable staff charged with caring for them. Although seemingly about one hospital, THE WAITING ROOM serves as a microcosm for the national health care landscape marked by historic economic and political dysfunction.
-Silverdocs
OMA & BELLA
Alexa Karolinski
Best friends Bella and Regina share an apartment in Berlin, a passion for homespun Eastern European cooking and an extraordinary life history. Though Holocaust memories are never distant, their days are busy with gossip-filled visits to the hair salon, goofy soap operas, spirited family gatherings and – above all – the balm of lovingly-prepared dishes remembered from a fading era. L’Chaim meets guten Appetit in a nuanced celebration of indomitable camaraderie and remarkable, nurturing lives.
-Silverdocs
PLIMPTON! STARRING GEORGE PLIMPTON AS HIMSELF
Tom Bean, Luke Poling
Prominent writer, editor, amateur sportsman and friend to some of the world’s most powerful people, the late George Plimpton lived a life of dreams. Known for his willingness to try almost anything in the name of journalism, Plimpton has played quarterback for the Detroit Lions, acted in films alongside John Wayne and Tom Hanks, co-founded The Paris Review, played triangle for the New York Philharmonic and performed in a circus flying trapeze act. PLIMPTON! gives an unprecedented look into the world of this most fascinating Renaissance man.
-Silverdocs
FAME HIGH
Scott Hamilton Kennedy
FAME HIGH documents the lives of four talented high school students (an actress, a dancer, a pianist and a songwriter) struggling to gain fame, credibility and a diploma from Los Angeles’ premiere performing arts high school. Full of passionate performances and the intimate moments of teenage life, this film is sure to inspire and entertain audiences.
-Silverdocs
SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE
Debbie Lum
Twice-divorced 60-something Steven lives a quiet life by himself in San Francisco and has a “thing” for Asian women. When he meets 30-year-old Chinese national Sandy online, love blossoms quickly over the Internet. With plans to marry, Steven brings Sandy over from China, but the fantasies both have about each other turn out to be far from reality. With filmmaker Debbie Lum caught in the middle as an impromptu language translator between the two, SEEKING ASIAN FEMALE offers a humorous take on modern romance and the challenges of keeping any relationship together.
-Silverdocs
THE REVISIONARIES
Scott Thurman
Mild-mannered Don McLeroy is a dentist, an evangelical Christian and an avowed Young Earth Creationist. He was also the Chairman of the Texas State Board of Education. Once every decade, the 15 members of the Board meet to revise the textbook standards for five million schoolchildren. THE REVISIONARIES presents a rare behind-the-scenes look at the often fierce battle over what material is being taught in history and science books that will influence an entire generation of American children.
-Silverdocs
ANN RICHARDS’ TEXAS
Keith Patterson, Jack Lofton
Writers Guild of America East Award Winner
In a state known for outsized political personalities, a silver-haired lady from Austin became one of the biggest and boldest by speaking her mind and sticking to her guns. The high-energy ANN RICHARDS’ TEXAS celebrates her rise in the Democratic Party, her improbable turn as governor and her legacy as a feisty liberal icon. Bigwigs and big stars alike reflect on her unique appeal among an electorate that later embraced George W. Bush and Rick Perry.
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ESCAPE FIRE: THE FIGHT TO RESCUE AMERICAN
React to Film Award Winner
Matthew Heineman, Susan Froemke
What went wrong with America’s healthcare system, and how can it be fixed? In ESCAPE FIRE, filmmakers Matthew Heineman and Susan Froemke examine the nuts and bolts of the current battle raging over a healthcare system that is seemingly broken. Drawing from harrowing personal stories and the ongoing efforts of those trying to make a positive difference, this hard-hitting film focuses on finding workable solutions.
-Silverdocs
DETROPIA
Rachel Grady, Heidi Ewing
Once it may have been music, manufacturing or automobiles that defined Detroit but now, through the eyes of the makers of JESUS CAMP, it is its near dissolution and the scrappy residents fighting to keep it alive. While we meet numerous remarkable characters striving to make ends meet and to make sense of their city teetering on the brink of collapse, it is Detroit itself that emerges as its central and most evocative character. The intricate rhythms of desolation, survival and rebirth make DETROPIA a worthy heir of one of the founding glories of the documentary cinema – the city symphony.
-Silverdocs
ONLY THE YOUNG preceded by KINGS POINT
Jason Tippet, Elizabeth Mims
Sterling US and Sterling Short Award Winner
For three teens in the depressed suburb of Santa Clarita, California, the world is not so much a foreclosed wasteland of dry pools and shuttered businesses, but a post-apocalyptic playground where they can escape from the ruins of broken homes and explore different paths to maturity, independence and romance. Directors Tippet and Mims draw a chaste love triangle with cinematic tenderness, finding unexpected beauty in arcs of awkwardness, irreverence, rebellion, angst, joy and nascent wisdom.
