The Arab Spring as seen from the eyes of a young female Egyptian journalist. The mass exodus from a Northeastern Mexican village in search of water during the annual drought. A once-in-a-lifetime journey to the Academy Awards® for one extraordinary 5th grade choir. These are just some of the 28 outstanding stories that will be presented in the International Documentary Association’s 16th Annual DocuWeeks™ Theatrical Documentary Showcase.
Screening from August 3rd through the 23rd in New York at the IFC Center (323 Sixth Avenue at West Third Street) and August 10th through the 30th at the Laemmle NoHo 7 (5240 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood), the 2012 edition of DocuWeeks™ will present seventeen feature films and eleven shorts from nineteen different countries in theatrical runs, which will give movie-lovers a chance to catch some of the best documentary films of the year.
“With over 500 screenings during the month of August, DocuWeeks™ gives documentary fans on both coasts multiple opportunities to see a great lineup of short and feature length docs,” says IDA Executive Director Michael Lumpkin. “We are especially excited about the eleven amazing short documentaries playing in DocuWeeks this year, by far more than we have had before.”
The 16th Annual DocuWeeks™ Theatrical Documentary Showcase is presented by the International Documentary Association with the support of lead sponsor HBO Documentary Films; contributing sponsors NBCUniversal Archives, Chainsaw, and WESTDOC; and media sponsors LA Weekly and Village Voice.
Features appearing in this year’s DocuWeeks™ Theatrical Documentary Showcase include: The Anderson Monarchs, Defiant Requiem, Digital Dharma: One Man’s Mission to Save a Culture, Drought, Garden in the Sea (Jardín en el Mar), La Source, Love Free or Die, The Magic Life, Of Two Minds, Once In a Lullaby: The PS 22 Chorus Documentary, Out of the Clear Blue Sky, RICKY on LEACOCK, TRIAL BY FIRE: Lives Re-Forged, We Women Warriors (Tejiendo Sabiduría), Without A Net, and Words of Witness.
DocuWeeks™ will also present eleven documentary short films including: The A-Word, Beauty CULTure, Cutting Loose, Jimmy, Kings Point, Open Heart, The Perfect Fit, The Record Breaker, and POV’s StoryCorps Shorts: Facundo the Great, Eyes on the Stars, and Sundays at Rocco’s.
(See below for more information on the individual films.)
Tickets for individual films at the Laemmle NoHo 7 are $11.00 for general admission, $8.00 for IDA members, and $8.00 for seniors and children.
Tickets for individual films at the IFC Center are $13.00 for general admission, $8.00 for IDA members and $9.00 for seniors and children. Tickets can be purchased at the respective box offices, or through www.documentary.org/docuweeks in July.
A complete schedule and additional information about each film can be found on the International Documentary Association’s website at www.documentary.org/docuweeks.
Since its premiere in 1997, DocuWeeks™ has qualified over 205 short and feature length films for Oscar consideration and yielded 25 nominations with 7 winning the Oscar®. Documentaries presented in past DocuWeeks™ programs include Oscar® winners Smile Pinki (2008), Taxi To The Dark Side (2007) and The Blood of Yingzhou District (2006), as well as Oscar® Nominees Hell and Back Again (2011), The Barber of Birmingham (2011), Wasteland (2010), Sun Come Up (2010) Killing in the Name (2010), Rabbit à la Berlin (2009),The Betrayal (2008), War/Dance (2007), Salim Baba (2007) and Sari’s Mother (2007).
DocuWeeks™2012: FILM LINEUP
FEATURES
The Anderson Monarchs
Director/Producer: Eugene Martin
Producers: Daniel M. Kalai, Daniel O’Meara, Ed Givnish
Philly Soccer Doc, LLC
76 min. USA
The Anderson Monarchs is about a nationally competitive African-American girls soccer club competing, living, and thriving in an at-risk urban neighborhood in Philadelphia. Nominated in 2008 by Sports Illustrated as “Sports Team” of the year, they were also hailed as “the future of American Soccer” in the London newspaper, The Guardian. The Anderson Monarchs, like their namesake Marian Anderson, are making history. Their remarkable story brings them to a place they only ever imagined in their dreams.
