Monday, June 23-----SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival announced its distinguished award winners, culminating the weeklong Festival activities that included screening 108 films representing 63 countries, free outdoor screenings and live performances, and a five-day concurrent International Documentary Conference attended by over 650 filmmakers, film and television executives and media professionals. Winning filmmakers received over $70,000 in combined cash and in-kind...

 Sunday, June 22--------The house was packed tonight at the world premiere screening of FOUR SEASONS LODGE, a crowd-pleasing look at a group of Jewish Holocaust survivors who cling to one another in their golden years at a shared bungalow colony in the Catskill Mountains north of New York City. These remarkable people, a collection of real "characters" are in their final years and it is clear that once they pass, a vital link to the history of what they witnessed threatens to be lo...

 Sunday, June 22-----A film festival is invariably a series of moments. And if one is lucky, there is an interesting symmetry between those moments. And if one is very lucky indeed, then a special kind of serendipity brings those moments into some deeper understanding. When those moments are not officially related to one another, but still offer illuminating cross-referencing, it is all the more special. This was my experience over the past two days as I attended the final films of this year's...

 Saturday, June 21------As SILVERDOCS enters its final weekend, one is both encouraged and discouraged by the assessments of many professionals who have appeared on panels as part of the parallel International Documentary Conference.While the sheer number of films here (over 120 screened, over 1500 submitted)) is evidence of a spike in documentary production around the world, the performance of recent films at the box office has made for quite a sober event here. "We are experiencing th...

 Saturday, June 21-------How does one make a film based in a divided East Jerusalem that is not overtly political? That was the challenge for French director Georgi Lazarevski in his documentary film THS WAY UP, which had its East Coast Premiere at SILVERDOCS yesterday.The film is set in the Our Lady of Sorrows nursing home in East Jerusalem, a venerable (if delapidated) institution for aging Catholic Palestinians. Residents once had a sweeping view of the city of Jerusalem but that has been ...

 Saturday, June 21-----In celebrations being held around the world, the events and repercussions of that pivotal year in world history, 1968, are being discussed, remembered and even eulogized. The events of that turbulent year in political and social history are best experienced and explained through the music of the times and the films of the era.At SILVERDOCS, the Festival is presenting a sidebar program entitled 1968 AND BEYOND that offers several seminal films from 1968 that give as accura...

 Friday, June 20--------SILVERDOCS is, by and large, a non-glam event, with most attendees simply hard-working documentarians, most working without massive media spotlight. However, each year, the event brings some Hollywood-style stardust to the proceedings. In the past two years, the Festival has honored Jonathan Demme and Martin Scorsese, specifically for their documentary work. Last night, it was Spike Lee's turn, as the iconoclastic director was honored with the Guggenheim Symposium for h...

 Thursday, June 19-----The AFI Digital Content Lab is a think tank and playground for filmmakers to explore opportunities in the new media. The Lab, which is housed on the campus of the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, is presenting two seminar programs at SILVERDOCS.AFI DIGITAL CONTENT LAB CALENDAR SILVERDOCSJune 18-23, 2008, Silver Springs, MDDigital Content Lab Presentation - Suzanne Stefanac, Lisa Osborne Session One - Thursday, June 19: An Afternoon with the AFI Digital Content La...

 Thursday, June 19------In just a few short years, SILVERDOCS has emerged as a major showcase of non-fiction film and video from around the world. As the Festival becomes more impressive, so to is the cache of winning an award in one of its several competition categories. With documentaries experiencing a little bit of a dip in box office success in the past year, an award from SILVERDOCS could be the imprimatur needed to make a film get noticed for both artistic and commercial potential.This y...

Music is definitely the message in the special sidebar competition of music documentaries that are being showcased at this year's SILVERDOCS. Last evening, Gypsy rocker Bela Fleck and Malian musician Cheick Hamala Diabaté, gave a live performance following the premiere screening of THROW DOWN YOUR HEART by director Sascha Paladino. In the film, American banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck travels to Africa to explore the little-known roots of the instrument and record an album. Fleck’s musical journey...

Wednesday, June 18-------Music is definitely the message in the special sidebar competition of music documentaries that are being showcased at this year's SILVERDOCS. Last evening, Gypsy rocker Bela Fleck and Malian musician Cheick Hamala Diabaté, gave a live performance following the premiere screening of THROW DOWN YOUR HEART by director Sascha Paladino. In the film, American banjo virtuoso Béla Fleck travels to Africa to explore the little-known roots of the instrument and record an album....

Documentaries, thanks be to the film gods, remain hot and in demand by both audiences and distributors. Every major film festival in the world now has a prominent documentary film section and there is even an explosion of doc-only events. One of the most important and influential is SILVERDOCS, the AFI/Discovery Communications Festival, which opens tonight with a week-long program of film presentations, conference seminars and special events. Housed at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center,...

Following last evening’s gala Opening Night Film, ALL TOGETHER NOW, SILVERDOCS 2008 kicks into high gear with its first full day of screenings, seminars and special events. In all, this year’s Festival will present 108 films from 63 countries, including six World, eight North American, six US, and seven East Coast Premieres, as well as two retrospective programs. Film screenings take place at the AFI Silver Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, the Festival epicenter and a year-round arthouse ...

 Tuesday, June 17-------Following last evening’s gala Opening Night Film, ALL TOGETHER NOW, SILVERDOCS 2008  kicks into high gear with its first full day of screenings, seminars and special events. In all, this year’s Festival will present 108 films from 63 countries, including six World, eight North American, six US, and seven East Coast Premieres, as well as two retrospective programs. Film screenings take place at the AFI Silver Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, the Festival epicenter ...

Monday, June 16--------Documentaries, thanks be to the film gods, remain hot and in demand by both audiences and distributors. Every major film festival in the world now has a prominent documentary film section and there is even an explosion of doc-only events. One of the most important and influential is SILVERDOCS, the AFI/Discovery Communications Festival, which opens tonight with a week-long program of film presentations, conference seminars and special events. Housed at the AFI Silver The...