The GOOD PITCH at SILVERDOCS

THE GOOD PITCH at the 2009 SILVERDOCS Festival brought together the masters of the docuverse and NGOs to harness the power of documentary to initiate global change. In association with Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation and the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, eight film projects that tackle important global and national issues were presented to a group of experts from over 95 charities, foundations, advertising agencies, and public and commercial media interests.

This select group of invited attendees included representatives from Cinereach, IMPACT Partners, Fledgling Fund, Moveon.org, Katahdin Foundation, Avaaz.org, Amnesty International, ITVS, Tribeca Film Institute, Wide Angle, Indiepix, BAVC Producers Institute for New Media Technologies, POV, Incite Productions, 1% for the Planet, The Impact Arts + Film Fund, Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media and the Phoebe Haas Charitable Trust.

IndieWire remarked that as THE GOOD PITCH came “roaring into Silver Spring with a vengeance,” there were “some wonderful surprises of synergy, and moments that crystallized partnerships and opened eyes to the new memes of strategic partnership for documentaries”. The event travelled to DC from Hot DOCS, where Cara Mertes, director of the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, said, “The Good Pitch is a new evolution in the pitch forum format,” and Still in Motion “noted that “emphasis of The Good Pitch is not on ‘advocacy,’ so much as on global social transformation”. SILVERDOCS artistic director, Sky Sitney, echoed this sentiment, saying, “It is a perfect fit with our ethos of celebrating excellence in cinema, supporting a diverse range of voices and storytelling, and fostering the power of documentary to enhance our understanding of the world”.

The eight inspiring finalists that presented at SILVERDOCS, “one of the most prestigious film events devoted to the non-fiction form,” according to Fest21, were selected from a pool of over 300 applicants. The film projects ranged widely in topic, incorporating issues reaching from environmental sustainability to non-violent resistance in the Middle East. They included the following, as described by Cineuropea.org:

BUDRUS HAS A HAMMER
Dir. Julia Bacha
A Palestinian community organizer unites Fatah, Hamas and Israelis in a Gandhian struggle to save his village, unleashing a non-violent movement – with women on the front lines – that is still gaining ground today.

CAPE WIND: THE FIGHT FOR THE FUTURE OF POWER IN AMERICA
Dir. Robbie Gemmel
CAPE WIND illuminates the divisive controversy surrounding the Cape Wind Project – a proposal to build 130 wind turbines off the coast of Cape Cod – translating the furor which exploded on the Cape Cod community into a story of transcendent national importance for the future of sustainability in America.

ETHIOPIA’S EXCHANGE
Dir. Hugo Berkeley
ETHIOPIA’S EXCHANGE tells the story of a woman on a mission – and a world of trouble standing in her way. Eleni Gabre-Madhin, a charismatic Ethiopian economist, wants to end hunger in her famine-plagued country. She designed the nation’s first commodities exchange, which she hopes will revolutionize an age-old market system.

GREEN SHALL OVERCOME
Dir. Megan Gelstein
GREEN SHALL OVERCOME takes an in-depth look at the green-collar job movement through the lens of Van Jones, an African-American civil-rights lawyer. Jones envisions the new green economy as a pathway out of poverty for low-income Americans while simultaneously solving challenges of environmental destruction. After years of advocating for change, Jones is recruited by the Obama Administration and appointed Special Advisor for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation by the White House Council on Environment Quality.

HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE
Dir. Stephen T. Maing
HIGH TECH, LOW LIFE is about one of China’s first citizen reporters and the achievements of a fearless new digital youth generation. The film follows the evolution of a young vegetable seller from blogger to internet celebrity as he reports on sensitive news stories in China.

HUNGRY IN AMERICA
Dirs. Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush
HUNGRY IN AMERICA will investigate why nearly 38 million Americans – including 14 million children – go hungry here, in one of the richest nations on earth.

OUT IN THE SILENCE
Dir. Joe Wilson & Dean Hamer
Out in the Silence uses the story of a small American town confronting the firestorm of controversy ignited by a same-sex wedding announcement to illustrate the challenge of being an outsider in a conservative environment and catalyze new ways of making resources and support available for those working for change.

