THURSDAY AT SILVERDOCS:
SILVERDOCS HONORS SPIKE LEE AT GUGGENHEIM SYMPOSIUM
Plenary Session with Featured Speaker Sheila C. Johnson
World Premiere of HOLY LAND HARDBALL
Silver Spring, Maryland, June 19, 2008—The Charles Guggenheim Symposium honors the legacy of the late four-time Academy Award winning filmmaker, Charles Guggenheim. This year the Symposium celebrates Spike Lee, for his body of documentary work including: WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE: A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS (2006); 4 LITTLE GIRLS (1997); and WE WUZ ROBBED (2000). Denver Post film critic Lisa Kennedy will interview Lee following a series of clips from his work.
- WHAT:
- Guggenheim Symposium
- WHO:
- Spike Lee, Filmmaker
- Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post Film Critic
- Bob Gazzale, President and CEO, AFI
- Patricia Finneran, SILVERDOCS Festival Director
- Grace Guggeneheim, Filmmaker, Guggenheim Productions
- WHEN:
- Thursday, June 19, 2008
- 6:30 p.m. – Red Carpet Arrivals
- 7:00 p.m. – Guggenheim Symposium
- 9:00 p.m. – Gala at Discovery World Headquarters
Performance by Sweet Heaven Kings, 16-member premier brass band
- WHERE:
- AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center
- 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring, MD
Space is limited for the symposium and reception. Not all media can be accommodated. Media wishing to attend event or red carpet arrivals should RSVP to Georgia Koch at georgiakoch@gmail.com.
OTHER THURSDAY EVENTS:
9:00 a.m. SILVERDOCS presents a free screening of parts 9-12 of An American Family.
9:30 a.m. SILVERDOCS Conference-GENERATION DIGITAL: AWARD WINNING SHORTS FROM GenNEXT.
9:30 a.m. WE SHALL REMAIN Case Study. Distinguished directors Chris Eyre (SMOKE SIGNALS) and Ric Burns (ANDY WARHOL: A DOCUMENTARY FILM and NEW YORK) offer a behind-the-scenes look at an unprecedented collaboration between Native and non-Native filmmakers, and present a special preview of highlights from their film on Tecumseh and the Prophet, the second episode of We Shall Remain.
10:00 a.m. SILVERDOCS presents a free screening of WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE: A REQUIM IN FOUR ACTS as part of the Spike Lee Retrospective. The film, which won the filmmaker the Peabody Award, is a masterful and devastating document of the tragedy in New Orleans.
11:30 p.m. SILVERDOCS Conference-The Legal 411 on Film and Media in the Classroom.
11:30 p.m. SILVERDOCS Conference-Free Is The New Window: Success Stories In The Digital Next.
11:30 p.m. Filmmaker C. Karim Chrobog presents WAR CHILD, the story of Former Sudanese child soldier, Emmanuel Jal, an international rap artist on the rise.
12:00 p.m. SILVERDOCS presents “The View From Below,” a free showing of short films featuring THE APOLOGY LINE, CITY OF CRANES, GENTLE CREATURES, HOW TO SAVE A FISH FROM DROWNING, LEAVE YOUR MIRACLE HERE, and WHAT WOULD THE DROP KNOW ABOUT THAT.
1:00 p.m.Doc Talk With Alex Gibney.
1:30 p.m. Director Scott Hamilton Kennedy presents the World Premiere of THE GARDEN. The film documents a 14-acre oasis rising out of the ashes of the 1992 L.A. riots.
2:00 p.m. Filmmaker Cynthia Lester presents MY MOTHER’S GARDEN, the story of Eugenia Lester, a hoarder whose mental illness has endangered her physical health and her relationship with her children.
2:15 p.m. Gwen Macsai presents the THIRD COAST INTERNATIONAL AUDIO FESTIVAL. In a darkened room, listen to the best, most compelling, and most entertaining documentary programs made for the radio and the Internet.
2:30 p.m. Plenary Session with Featured Speaker: Sheila C. Johnson - CEO Salamander Hospitality; president, WNBA’s Washington Mystics; philanthropist and executive producer of A POWERFUL NOISE.
3:30 p.m. SILVERDOCS Conference-The Digi Future With The AFI Digital Content Lab. This showcase provides a window into the new worlds of creation, distribution, promotion and audience engagement, while keeping great storytelling at the heart of each venture.
4:00 p.m. Co-directors Brett Rapkin and Erik Kesten present the World Premiere of HOLY LAND HARDBALL, an engaging account of one man's dream to bring America's pastime to the Middle East.
4:15 p.m. As part of the “1968 and Beyond” strand, SILVERDOCS presents IN THE YEAR OF THE PIG, which elicited both high praise and outrage during the height of the U.S. war in Vietnam.
4:30 p.m. Director Gini Reticker presents PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL, An inspiring chronicle of the thousands of Liberian women who peacefully ended the war in their country that killed over 250,000 people.
5:30 p.m. Filmmaker Patrick Reed presents TRIAGE: DR. JAMES ORBINSKI’S HUMANITARIAN DILEMMA. The story focuses on Dr. James Orbinski, Nobel Prize Winner on behalf of Doctors Without Borders, and his brave trip to Rwanda. Panel Discussion follows film featuring both director and subject.
5:30 p.m. “Doc Talk”: Docs Talk featuring Patrick Reed, Director, TRIAGE joined by Dr. James Orbinski, and Geoffrey Smith, Director, THE ENGLISH SURGEON, Megan Mylan, Director, SMILE PINKI, and Dr. Subodh Kumar Singh.
6:30 p.m. Co-Director Cristoph Schaub presents BIRD’S NEST: HERZOG AND DE MEURON IN CHINA. The film follows the design of the Olympic Stadium in Beijing and the metaphorical bridge the architects must build between two cultures, two architectural traditions, and two political systems. Special Guests TBD.
6:45 p.m. Filmmaker Boris Despodov presents CORRIDOR # 8, a fabulously droll road trip across Bulgaria, Albania and Macedonia on Corridor #8—the Balkan antithesis of Route 66.
7:00 SILVERDOCS presents the GUGGENHEIM SYMPOSIUM honoring Spike Lee.
8:00 Director Suvi Andrea Helminen presents ON THE WAY TO PARADISE, which explores the lives of aging Danish couple Inge and Holge, as they move into the last apartment they will share.
8:45 SILVERDOCS presents HEAD WIND, the story of a fast-growing Iranian subculture determined to gain access to Western media by any means necessary.
9:00 SILVERDOCS presents CHEVOLUTION, a vibrant study of Che Guevara and the image that has outlived the man. The film traces the construction of a mythology launched by a revolution, adopted by worldwide rebellion, and exploited by capitalism.
9:15 Co-Directors Josephine Decker, Martha Blockman, and Brittany Blockman present BI THE WAY, which documents the filmmaker’s cross-country road trip to find answers, and more questions, in this smart, hip, and sophisticated study of sexuality in the 21st century.
9:45 SILVERDOCS presents the North American premiere of HI MY NAME IS RYAN. The film examines 19-year-old alt-culture renaissance man Ryan Avery and his struggle to reconcile his two callings, religion and music.
11:15 As part of the “1968 and Beyond” strand SILVERDOCS will screen GIMME SHELTER, Albert and David Maysles film which documented the Rolling Stones’ 1969 U.S. tour.