“Dreams” To Race In SILVERDOCS’ Competition

JUNIOR / USA, 2009, 70 minutes (Director: Jenna Rosher)—Even though he was diagnosed with diabetes in his teens, Eddie “Junior” Belasco, now 75, has always lived life to its fullest. After a long career in show biz, Junior is on the verge of retirement. He struggles to maintain his youthfulness, taking inspiration from his 99-year-old mother. World Premiere.

MRS. GOUNDO’S DAUGHTER / USA/MALI, 2009, 60 minutes (Directors: Barbara Attie and Janet Goldwater)—Mrs. Goundo is on a quest to spare her two-year-old daughter, Djenebou, from the same severe act she endured as a child: genital cutting. Millions of young girls have taken part in this West African tradition, which dates back thousands of years. Mrs. Goundo and her husband settle in Philadelphia, only to face deportation and the labyrinthine US judicial system. World Premiere.

MY NEIGHBOR, MY KILLER / USA, 2009, 80 minutes (Director: Anne Aghion)—After Rwanda was torn apart by ethnic division, the government put into place the Gacaca Tribunals—open-air hearings with citizen-judges intended to try their neighbors and rebuild the nation. This remarkable film explores whether it is possible to live again amongst people who slaughtered your family.

OCTOBER COUNTRY / USA, 2009, 80 minutes (Directors: Michael Palmieri and Donal Mosher)—This finely crafted portrait of a family in crisis is a beautiful representation of America’s poor. The film is a haunting multigenerational story of a working-class family coping with poverty, teen pregnancy, foster care and the ineffable horrors of child molestation and war. East Coast Premiere.

OFF AND RUNNING / USA, 2009, 80 minutes (Director: Nicole Opper)—Avery is an accomplished African-American teenager adopted by Jewish lesbians. Her curiosity about her birth mother becomes a painful examination of race and identity that upends the family and threatens to derail Avery’s dreams.

THE PHILOSOPHER KINGS / USA, 2009, 70 minutes (Director: Patrick Shen)—Some people we revere, some we despise and others we simply ignore. The figure of the invisible janitor at last acquires a face, name, and personality in this probing look at the wisdom that comes from lives lived fully. World Premiere.

RACING DREAMS / USA, 2009, 93 minutes (Director: Marshall Curry)—In this rousing look at youth, passion and tricked-out go-karts, Oscar-nominated director Marshall Curry (STREET FIGHT) profiles three unforgettable pre-teen speedsters as they dream of professional racing stardom while competing in the World Karting Association championships.

SHE IS THE MATADOR (ELLA ES EL MATADOR) / USA/SPAIN, 2009, 62 minutes (Directors: Gemma Cubero and Celeste Carrasco)—The surprising history of female bullfighters is revealed in this artful portrait of two women struggling to succeed in one of the last strongholds of Spanish machismo. As Italian-born novice Eva fights for recognition and her veteran counterpart Mari Paz contemplates retirement, the travails of both athletes illuminate this controversial blood sport. US Premiere.

SWEETHEARTS OF THE PRISON RODEO / USA, 2009, 90 minutes (Director: Bradley Beesley)—Once a year at the Oklahoma Prison Rodeo in McAlester, Oklahoma, an eight-second bull ride becomes the most important time in the world. Director Bradley Beesley takes us along with male and female convicts as they compete and train for slots at this unique rough-stock rodeo. East Coast Premiere.

THE WINDMILL MOVIE / USA, 2008, 80 minutes (Director: Alexander Olchs)—Richard P. Rogers was a celebrated documentarian who, despite amassing more than 20 years’ and 200 hours’ worth of footage, was never able to complete his autobiographical magnum opus. After his death, a former student, Alexander Olchs, excavates Rogers’s archives and creates a complex portrait of an endearing and contradictory artist and man.

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