KINGS POINT
Sari Gilman
Welcome to Kings Point, a retirement community located just outside of West Palm Beach, Florida. Inhabited by numerous transplants from New York who were lured by the promise of sunshine and palm trees, Kings Point is a place where retirees have begun a new part of their lives, for some the final chapter. This poignant film closely follows six longtime residents who share their stories of the challenges of starting over in a place where new bonds are formed for some, while others can never bring themselves to get too close.
-Silverdocs
¡VIVAN LAS ANTIPODAS!
Victor Kassakovsky
Cinematic Vision Award Winner
Imagine a camera able to pierce the planet and expose the opposite ends of the earth that lie diametrically opposed to one another. Acclaimed filmmaker Victor Kossakovsky reveals the sheer kinetic and visual splendor of the corners of our planet when he explores four pairs of dry-land antipodes: Argentina and downtown Shanghai, Lake Baikal in Russia and Patagonia in Chile, the active volcano Kilauea in Hawaii and the village of Kubu in Botswana, and Miraflores, Spain and the beach at Castle Point, New Zealand. In the end, it is not the differences, but the uncanny similarities that are most striking.
-Silverdocs
PLANET OF SNAIL
Seungiun Yi
Sterling World Award Winner
The poetry of the cinema merges fantastically with the poetry of touch, taste and smell when filmmaker Seung-Jun Yi encounters the deaf and blind South Korean poet Young-Chan. Through visually striking imagery and intimate detail, we see what it takes to forge a life of creative productivity and erotic happiness for a remarkable figure unwilling to accept as limitations the world of sight and sound from which he is isolated.
-Silverdocs
THE HOUSE I LIVE IN
Eugene Jarecki
React to Film Award Winner
America’s “war on drugs” officially began 40 years ago under the leadership of then President Richard Nixon. Over the course of four decades, America’s drug problem has only become worse. What went wrong? Filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (WHY WE FIGHT) offers a sobering comprehensive view of contemporary drug culture and examines the troubling realities of a broken system whose very existence, he argues, is making the problem worse rather than better.
-Silverdocs
Catch up on all the coverage of the fest including Filmmaker conversations with Heidi Ewing & Rachel Grady (DETROPIA), Eugene Jarecki (THE HOUSE I LIVE IN), David France (HOW TO SURVIVE A PLAGUE) plus even more.
Did you miss the adored second annual Silverdocs Tonight show with filmmaker A.J. Schnack? We got you covered here with coverage from Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights.
THE AUDIENCE AWARDS ARE IN:
…and the Audience Award for Feature goes to: TRASH DANCE. Come experience filmmaker Andrew Garrison’s feature for “Best of Fest” at 8:30 P.M.
The film is preceded by the Audience Award Short SPARKLE, a Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert film.
LBJ hits the Silver Spring streets and his impact is felt immediately. He traveled all the way to Silverdocs to wow the festival. The creation was made by artist Wayne White, the subject of Neil Berkeley’s film BEAUTY IS EMBARRASSING. The film is embarking on a kickstarter campaign that is nearing the finish. Help bring the film to theaters in the United States by visiting the page and pledging.
Behold, a Wayne White creation. Can you guess who it is? If it’s not obvious find out on Saturday & Sunday when art world darling Wayne White comes to town with BEAUTY IS EMBARRASSING.
Here’s an interview with filmmaker Ramona Diaz of DON’T STOP BELIEVIN’: EVERYMAN’S JOURNEY, the Opening Night film at Silverdocs 2012.
Guggenheim Symposium Honored Doc Filmmakers Joe Bergliner & Bruce Sinofsky
The Guggenheim Symposium is traditionally a special experience. Last night felt equally special in honoring documentary filmmakers Joe Berlinger & Bruce Sinofsky. The doc-duo has worked together for 25 years. “We love each other,” remarked Sinofsky. Jason Baldwin, one of the three freed “West Memphis Three” (WM3) joined the duo and gave salutatory remarks before excerpts of the filmmakers body of work was shown. Grace Guggenheim, filmmaker and daughter of four-time Academy Award-winning filmmaker Charles Guggenheim, for who the award is named after, presented the award to Berlinger and Sinofsky.
Filmmakers Joe Berlinger (left), Bruce Sinofsky (Center), and Eugene Hernandez of the Film Society of Lincoln Center
Here is a piece from the Silverdocs crew from Opening Night of Silverdocs 2012.
