Editor

From February 14 - 20, 2008, the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival celebrates its 5th year by showcasing 98 films from 40 countries. The official selections represent a broad array of filmmaking styles, formats and production dates, from classics to World Premieres. The 2008 films were selected from nearly 1000 submissions from across the globe.

Since 2004 the festival has grown into a premier international venue for exhibition of innovative, contemporary and classic non-fiction cinema. Screenings are held in the historic Wilma Theater in scenic downtown Missoula, Montana. BSDFF has built a reputation for its programming excellence and is the largest event of its kind in the American West.

The event includes three competitions.

o Documentary Feature Competition - The award for Best Documentary Feature will be given to one film 50 minutes or longer in length. A cash award of $1000 will be presented by IndiePix.

o Documentary Short Competition - The award for Best Documentary Short will be given to one film up to 50 minutes in length.

o Big Sky Award Competition - The Big Sky Award will be given to one film of any length with significant content pertaining to the American West.

The 2008 jury includes distinguished filmmakers, industry professionals and academics. The jury members will present the awards at a reception and press conference on Tuesday, February 19, 2008. Competition films will be announced next week.
Each year BSDFF recognizes the work of important filmmakers by highlighting their contribution to documentary arts in the Big Sky Retrospective Series. The 2008 series will present the work of Hart Perry and Dana Heinz Perry. This distinguished filmmaking duo continues to make exciting new work today and will be two of this year's BSDFF Judges. Their latest work, SEX: THE REVOLUTION, will have its World Premiere at Big Sky this year.

Q & A sessions with filmmakers follow most screenings. This year over President's Day Weekend, Big Sky offers three panel discussions that are free and open to the public.
The Opening Night Film, THE GATES, presented by HBO Documentary Films, will feature the latest work from legendary documentarian, Albert Maysles. Missoula audiences will enjoy FREE PUBLIC ADMISSION for this special Valentines Day screening, courtesy of HBO. Co-director Antonio Ferrara will be in attendance.

Passes are now available for sale on-line at http://www.bigskyfilmfest.org/tickets.html and will also be sold at the box office at the Wilma Theatre during the week of the festival. For ticket prices, pass purchases and more information for this year's festival visit http://www.bigskyfilmfest.org/

Sponsors of the 2008 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival include Bresnan Communications, HBO Documentary Films, Modern Digital, Montana Film Office, Indie Pix, Sony, B-Side Entertainment, Absolut Vodka, Panasonic, Current TV, Avid, Big Sky Brewing, Vanns and the International Documentary Challenge.

2008 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival Official Selections

Features:
2nd Verse The Rebirth of Poetry
4 Elements
24 Solo
A Dream in Doubt
A Father's Music
A Snowmobile for George
A Walk to Beautiful
Achieving the Unachievable
An Audience of One
Bending Space
Bomb It
Butte, America
Cartoneros
Che Guevara-The Body and the Legend
Civilians on the Battlefield
Class C
Doubletime
Eloquent Nude
Finding Normal
Flying On One Engine
>From Prison to Home
Golden Days
Hear and Now
Hell on Wheels
I Love Hip Hop In Morocco
In the Shadow of the Moon
Jimmy Rosenberg - The Father, the Son & the Talent
King Corn
Knee Deep
Knuckleball
Kurt Cobain: About A Son
La Americana
Lynch
Mexiphobia
Movement (R)evolution Africa
Oh My God! It's Harrod Blank!
Polis is This
River Ways
Row Hard, No Excuses
Second Chance Season
Sex - The Revolution
Shadow of the House
Silhouette City
Soldiers of Conscience
The Gates
The Linguists
The Listening Project
The Little Red Truck
The Sky Below
Up the Yangtze
We Feed the World
When Clouds Clear
Wild Horse Redemption
Wrath of Gods

Shorts:
Atlantis Unbound
Begging for Grace
Blind Faith
Body & Soul - Diana & Kathy
Broadcast Cowboy
Casualty of the Promised Land
City of Cranes
City of Lost Carts
Conversing With Aotearoa
Conviction
Crack in the Sidewalk
Dimmer
El Otro Lado
Getting Eve Off
Hattenhorst
Inheritance
Landscape as Muse - The Forest with Peter Von Tiesenhausen
Left in Baghdad
Love Takes
Ma'Rib
Milk Matters
Night Visions
Pictograph
Portraits of Hope
Prayer of Peace
Resting Places
Reversing the Odds
State of Mind
The End for Beginners
The Farther, The Dearer
The Legend of Rosalie
The Man With the Electric Boots
The Storytellers
The Ville
Unfettering the Falcons
Verve
Ya Shadad

Perry Films Retrospective:
And you Don't Stop - 30 years of Hip Hop
Harlan County, USA
Hartigan
Imagining America
John Hammond: From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen
Making a Noise: A Native American Musical Journey with Robbie Robertson
The Rest is Silence