Defiant Requiem
Director/Producer/Writer: Doug Shultz
Executive Producers: Whitney Johnson, Peter Schnall
Partisan Pictures
85 min. USA/Czech Republic
A memorial concert reawakens the story of an artistic uprising in the Nazi concentration camp, Terezin, where a chorus of 150 inmates confronts the Nazis face-to-face…and sings to them what they dare not say.
Digital Dharma: One Man’s Mission to Save a Culture
Director/Producer/Writer: Dafna Yachin
Writers: Timothy Gates, Arthur Fischman
Executive Producer: Frank Evers
Lunchbox Communications
82 min. India/USA/Nepal/China
When ancient writings of Sanskrit and Tibetan texts vanish during the political turmoil of the 1950s and 1960s, the history of a whole society is in danger of disappearing. Digital Dharma chronicles the 50-year journey of E. Gene Smith, a Mormon from Utah, the unlikely leader of an effort to rescue, preserve, and share 20,000 volumes of ancient Tibetan text; an epic of one man’s mission that became the catalyst for an international movement to provide free access to the story of a people.
Drought
Director/Writer: Everardo González
Producer: Martha Orozco
Ciénega Docs/Fondo para la Producción Cinematográfica de Calidad (FOPROCINE) with the support of the Tribeca Film Institute and Jan Vrijman Fund.
83 min. Mexico
Residents from the ejido (communal land) Los Cuates de Australia in Northeast Mexico perform every year a massive exodus to look for water during drought. In this exile, men, women, elders, and children wait for the first drops of water to return to their lands, metaphor of a small town that hides from death.
Garden in the Sea (Jardín en el Mar)
Director/Writer: Thomas Riedelsheimer
Producer: Manuel Arango
Executive Producer: Rodolfo Ogarrio
Mexican Foundation for Environmental Education
69 min. Mexico
Garden in the Sea is a documentary about art, landscape, and environment. Over a period of four years, the director followed Spanish artist Cristina Iglesias to the Mexican Sea of Cortez where she was commissioned to create an underwater sculpture that gradually would help enhance marine life. Expanding the form of a classic portrait, the film talks not only about the role of art but also about human passion, experiences, and longings and makes the stunning beauty of our world tangible inviting us to care for it.
La Source
Director/Writer: Patrick Shen
Producer/Writer: Brandon Vedder
Producer: Jordan Wagner
Executive Producers: Christian Tureaud, David Salzberg, Regina Manian, Nancy Luyen, Jordan Wagner
Transcendental Media/All Cut Up Films
71 min. USA/Haiti
After an earthquake devastates his beloved country, a Haitian Princeton janitor seeks the support of the privileged community he serves every day and sacrifices everything to revive his lifelong dream to bring what is most fundamental to his village’s survival: clean water.
Love Free or Die
Director/Writer: Macky Alston
Producer: Sandra Itkoff
Reveal Productions, Inc.
82 min. USA/UK
Love Free or Die is about a man whose two defining passions are in direct conflict: his love for God and his partner Mark. Gene Robinson is the first openly gay person to become a bishop in the historical traditions of Christendom. His consecration in 2003, to which he wore a bulletproof vest, caused an international stir, and he has lived with death threats every day since. Love Free or Die follows Robinson from small-town churches in the New Hampshire North County to Washington’s Lincoln Memorial to London’s Lambeth Palace, as he calls for all to stand for equality––inspiring bishops, priests and ordinary folk to come out from the shadows and change history.
The Magic Life
Director/Producer: Nelson Cheng
Park Row Productions
73 min. USA
Three aspiring individuals try to turn their passion into a career. Can they pull off the biggest trick of their lives and become working magicians?
Of Two Minds
Director/Writer: Doug Blush
Director/Producer/Writer: Lisa Klein
Producer: Kristin Chambers
Executive Producers: Christine O’Malley, John Loll, Jane Bierke-Loll
MadPix, Inc.
