silverdocs Tagged Articles at Cinematical
AFI Announces Silverdocs Award Winners
Filed under: Documentary », Awards »
Each June, the American Film Institute convenes the Silverdocs Film Festival (they like to spell it in all caps, SILVERDOCS) in the Washington, DC suburbs. The festival, presented in partnership with the Discovery Channel, is actually a full-blown documentary conference, and it gives out sizable cash prizes to the winners of its awards. Cinematical missed the fest this year (though we did manage to notice their interesting choice to honor Spike Lee), but we figured we'd tell you about the results.The grand prize for a US feature -- a handsome ten grand plus a lot of expensive film stock from Kodak -- went to Scott Hamilton Kennedy (2002's OT: Our Town) for The Garden. The movie told the story of the South Central Farm -- a 14-acre community garden that sprung up at the site of the 1992 LA Riots. Kennedy chronicles the farmers' battle with landlords, the city of Los Angeles, and the courts.
Silverdocs Plans to Honor Spike Lee
Filed under: Documentary »
Silverdocs, the annual documentary film festival in Maryland hosted by AFI and the Discovery Channel, announced today that it plans to honor Spike Lee at the eight-day gathering in June. It's an interesting choice. Anyone active in the documentary community can rattle off a ton of accomplished filmmakers in the field whose degrees of visibility will never reach Lee's celebrity stature. Nanette Burstein? Marina Zenovich? Nick Broomfield? All talented directors with growing bodies of work deserved of recognition, especially by the doc-friendly crowd. But I'm not complaining. Lee has proven himself just as competent in the arena of non-fiction, and he rarely gets the same kind of credit for it. When the Levees Broke was the essential survey of Hurricane Katrina's crippling impact, and 4 Little Girls mourned death and persecution without negating the perseverance of human spirit. With the unique sort of rabble-rousing Lee has been known for, he's a sort of documentary film himself: During previous public appearances, he has lashed out at a number of targets ranging from George W. Bush to 50 Cent. Silverdocs plans to put him onstage this summer after screenings of his films for a discussion of his career, but who knows what sort of controversy he'll stir up? A good one, no doubt.
SilverDocs: Religion, Politics, Women and Other Controversial Topics
Filed under: Documentary », Foreign Language », Independent », Music & Musicals », Other Festivals », Religious », Cinematical Indie »
With plans to screen 100 documentaries in just six days, SilverDocs 2007 gets under way Tuesday, June 12 with Pete Seeger: The Power of Song, directed by Jim Brown (no, not that one; this one), which promises to interweave folk music, social upheaval and Seeger's life and music. Among the six films competing for the Music Documentary Award will be Hip Hop Revolution (history of hip hop in South Africa), Kurt Cobain About a Son (the late musician narrating his own journey) and Nomadak Tx (from Spain, about two musicians and a "magical instrument"). The Beyond Belief program explores "faith, fanaticism, spirituality and ethics in civil society," according to the press notes, and includes the world premieres of Living Goddess (a young girl worshipped as the incarnation of a Hindu goddess lives peacefully in traumatic times) and Orthodox Stance (love that title: a young immigrant in New York City must balance his Hasidic beliefs with his rising career as a boxer).Politically-charged movies are certainly on the agenda. Just three higher-profile titles that caught my eye: 14 Women (Mary Lambert examines the lives of female US Senators), Lake of Fire (Tony Kaye on abortion; the press notes say it's "carefully balanced," but this is Tony Kaye, whose insane career Erik just wrote about) and State Legislature (Frederick Wiseman spends 217 minutes on "the inner workings of the democratic process," specifically in Idaho). And then there's the latest by Liz Garbus (Coma relates the stories of four victims), Mike Mills (Does Your Soul Have a Cold?, in which Japanese marketers tackle antidepressants), Helvetica (which James reviewed at South by Southwest) and the local premiere of the controversial Nanking (which Kim reviewed at Sundance). Artic Tale is the closing night presentation. My head is swimming with the possibilities. Even if you aren't planning to attend, the film guide is well worth checking out to see the wide range of material that's screening this week in and around Silver Spring, Maryland.
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
_thumbnail.jpg)