#Yearosdocs is snapping away
Festival participants are snapping away their photos for #yearofdocs to win screening vouchers for year-round docs at AFI. Here are just a few below. We want to see your view of the festival. Simply follow us @Silverdocs, snap a photo of the festival and hashtag it with #yearofdocs.
Silverdocs Spotlights Eco-Films
Environmental activism, conservation and urban wonders are just some of the themes showing in films this week at Silverdocs.
AMONG GIANTS
Chris Cresci, Ben Mullinkosson, Sam Price-Waldman 2011
Thursday, June 21, 12:00 p.m.
Friday, June 22, 2:45 p.m.
Risking injury and incarceration, an environmental activist disrupts the clear-cutting of an ancient redwood grove by sitting atop a tiny platform a hundred feet up in the tree canopy. Already three years into the tree-sit when filming begins, AMONG GIANTS blends vérité cinematography with intimate personal reflection to remarkable effect. – Silverdocs 2012
Website: http://www.amonggiantsfilm.com/
THE CENTRAL PARK EFFECT
Jeffrey Kimball 2011
Friday, June 22, 2:00 p.m.
Sunday, June 24, 10:00 a.m.
New York City might be the last place one thinks of when it comes to bird watching, but Manhattan’s Central Park is host to an impressive array of migratory birds each season. THE CENTRAL PARK EFFECT looks at this surprising and colorful hidden world within the city’s green oasis and the equally colorful binocular-clad New Yorkers who are compelled to watch, including a quirky teenager, a seasoned birdwatching group leader and celebrated author Jonathan Franzen. – Silverdocs 2012
CHASING ICE
Jeff Orlowski 2012
Tuesday, June 19, 4:30 p.m.
Wednesday, June 20, 12:45 p.m.
For years, warnings about the dangers of melting glaciers have been dismissed and ignored. Since 2005, photographer James Balog has been marking the changes to these massive ice sheets as part of The Extreme Ice Survey, a daring expedition to present undeniable evidence of global warming. This visually stunning portrait of Balog and his team combines compelling science and artistry as they brave the extreme elements, to show just how fast these ice mountains are disappearing. – Silverdocs 2012
Website: http://chasingice.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chasingice
RETURN OF THE SUN (Preceding CHASING ICE)
Glen Milner, Ben Hilton 2012
For the people of northern Greenland, the sun’s return over the horizon after the long winter darkness has always brought a powerful sense of renewal in the face of life’s challenges. Now that climate change is bringing challenges once unimaginable just a few years earlier, the return of the sun still fosters resilience and hope. – Silverdocs 2012
HOME TURF
Ross Whitaker 2011
Saturday, June 23, 10:00 a.m.
Sunday, June 24, 3:45 p.m.
In Co. Kerry, Ireland, the ancient art of cutting turf by hand to use as winter fuel is still practiced by a small group of dedicated men who don’t want to see their efforts replaced by modern machinery. HOME TURF follows these men during a summer cutting season as they work the land and reminisce about a way of life soon to become a distant memory. – Silverdocs 2012
Website: http://www.hometurffilm.com/
THE LAST ICE MERCHANT
Sandy Patch 2012
Thursday, June 21, 12:00 p.m.
Friday, June 22, 2:45 p.m.
Baltazar Ushca has been harvesting glacial ice for over 50 years from Chimborazo, the tallest peak in Ecuador. He is a fourth generation hielero, or ice merchant, and the last in his family to carry on the tradition amid cultural change in this indigenous community. – Silverdocs 2012
Website: http://thelasticemerchant.com/
Tickets are on sale for AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival, June 18 - 24 2012!
Now in it's 10th edition Silverdocs is the most talked about documentary festival in the United States, called “Non-Fiction Nirvana” by Variety, the “Pre-eminent documentary Festival in the US” by Screen International and the “premiere showcase for documentary film” by Hollywood Reporter.
Silverdocs encompasses a seven-day international film festival and five-day concurrent conference that promotes documentary film as a leading art form, supports the work of independent filmmakers and fosters an atmosphere for public dialogue and civic engagement around the issues and ideas explored in the films.
Now in it's 10th edition Silverdocs is the most talked about documentary festival in the United States, called “Non-Fiction Nirvana” by Variety, the “Pre-eminent documentary Festival in the US” by Screen International and the “premiere showcase for documentary film” by Hollywood Reporter.
Silverdocs encompasses a seven-day international film festival and five-day concurrent conference that promotes documentary film as a leading art form, supports the work of independent filmmakers and fosters an atmosphere for public dialogue and civic engagement around the issues and ideas explored in the films.