89 min. USA
Take your best day…and your darkest moment…and multiply by a million. Of Two Minds, from the creative team behind Wordplay, I.O.U.S.A., Superheroes, and These Amazing Shadows, explores the extraordinary lives, struggles, and successes of a few of the over five million Americans living with bipolar disorder. Of Two Minds puts a human face on bipolar, providing an intimate, painful, and painfully funny look at those who live in its shadows…our parents and children, our friends and lovers…and ourselves.
Once In a Lullaby: The PS 22 Chorus Documentary
Director/Producer: Jonathan Kalafer
Producers: Steve Kalafer, Bao Nguyen
New Jersey Pictures
85 min. USA
The PS22 Chorus from Staten Island became a YouTube sensation when their teacher started posting videos of them singing on his blog. At their annual Holiday Concert they received a surprise visitor. Anne Hathaway was there to invite them to be the featured performance at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards! Once in a Lullaby follows these lovable fifth-graders from the streets and hallways in Staten Island to the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, where creative differences, lost voices, and homesickness threaten their performance.
Out of the Clear Blue Sky
Director/Writer: Danielle Gardner
Producers: Genevieve Baker, Lydia Snape, Danielle Gardner
Asphalt Films, Inc.
107 min. USA/UK
On September 11, 2001, Cantor Fitzgerald became famous for the worst of all possible reasons. 658 of their employees were missing, presumed dead, in the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. Though Cantor suffered almost twice the casualties of the FDNY, their story was soon pushed aside as the media ambushed Cantor CEO Howard Lutnick, who went from face-of-the-tragedy to pariah within weeks. A true stranger-than-fiction account, unfolding over months and years, the film captures being caught in the crosshairs of history.
RICKY on LEACOCK
Director/Producer/Writer: Jane Weiner
Co-Producers: Frédéric Gaffigne, Heidi Draper
Executive Producer: Diane Markrow
JDB Films, Inc./AS’Image
89 min. USA/France/Spain/Canada
The work (on and off screen) of legendary filmmaker, Richard Leacock, protégé to Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North, Louisiana Story) not only influenced generations of filmmakers during his long career but also changed, technically and aesthetically, “how” movies are made. RICKY on LEACOCK is a cinematic journey that Jane Weiner began as a young filmmaker during which, over 38 years, she filmed various encounters with his friends and contemporaries including D.A. Pennebaker, Robert Drew, Ed Pincus, Jonas Mekas, Dušan Makavejev, and others.
TRIAL BY FIRE: Lives Re-Forged
Director/Producer/Writer: Megan Smith-Harris
Executive Producer/Writer: Bill Harris
Pyewackitt Productions
87 min. USA
TRIAL BY FIRE: Lives Re-Forged celebrates the strength, courage and hope of burn survivors as they reclaim their lives, and their dreams, after the devastating injuries of fire. American hero and Dancing with the Stars champion, J.R. Martinez provides context and perspective to the inspirational survivor stories in the film, which also honors the firefighters, doctors, and nurses who help them recover. When you forge metal with fire, it becomes stronger. The same is true of the human spirit.
We Women Warriors (Tejiendo Sabiduría)
Director/Producer/Writer: Nicole Karsin
Writer: Gabriel Baudet
Todos Los Pueblos Productions
79 min. USA/Colombia
We Women Warriors follows three native women caught in the crossfire of Colombia’s warfare who use nonviolent resistance to defend their peoples’ survival. Colombia has 102 aboriginal groups, one-third of which face extinction because of the conflict. Trapped in a protracted predicament financed by the drug trade, indigenous women are resourcefully leading and creating transformation imbued with hope. We Women Warriors bears witness to neglected human rights catastrophes and interweaves character-driven stories about female empowerment, unshakable courage, and faith in the endurance of indigenous culture.
Without a Net
Director/Producer/Writer: Kelly J. Richardson
Producer: John Antonelli
Live Wired Productions
60 min. USA/Brazil
Djeferson, Bárbara, Rayana, and Platini live in a drug controlled slum of Rio de Janeiro. Their families are struggling, their homes are physically unstable, and everyone they know has dropped out of school. When a big-top circus tent suddenly appears in a nearby parking lot, they decide to take a chance. They learn trapeze, acrobatics, juggling, and contortion, and then audition for the end-of-year show, rehearse, and prepare for the curtains to part on opening night. Along the way, Without a Net explores the connections between risk, desire, poverty, and circus and celebrates the perseverance and resilience of youth in the face of tremendous odds.