SPLIT ESTATE
Dir. Debra Anderson
SPLIT ESTATE follows an unfolding conflict in the Rocky Mountains. With cries from Washington for more domestic gas and oil production, the citizens of Colorado and New Mexico find themselves in the path of an unstoppable rush to drill that is destroying their health, their homes, and their communities.

Out of a rousing series of fast-paced pitches, each lasting a mere seven minutes, came on-the-spot financing, next-day TV broadcast offers, as well as NGO, non-profit, and media platform partnerships. One high-profile alliance was forged between Art Stevens, relationship manager at the Calvert Foundation, who offered a contribution of $10,000 to filmmakers Megan Gelstein and Rick Butler, the makers of GREEN SHALL OVERCOME. Other notable partnerships included a broadcast offer from Planet Green for Debra Anderson’s SPLIT ESTATE. Additionally, Lucy Bailey and Andrew Thompson’s MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN, one of the films pitched at last years BRITDOC’s Big Pitch last year, earned the SILVERDOCS’ World Feature Award, along with $10,000.

From SILVERDOCS, THE GOOD PITCH will go first to London, September 7th-8th, and then on to the Independent Film Week in New York City on September 24th.

SILVERDOCS was thrilled to host this esteemed event on its inaugural North American tour and will continue to be actively involved in GOOD PITCH events and the business and creative partnerships it helps to forge. Special credit goes to the Channel 4 BRITDOC Foundation, the Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program, and Sandi DuBowski for their masterful stewardship of the event.

Marion Barry Busting a Move

This just in:

Hizzoner Was in the SILVERDOCS House

Those of us in the press office knew things were going to run a little differently for the “press line” when three birds parked across the street an hour before Marion Barry was due to arrive for the World Premiere of THE NINE LIVES OF MARION BARRY.  RSVP?  Are you kidding, this is HARD news.  Carpet, smarpet.  Mr. Barry had his own plans, like walking the rush line that wrapped around the block greeting his admirers and detractors alike, and doing his live feeds across the street, so that the hubbub would be well captured in the background.  You couldn’t plan this, er, well, actually, he did.  There was a moment where one protester was shouting “shame,” (um could you be a little more specific please?) while Barry enthusiasts clapped, cheered and strained to shake his hands, the perfect metaphor for the movie.  We enjoyed the ride along with him, finally getting to the official photos and patient festival press dutifully waiting at the presser inside.  Our favorite moment, was when Barry and entourage crossed Colesville Road into oncoming traffic, which parted like Moses parting the red sea.  Of course it did.  

Once inside, Barry was not going to sit in the upscale, reserved “captain’s chairs” in the back of the theater, instead he sat down in the center of the theater with his people.  Post screening discussion was terrific, covering all sides of the man and the movie, before hizzoner took the mic, for a (suprisingly concise) observation that media doesn’t tell the whole story, and while they can be very bad, he loves them anyway.  Clearly, they love him back, whether reporting the good, the bad or the ugly, in a sweetly symbiotic relationship.  Post event there was a private dinner at Jackie’s Restaurant,  while the Festival’s party for the night was next door with Go Go band Trouble Funk playing into the wee hours.  Hizzoner did manage to shake some moves on the dance floor before heading off into the sunrise.  Select pics below:

 

Marion Barry Greets his Fans at SILVERDOCS Closing Night film Nine Lives of Marion Barry

Hizzoner on the SILVERDOCS scene

 

That's a World Premiere Smile if I ever saw one

 

Sky Sitney, Filmmakers and Subjects before the screening

Post Screening Panel

A few words from the man of the hour

Its a Hit! Awards Ceremony At SILVERDOCS

OCTOBER COUNTRY, MUGABE AND THE WHITE AFRICAN, RISE UP, 12 NOTES DOWN, OFF AND RUNNING, among award winners with SOUL POWER and SALT as honorable mentions.  Awards release on home page and in e-kit gives the details, but here are some of the pics:

 

Director Luciano Blotta accepts the Music Documentary award

Director Andreas Koefoed accepts the Sterling Short Film award

 

filmmakers Michael Palmieri, and Donal Mosher accept the Sterling U.S. Feature award

Director Lucy Baily (CENTER) accepts the Sterling World Feature Award

 

