SILVERDOCS Fills Out Rest of Slate

A scene fromChristie Callan-Jones’ “Cat Ladies.” Image courtesy of SILVERDOCS.

THE COVE / USA, 2009, 90 minutes (Director: Louie Psihoyos)—Director Louie Psihoyos follows Richard O’Barry, the man who made “Flipper” a household name, as he and his team try to stop Japanese fishermen from slaughtering dolphins for the consumer market. Psihoyos’s film is an indictment of human greed and arrogance, a tale of redemption and a desperate call to action.

CRUDE / USA, 2009, 104 minutes (Director: Joe Berlinger)—Berlinger (BROTHER’S KEEPER, METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER) brings a judicious eye to this emotionally charged legal drama set in the rainforests of Ecuador, where indigenous tribes, American oil companies, environmental activists and an armada of lawyers spar over a botched oil-spill remediation deep in the Amazonian jungle.

DEFAMATION / AUSTRIA/DENMARK/ISRAEL/USA, 2008, 93 minutes (Director: Yoav Shamir)—A provocative and humorous look at contemporary anti-Semitism. Shamir manages a balanced approach—he interviews the controversial Norman Finkelstein as well as Anti-Defamation League representatives—while travelling around the world in a quest to comprehend the difference between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.

EPISODE 3 - ‘ENJOY POVERTY’ / NETHERLANDS, 2008, 90 minutes (Director: Renzo Martens)—With a deadpan, satirical style that is part Nicholas Kristof, part Andy Kaufman, Martens travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo. After witnessing the ways in which Western interests profit from poverty in Africa, he attempts to persuade the poor that their poverty is a natural resource they should learn to exploit. US Premiere.

THE HORSE BOY / USA, 2008, 94 minutes (Director: Michael Orion Scott)—Like any other loving family would, the Isaacsons raised their autistic son with patience and hope. Unlike any other loving family, the Isaacsons travelled to another continent in search of a remedy that Western medicine couldn’t give them.

LET’S BE TOGETHER / DENMARK, 2008, 80 minutes (Director: Nanna Frank Moller)—Fourteen-year-old Hairon has a waifish figure, the bee-stung lips of a supermodel and a fondness for eyeliner and fine couture. Hairon is also a boy. In this touching and insightful film, complex questions of identity, gender performance and difference are explored through Hairon’s relationship with his accepting but concerned family. North American Premiere.

LONG DISTANCE LOVE / SWEDEN, 2008, 77 minutes (Directors: Magnus Gertten and Elin Joensson)—In Osh, Kyrgyzstan, if you are a young man with a new bride, you might very well decide to strike out from home in the hope of finding a little work. While his bride Dildora stays behind with her new in-laws, Alisher heads for Moscow, where nothing goes according to plan. North American Premiere.

MINE / USA, 2009, 83 minutes (Director: Geralyn Pezanoski)—Hurricane Katrina is bearing down on you. You have to leave your home. You can’t take your pet with you. When the rain stops and the water recedes, you find out that your pet is alive and well. Only he’s in another state with a new family. Imagine your surprise when they refuse to give him back. East Coast Premiere.

NO IMPACT MAN / USA, 2009, 92 minutes (Directors: Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein)—Colin Beavan is determined to trim his environmental impact to zero—from his eleventh-floor New York apartment. The catch is that he needs his wife and 3-year-old daughter to join him. Once the novelty of farmers markets, bicycles and candlelight wears off, the family tries to deal with its new reality.

OLD PARTNER / SOUTH KOREA, 2008, 77 minutes (Director: Lee Chung-ryoui)—Mr. Lee, an old farmer living in a remote South Korean village, has the most unlikely soul mate—his 40-year-old ox. The peculiar yet touching relationship between Mr. Lee and his ox evolves into an unforgettable companionship that sustains them through failing health and a disappearing way of life.

ONLY WHEN I DANCE / UNITED KINGDOM, 2008, 75 minutes (Director: Beadie Finzi)—In this uplifting film, two teenage ballet hopefuls fight through tough training regimens, economic uncertainty and a gauntlet of demanding judges during their improbable journey from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to the highest levels of international ballet competition.

OUR FORBIDDEN PLACES / FRANCE/MOROCCO, 2008, 105 minutes (Director: Leila Kilani)—When Morocco established the Equity and Reconciliation Commission in 2004 to investigate the state-sponsored disappearance of many citizens after the country won independence in 1956, it received 30,000 applications for reparation. Our Forbidden Places follows four conflicted families as they seek—at times hesitantly—the truth about their lost relatives. North American Premiere.