Words of Witness
Director/Producer: Mai Iskander
Executive Producers: Tiffany Schauer, Steve Cohen
Iskander Films
69 min. USA/Egypt
Every time 22-year-old Heba Afify heads out to cover the historical events shaping her country’s future, her mother is compelled to remind her, “I know you are a journalist, but you’re still a girl!” Defying cultural norms and family expectations, Heba takes to the streets to report on an Egypt in turmoil, using tweets, texts, and Facebook posts. Her coming of age, political awakening, and the disillusionment that follows mirrors that of a nation seeking the freedom to shape its own destiny, dignity, and democracy.
Shorts
The A-Word
Director/Executive Producer/Writer: Lindsay Ellis
Producers: Kaveh Taherian, Clarinda Morales
University of Southern California
27 min. USA
In the fall of 2009, Lindsay Ellis, a 25-year-old graduate student, made the decision to terminate her first and only pregnancy, finding the decision much more difficult than she anticipated. In this film, she attempts to humanize the experience by exploring both her own and others’ by asking, is there even such a thing as the “right” choice?
Beauty CULTure
Director: Lauren Greenfield
Producers: Frank Evers, Shanah Blevins
Executive Producer: Frank Evers
Evergreen Pictures
31 min. USA/France
Beauty CULTure explores how feminine beauty is defined and revered, and the consequences for female body image. Through an examination of the photography industry and iconic fashion images, the film investigates our age-old obsession with beauty, its biological origins, and the role of the media and technology in narrowing its definition with ubiquitous imagery. Fashion photographers, avant-garde artists, celebrated models, child pageant stars, body builders, teenagers, and intellectuals engage in a provocative dialogue about the “beauty contest” of modern life.
Cutting Loose
Directors/Producers: Finlay Pretsell, Adrian McDowall
SDI Productions
29 min. Scotland
Hairdressers poised, scissors at the ready, clients in place. Cutting begins. The salon looks familiar enough, chatter rising above the chopping and blow drying, but the hairdressers have something in common––they’re all serving time in Scotland’s jails. Cutting Loose provides a fascinating snapshot of prison life during the build up to the annual Scottish Prison Service hairdressing competition. As the competition approaches, we hear the dreams and aspirations of some of Scotland’s most dangerous prisoners as they style the hair of fellow inmates on a daily basis.
Jimmy
Director: Martin Smith
Producer: Finlay Pretsell
Writer: Jimmy
Executive Producers: Noe Mendelle, Sonja Henrici
SDI Productions
12 min. Scotland
A day in the life of Jimmy McIntosh, MBE, who has tirelessly campaigned for disabled rights since 1972. An incredibly intimate portrait told from Jimmy’s point of view, a wheelchair bound cerebral palsy sufferer. Nothing stands in Jimmy’s way.
Kings Point
Director/Producer: Sari Gilman
Producers: Jedd Wider, Todd Wider, Susannah Ludwig
Kings Point Documentary/Wider Film Projects
30 min. USA
Director Sari Gilman tells the stories of five seniors living in a typical American retirement resort––men and women who came to Florida decades ago with their spouses by their sides and their health intact, and now find themselves grappling with love, loss, and the prospect of dying alone. A bittersweet look at our national obsession with self-reliance, Kings Point explores the dynamic tension between living and aging––between our desire for independence and our need for community––and underscores our powerful ambivalence toward growing old.