Another of filmmakers Donal Mosher and Michael Palmieri accept the Sterling U.S. Feature award

Best Worst Party Follows BEST WORST MOVIE

Following the overflowing house for BEST WORST MOVIE and TROLL 2 double feature, SILVERDOCS’ own Adrian Spencer hosted a Best Worst Party in celebration of the culmination of all his cinematic dreams coming true: befriending the cast and crew of the doc and feature (Michael Paul Stephenson & George Hardy); putting his heart and creativity into making the evening special with overflowing platters of balogna sandwiches, corn on the cob, and the condiment goblin lady pictured below.  As for the filmmakers, they somehow found the energy after late night reveling (I’m sure there are pics to follow) to show up at FOX at 7ish this morning for segment on FOX & Friends Weekend, where broadcast vixen and former Washingtonian Alisyn Camerota and several of the show’s producers had the goblins and crew on this morning.   Am I the only one who thinks Landmark needs to recreate this double feature across the country?  Somehow I think not.

 

Best Worst Party Condiment Troll

 

Goblins, Michael, Adrian & George before BEST WORST MOVIE/TROLL 2 Double Feature

Maysles Wrapped in Praise at SILVERDOCS

Filmmaker Barbara Kopple, Environmental artists and six-time Maysles film subjects Christo and Jeanne-Claude, and SILVERDOCS Artistic Director Sky Sitney gave moving tributes to Albert Maysles and his body of work at last night’s Guggenheim Symposium, before a terrific reel of Al’s body of work produced by SILVERDOCS’ Founding Director Nina Gilden-Seavey.  Before the reel Barbara asked the audience to stand up if they had been mentored or deeply moved or influenced by Al’s work leading to a standing ovation. After the reel, Entertainment Weekly’s Lisa Schwarzbaum probed about Al’s work and method, but no one recovered from the awwwww moment once he regaled the audience with the story of his father never taking a belt to him, and the one time he did when he was 8 or 10, walking by the bedroom and seeing his father weeping for having done it.  Portrait of a Filmmaker as a Young Artist, my friends.  Pics from the night:

 

 

 

Al and Barbara, together again

We are Family

Christo and Jeanne-Claude

How can you not Love this man?!

Our hero

SPLITTING HAIRS Splits Sides

Cool kids had two options last night: Karaoke at Quarry House or Beard and Moustache Competition at Round House.  It was possible to hit both, press teamsters in their 20s tell me.  As for those with only one late night entry in them (read: like me), they stuck to the resplendent SPLITTING HAIRS post screening contest, which had about 20 competitors–professional and amateurs–with a suprise upset win by HUNTING DOWN MEMORY film subject Øyvind Aamot, who beat Bill Mitchell, third place World Beard and Moustache Champion.  Bill’s extraordinary sideburn Mutton Chops couldn’t bear up under the weight of the long flowing dreadlocked partial.  SPLITTING HAIRS subject and Team USA leader Phil Olsen deserves a medal for bringing out so many Team USA members from around the country and serving as MC. First Place winners took home Festival passes to next year’s SILVERDOCS and a few other goodies.  Some photos:

 

Phil Olsen, Team USA head explains the rules

 

Tipsy Splitting Hairs producer exposes fraud

Check out those Chops

 

Who Can Compete with THAT?!

 

You should have seen him unfurl that baby.

 

Another Winner!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Variety and DCist.com tout SUPERMEN OF MALEGAON

Hey all– Kelley Newman here reporting from SILVERDOCS.   Check out reviews for SUPERMEN OF MALEGAON on Variety.com and DCist.com  Click here for Eddie Cockrell’s Variety review;  Chris Klimek’s review for DCist can be found here.

Dean of Documentary Meets his Adoring Public

 

Albert Maysles Holds Court after Salesman Screening

CONVENTION Behind-the-Scenes Drama

AJ’ CONVENTION gets some good lovin’ for its depictions of the behind-the-scenes machinations of the 2008 Democratic National Convention in today’s NationalJournal,WashingtonTimes, and indieWire.  The Convention kids were celebrating at the the midnight breakfast at the Tastee Diner.  Pre-screening confab here: