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WORDS BY SAM POLCER
SPOTLIGHT SILVERDOCS: BACK TO REALITY

Celebrate the wonders of factual filmmaking at America's premier documentary festival.

In its third year, the Silverdocs AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival is an infant on the ever-expanding film festival circuit. There are now festivals all over the globe, with programing ranging from the fringes of the avant-garde to the mainstream Hollywood and "independent" fare aimed at the thousands of cinephiles who flock to the large, prestigious events. The nature of many of the festivals has changed over time. Once focused on art and politics—Italian dictator Benito Mussolini founded the longest running event, the Venice Film Festival, in the '30s—many festivals now tend to center on good old-fashioned entertainment.

However, the unprecedented box-office success last year of documentary films, such as Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 and Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, has led to 2004 being hailed as the year of the documentary. Audiences in their droves are demanding more than just feel-good "rom-coms" and special effects-led blockbusters. The opportunities to see documentaries on the big screen are still relatively sparse, although this is changing, too. There are now several documentary-only film festivals taking place in North America, but none have capitalized on this trend as quickly and powerfully as Silverdocs.

Created through an alliance between the American Film Institute (AFI) and the Discovery Channel, Silverdocs is staged at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, minutes from the center of Washington, DC.

"The Silver" is a newly restored 49,000-foot-square art deco complex with three state-of-the-art stadium- style theaters, and is a great venue for visiting film buffs all year round. During Silverdocs, the surrounding downtown area's new restaurants and meeting places are transformed into salons where film-goers and filmmakers alike can continue their post-screening discussions.

The festival's location is one of the reasons for its rise to prominence. DC is home to the country's most concentrated base of international policy makers, diplomats, journalists and activists. For filmmakers, the festival is "all about access," says Aaron Matthews, whose film A Panther in Africa was an official festival selection in 2004. She says that "access to the best of documentary film, access to engaging conferences, meetings and special events, access to high-profile industry professionals," are all key elements.

The festival runs concurrently with the International Documentary Conference which, for three days, allows filmmakers, programing executives and industry bigwigs to network and discuss the field. It's possible that there are as many deals made at the conference as there are films screened at the theater, which is quite a number—last year's festival presented over 70 films in six days, culled from over 1,200 entries submitted from 65 countries around the world. More than 90% of the filmmakers whose work was screened were in attendance, with most of the films playing to sold-out theaters.

Afghanistan, The Lost Truth;	Alone Across Australia;
Dame La Mano;	Dirty Work;
Journeys With George;	Murderball;
Big Enough;	Original Child Bomb.

In its first two years, Silverdocs attracted the most sought-after documentary films from around the world, including the festival's 2004 Sterling Award winners Death in Gaza—whose director, James Miller, was tragically killed on the final day of shooting—and Original Child Bomb, by director Carey Schonegevel. The winner in 2003, My Architect, was nominated for an Oscar. Last year, the festival presented the Washington, DC premiere of the much- lauded Control Room, an in-depth look at Arabic news channel Al- Jazeera by filmmaker Jehane Noujaim, which was followed by a panel discussion focusing on free speech in times of war.

This year includes a series of films under the banner "emerging voices from developing countries" and a series of musical-themed documentaries; among them, Stanley Nelson's Sweet Honey in the Rock: A Song for Everyone, a film about a DC- based, all-female, African-American gospel group.

Other highlights will include Forever Young, a film about the life of James Dean to commemorate the 50th anniversary of his death, narrated by Martin Sheen, and the 1964 film about the McCarthy hearings, Point of Order, presented by Richard Dreyfuss. Margaret Loescher's Pulled from the Rubble—a film about her father, Gil Loescher, who survived the 2003 bomb attack that killed the then-head of the United Nations in Iraq, Sergio Vieira de Mello—will be making its much-anticipated North American premiere.

The festival includes free outdoor screenings, evening symposia and special guests from behind and in-front of the camera. Last year, the actor Ed Norton appeared to present the film Dirty Work, on which he was executive producer, and CNN's Judy Woodruff moderated the opening night panel discussion.

While Silverdocs is certainly a "destination event" for filmmakers and industry professionals, what about the average film-goer? Will they find the networking surrounding the festival an intimidating environment in which to go to the movies? "Not at all," says festival director Patricia Finneran. "There's no hierarchy of attendance, like at many other festivals. Anyone can meet the filmmakers and special guests. It's a very casual, intimate environment." If you just want to catch a good flick, the opportunity is there, too. "It's about thoughtful entertainment. It's a good place to see interesting stories that are based in reality," says Finneran.

Silverdocs is far removed from the glitz and the glamour of festivals such as Cannes, at which young starlets, outrageous outfits and controversial behavior sometimes steal the limelight from the films themselves. Instead, it concentrates on keeping viewers excited about the filmmaking on show, and promoting "cross-cultural understanding through the power of documentary film". It also gives a public hungry for interesting alternatives to mainstream movies exactly what they want.

Silverdocs AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival

June 14-19, 2005, Silver Spring, Maryland. www.silverdocs.com

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