Open Heart
Director/Producer/Writer: Kief Davidson
Producer: Cori Stern
Executive Producers: Geralyn Dreyfous, Rick Rosenthal, Damon Lindelof, Heidi Lindelof, Sean Mewshaw, Desi Van Til, Eric Dobkin, Barbara Dobkin, Nancy Stephens
Urban Landscapes Productions/Whitewater Films/Believe Media
39 min. USA/Republic of Rwanda/Republic of the Sudan
Eight Rwandan children leave their families behind to embark on a life or death journey seeking high-risk heart surgery in Sudan. Their hearts ravaged by a treatable disease from childhood strep throat, the kids have only months to live. Open Heart reveals the intertwined endeavors of Dr. Emmanuel, Rwanda’s lone government cardiologist as he fights to save the lives of his young patients, and Dr. Gino, the Salam Center’s fiercely opinionated head surgeon, who must also fight to save his hospital, Africa’s only link to life-saving free cardiac surgery for the millions who need it.
The Perfect Fit
Director:Tali Yankelevich
Producer: Finlay Pretsell
Executive Producer: Noeme Mendelle
SDI Productions
9 min.Scotland
Ballet shoes may be worn by delicate girls, but they’re crafted by big burly men whose hands tell another story.
POV’s StoryCorps Shorts
Directors:The Rauch Brothers
Producers: Lizzie Jacobs, Mike Rauch
Executive Producers: Donna Galeno, Dave Isay
StoryCorps
8 min. USA
Facundo the Great Ramòn “Chunky” Sanchez recounts how the new kid at school became a hero when his name stumped their teachers.
Eyes on the Stars Carl McNair tells the story of his brother Ronald, an African American kid in the 1950s who set his sights on the stars.
Sundays at Rocco’s Nicholas Petron remembers family dinners at his grandfather’s place and how everything changed when the city made new plans for their neighborhood.
The Record Breaker
Director/Writer: Brian McGinn
Producer: Mette Heide
Plus Pictures
25 min. Denmark/USA
Ashrita Furman holds the official record for the most Guinness World Records by one individual, including marks for “Largest Hula Hoop,” “Most Apples Sliced in Mid-Air with a Samurai Sword”, and “Longest Distance Bicycling Underwater.” A health food store owner and devotee of meditation, Furman travels the world creating new categories for record achievement. We meet Furman, a singularly driven character, and his merry band of compatriots (including Champ the dog) as he’s about to attempt to climb Machu Picchu on stilts.
About IDA
The International Documentary Association (IDA) is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization that was founded in 1982 to support documentary filmmaking worldwide. At IDA, we believe that the power and artistry of the documentary are vital to cultures and societies globally, and we exist to serve the needs of those who create this art form. Our mission is to provide community, education, specific support services, opportunities and related resources to our clients, the documentary filmmakers.
About Laemmle NoHo 7
Laemmle Theaters is the premiere art house chain in Los Angeles. A family owned business established in 1938 by Kurt and Max Laemmle, nephews of Carl Laemmle, the founder of Universal Pictures, Laemmle Theatres spans three generations, and remains dedicated to bringing quality foreign and American independent film to the Los Angeles community. Tickets can be purchased online and at the lobby box office. Laemmle offers a Premiere Card membership with ticket and concession discounts. The Laemmle NoHo 7 is located at 5240 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood. Reduced rate parking is available with theater validation. Parking entrance is on Weddington. For membership, tickets and show times, visit www.laemmle.com.
About IFC Center
IFC Center, a five-screen, state-of-the-art cinema in the heart of New York’s Greenwich Village, opened in June 2005 following an extensive renovation of the historic Waverly Theater. Bringing the very best in new foreign-language, American independent, and documentary features to NYC audiences, IFC Center is also known for its innovative repertory series and festivals, for showing short films before its regular features in the ongoing “Short Attention Span Cinema” program, and for special events such as the guest-curated “Movie Nights” and frequent in-person appearances by filmmakers. In 2010, the theater launched DOC NYC, an annual festival that premieres new documentary work in November of each year. The theater’s lobby concession stand features a unique array of food and merchandise, from organic popcorn, locally made vegan baked goods and David Lynch coffee to CineMetal t-shirts, books and a carefully curated selection of classic, foreign and independent films on DVD and Blu-Ray. IFC Center also offers a membership program that includes ticket and merchandise discounts, free members-only screenings and other rewards. For additional theater information, current and upcoming program details and more, visit www.ifccenter.com
DocuWeeks is a trademark of the International Documentary Association.
Oscar and Academy Award are registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.
