Silverdocs Announces 2008 Competition Films

Just received word on the 2008 competition films of Silverdocs. New this year, Silverdocs adds a World Competition in recognition of the richness of documentary storytelling globally and the value of diverse perspectives on the human experience. Overall, Silverdocs will present 108 films representing 63 countries selected from 1,861 submissions with six World, eight North American, six US, seven East Coast Premieres and two retrospective programs. The Festival will again honor the best film in the Music Documentary section.

Films screen in six sections: US Feature Competition, World Feature Competition, Music Documentary, Short Film Competition, the to-be-announced Silver Spectrum and a special thematic side-bar for 2008.

SILVERDOCS confers three additional awards presented annually at the Festival.
· The Cinematic Vision Award will be given to a feature film that exhibits excellence and innovation in the craft of visual storytelling ($2,500).
· The WITNESS Award in honor of Joey Lozano will be awarded to a theatrical documentary that addresses human rights and social justice issues ($5,000).
· The SILVERDOCS/American Film Market Award will be presented to a film of exceptional promise in the media marketplace and will include special access to the American Film Market and accommodations ($5,000 value).

SILVERDOCS and ACE/Animal Content in Entertainment will again present a development grant, initiated in 2006, which has increased to $25,000 for 2008. The awards join those for films in competition. The new awards bring the combined cash and in-kind prizes at SILVERDOCS to $65,000.

Award winners will be announced at the SILVERDOCS Award presentation on Saturday June 21, 2008. All films are also eligible for Audience awards for Best Feature and Short, which will be announced on Sunday June 22, 2008.

US FEATURE COMPETITION
BULLETPROOF SALESMAN / USA, 2008, 70 minutes (Director: Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein)

CHEVOLUTION / USA, 2008, 90 minutes (Director: Luis Lopez and Trisha Ziff)

FOUR SEASONS LODGE / USA, 2008, 109 minutes (Director: Andrew Jacobs) World Premiere

THE GARDEN / USA, 2008, 95 minutes (Director: Scott Hamilton Kennedy) World Premiere.

HARD TIMES AT DOUGLASS HIGH / USA, 2007, 112 minutes (Director: Alan and Susan Raymond) World Premiere.

HERB & DOROTHY / USA, 2008, 85 minutes (Director: Megumi Sasaki) World Premiere.

IN THE FAMILY / USA, 2008, 83 minutes (Director: Joanna Rudnick) US Premiere.

KASSIM THE DREAM / USA, 2008, 87 minutes (Director: Kief Davidson)

PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL / USA, 2008, 72 minutes (Director: Gini Reticker)

TROUBLE THE WATER / USA, 2008, 95 minutes (Director: Tia Lessin and Carl Deal)

US Feature Jury: Sandi Dubowski, Filmmaker and writer (TREMBLING BEFORE G-D); Ramona Diaz, Filmmaker (IMELDA, SPIRITS RISING); Mila Aungh Thwin, Filmmaker and Producer (CHAIRMAN GEORGE)

WORLD FEATURE COMPETITION

COMEBACK / Germany, 2007, 79 minutes (Director: Maximilian Plettau) North American Premiere.

CORRIDOR #8 / Bulgaria, 2008, 74 minutes (Director: Boris Despodov)

THE ENGLISH SURGEON / United Kingdom/Ukraine, 2007, 94 minutes (Director: Geoffrey Smith) East Coast Premiere.

FOUR WIVES – ONE MAN / Iran, 2007, 76 minutes (Director: Nahid Persson) North American Premiere.

HEAD WIND / Iran, 2008, 65 minutes (Director: Mohammad Rasoulof)

THE INFINITE BORDER / Mexico, 2007, 90 minutes (Director: Juan Manuel Sepúlveda) US Premiere.

MECHANICAL LOVE / Denmark, 2007, 79 minutes (Director: Phie Ambo) US Premiere.

MILOSEVIC ON TRIAL / Denmark, 2007, 69 minutes (Director: Michael Christofferson)

MY LIFE INSIDE / Mexico, 2007, 120 minutes (Director: Lucia Gaja)

THE RED RACE / China/Germany, 2008, 70 minutes (Director: Chao Gan) World Premiere

World Feature Jury: Steve James, Filmmaker (HOOP DREAMS, STEVIE); Almadena Carrecedo, Filmmaker (MADE IN LA, WELCOME, A DOCU-JOURNEY OF IMPRESSIONS); Igor Blazevic, Director, One World, International Human Rights Documentary Festival and co-director of ten documentaries for Czech Television.

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY AWARD

HI MY NAME IS RYAN / USA, 2008, 78 minutes (Director: Paul Eagleston and Stephen Rose) North American Premiere.

LA PALOMA / Germany/France, 2008, 88 minutes (Director: Sigrid Faltin)

LIFE. SUPPORT. MUSIC. / USA, 2008, 79 minutes (Director: Eric Daniel Metzgar)

SONG SUNG BLUE / USA, 2008, 87 minutes (Director: Greg Kohs)

THROW DOWN YOUR HEART / USA, 2008, 97 minutes (Director: Sascha Paladino)

WILD COMBINATION / USA, 2008, 71 minutes (Director: Matt Wolf)

Music Documentary Jury: To Be Announced.

STERLING SHORT COMPETITION

The Festival also presents a Sterling Award for Best Short, in recognition of this increasingly acclaimed art form. The Short Film program will be released in the subsequent program announcement. Shorts programmed in SILVERDOCS have gone on to be nominated for an Academy Award each year of the Festival. THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT, directed by Ruby Yang, which had its world premiere at SILVERDOCS 2006, received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short and 2007’s FREEHELD won the Oscar.

Short Film Jury: Ryan Harrington, Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund; Sarah Price, Filmmaker (SUMMERCAMP, THE YES MEN); A.J. Schnack, Filmmaker and Writer (KURT COBAIN ABOUT A SON)

The Festival’s signature program, the Charles Guggenheim Symposium, honors the legacy of the late four-time Academy Award winning filmmaker, Charles Guggenheim, by recognizing a filmmaker who shares the same artistic excellence and profound respect for humanity and democratic values. In 2008, the Symposium will honor Spike Lee, an Emmy Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated director, producer, writer and actor with more than 35 films to his credit. His documentary work includes: WHEN THE LEVEES BROKE: A REQUIEM IN FOUR ACTS (2006); 4 LITTLE GIRLS (1997); and WE WUZ ROBBED (2000).