POP STAR ON ICE / USA, 2009, 85 minutes (Directors: David Barba and James Pellerito)—A funny, fast-paced and intimate film that follows the tumultuous career of ice skating superstar Johnny Weir, who hasn’t quite achieved Olympic glory. Ice skating fans will rejoice and newcomers will be pleasantly entertained with Johnny’s antics on and off the ice. East Coast Premiere.

PRODIGAL SONS / USA, 2008, 86 minutes (Director: Kimberly Reed)—In this absorbing and unpredictable family drama, director Kimberly Reed’s journey home to small-town Montana to reconcile with her estranged adoptive brother evolves into a surprising meditation on gender, sibling rivalry, mental illness and cinematic royalty.

A scene from R.J. Cutler’s “The September Issue.” Image courtesy of SILVERDOCS.

SACRED PLACES / CAMEROON/FRANCE, 2008, 70 minutes (Director: Jean-Marie Teno)—Jean-Marie Teno turns his camera on a popular neighborhood of Ouagadougou, home of FESPACO, the premier pan-African film festival. He encounters three captivating men who promote and participate in the arts outside the limelight. SACRED PLACES is a beautifully constructed meditation on the economics of cinema and storytelling in postcolonial West Africa. East Coast Premiere.

THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE / USA, 2009, 90 minutes (Director: R.J. Cutler)—Cutler is granted unprecedented access to Vogue editor Anna Wintour and her colleagues as they put together their largest publication of the year, the September issue. Cutler takes us to Europe on shoots, introduces us to fashion’s cognoscenti and shows us the competitive and contentious relationship between Wintour and her talented stylist, Grace Coddington. East Coast Premiere.

SUPERMEN OF MALEGAON / SINGAPORE/JAPAN/SOUTH KOREA, 2008, 79 minutes (Director: Faiza Ahmad Khan)—Sail joyously across the skies with a scrawny, baggy-suited superhero as this terrifically fun feature documents the making of a low-budget interpretation of SUPERMAN infused with the local culture of Malegaon, India. Disasters beset the cast and crew, and one obstacle after another threatens to derail production.

THE TIME OF THEIR LIVES / UNITED KINGDOM, 2009, 68 minutes (Director: Jocelyn Cammack)—A wonderful profile of three vibrant women who live in a home for active seniors in North London. These are not your average old ladies—they are intellectuals with storied careers in journalism, literature and activism. Jocelyn Cammack’s unflinching perspective on aging is highlighted by these truly inspirational subjects.

VOICES FROM EL-SAYED (SHABLUL BAMIDBAR) / ISRAEL, 2008, 75 minutes (Director: Oded Adomi Leshem)—The Bedouin village of El-Sayed in Israel has the world’s largest percentage of deaf people, and the inhabitants have developed a unique sign language over generations. When a man allows his son to undergo a cochlear implant operation, the village stirs with doubt and uncertainty. East Coast Premiere.

THE WAY WE GET BY / USA, 2009, 84 minutes (Director: Aron Gaudet)—With American wars raging overseas, a group of senior citizens in Bangor, Maine decide to get involved. Greeting hundreds of thousands of troops in the airport, these seniors offer comfort to many who otherwise have been forgotten by society, sharing the bonds of mortality and the need for human contact.

WE LIVE IN PUBLIC / USA, 2008, 90 minutes (Director: Ondi Timoner)—Timoner (DIG!) chronicled Josh Harris’ social experiments for ten years. In 1999 he invited 100 people to live in a Manhattan loft under 24-hour surveillance. After that failed, he tried again with just his girlfriend and himself. Timoner’s footage is at times titillating and at times disturbing, but never short of engrossing.

WINNEBAGO MAN / USA, 2009, 84 minutes (Director: Ben Steinbauer)—While filming a promotional video for Winnebago 20 years ago, during 14 days of blistering summer heat, Jack Rebney’s frustration led to a series of expletive-filled tirades that stand in perfect contrast to the relaxation the Winnebago promises. But Rebney doesn’t know the outtakes have made him famous.

YOUTH KNOWS NO PAIN / USA, 2009, 88 minutes (Director: Mitch McCabe)—Filmmaker Mitch McCabe is the daughter of a plastic surgeon. She travels across the country immersing herself in the vast anti-aging industry. After meeting doctors, experts and others fighting the onset of old age, McCabe struggles against the ever-present temptation of eternal youth.

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