SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival Announces Festival Winners

SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival Announces Festival Winners

DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE by Hubert Sauper Wins Sterling Award Feature

POSITIVELY NAKED by David and Arlene Donnelly Nelson Wins Best Short

Dr. Martens Music Doc Award to Kevin McAlester for YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME

Feature Audience Award Shared by STREET FIGHT by Marshall Curry and BOYS OF BARAKA by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady

GOD SLEEPS IN RWANDA by Kimberlee Acquaro and Stacy Sherman Wins Shorts Audience Award

SILVER SPRING, Md., June 20 /PRNewswire/ -- SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival today announced its distinguished Award winners, culminating the weeklong Festival activities.

This year's Sterling Award for a Feature Film is DARWIN'S NIGHTMARE by Hubert Sauper. The film shows the impact of globalization and the scourge of AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa through the microcosm of life on the shores of Lake Victoria in Tanzania. The Award is sponsored by Microsoft, and the Director will receive $10,000 cash and $10,000 in-kind services from Video Labs, and $5,000 in film stock from Kodak.

The Jury noted that "The film is complex, disturbing, made with integrity and courage and one that makes us aware that wherever we are we are interconnected." The Jury also indicated that all the films that won awards at SILVERDOCS this year, "address people caught up in economic and social divides within communities and nations where racial issues are still far from resolved."

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Honorable mentions went to HOME by Jeffrey M. Togman and ROMANTICO by Mark Becker. HOME follows Sheree Farmer as she struggles to buy her first home and escape her drug-infested and gang-controlled Newark neighborhood with the help of a financial planner turned social worker. ROMANTICO follows Mariachi singer Carmelo Muniz, and his partner Arturo, who left Mexico in search of a better way to provide for their families. They tour San Francisco's restaurants nightly searching for generous diners who appreciate their romantic ballads. Both face greater difficulties when they return to their native land.

The SILVERDOCS award for a Short Film was given to POSITIVELY NAKED, directed by Arlene Donnelly Nelson and David Nelson, which captures artist Spencer Tunick as he shoots a diverse group of participants who share their HIV+ stories, creating an unsentimental portrait of life with AIDS in America today. They will receive $5,000 cash.

Honorable mentions went to FLAG DAY by Kristy Higby and GOD SLEEPS IN RWANDA by Kimberlee Acquaro and Stacy Sherman. FLAG DAY follows a man who creates an ever-expanding "garden" of flags, each representing a fallen US soldier while GOD SLEEPS IN RWANDA shows Rwandan women rebuilding their lives and redefining their roles in Rwandan Society.

The Dr. Martens Best Music Doc Award goes to YOU'RE GONNA MISS ME by Keven McAlester. The film explores the life of rocker Roky Erickson, credited as the creator of psychedelic rock, as he struggles to stay afloat after a stint in a Texas mental institution.

The SILVERDOCS Audience Award Winners for a Feature were STREET FIGHT, directed by Marshall Curry and BOYS OF BARAKA by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady. STREET FIGHT follows the mayoral race between Sharpe James and Cory Booker, which shows that dirty politics are alive and well in Newark, New Jersey. The BOYS OF BARAKA documentary follows twenty students from the roughest ghettos of Baltimore as they are challenged and transformed in the course of their 7th and 8th grade years at an experimental boarding school in Kenya.

The SILVERDOCS Audience Award Winner for a Short was given to GOD SLEEPS IN RWANDA by Kimberlee Acquaro and Stacy Sherman, which also won an Honorable mention by the Shorts Jury.

The SILVERDOCS 2004 Audience Award Honoree BORN INTO BROTHELS went on to win an Academy Award(R) and the 2003 Sterling Award winner MY ARCHITECT went on to an Academy Award(R) nomination.

Patricia Finneran, Festival Director, said, "SILVERDOCS 2005 explored freedom of expression throughout the program, looking at music as a tool for social justice, and comedy pushing the limits of acceptable speech. We are therefore particularly pleased that both our jury and our audience honored films that address freedom and the state of democracy in the United States and around the world."

"Our greatest goal in joining with AFI to produce SILVERDOCS was to celebrate and honor the creativity of independent filmmakers and the documentary art form. With these awards, we are honoring those filmmakers from around the world whose vision and story-telling truly excelled," said Don Baer, Senior Executive Vice President, Discovery Communications.

The SILVERDOCS award winners were chosen by an eminent Festival jury; Ally Derks, Director of the International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (IDFA), served as jury chair. The jury included Don Edkins, executive producer for the STEPS global documentary project on democracy; Gail Silva, multimedia consultant, Stanley Nelson, Emmy-winning documentary film producer, writer and director including THE MURDER OF EMETT TILL and BLACK PRESS; Etienne Sauret, director of COLLATERAL DAMAGES, which won a Jury special mention at the 2003 SILVERDOCS. The shorts jury includes Kelly M. DeVine, Independent Film Channel, Chad Lorenz, Managing Editor, Washingtonian, and Mark Ruppert, creator and co-executive producer of the 48 Hour Film Project. Doug Pray director of SCRATCH and HYPE! served on the Music Documentary Jury along with Penelope Spheeris, director of THE DECLINE OF WESTERN CIVILIZATION series and WAYNE'S WORLD and Ondi Timoner, who won last year's Grand Jury Prize at Sundance for her film DIG!

Called the "Pre-eminent US Documentary Fest" by Screen International and "America's Premiere Documentary Festival" by the Associated Press and others, SILVERDOCS screened sold-out shows to more than 15,000 participants who viewed the world's best documentary films and experienced free outdoor screenings and performances, panel discussions, and many special events. In 2005 the Festival has expanded to the nearby Round House Theatre and Discovery Communications World Headquarters to accommodate additional screenings and concurrent International Documentary Conference sessions.

More About SILVERDOCS

SILVERDOCS brings the best new documentaries to Washington, DC audiences, with six days of programming showcasing 89 films, plus special screenings. Now in its third year of attracting some of the most sought-after films and filmmakers from around the world, SILVERDOCS is fast becoming the most talked about documentary festival in the United States. For more information, go to www.silverdocs.com. For photo downloads from events go to www.image.net. For photo downloads from films go to www.newswire1.net/NW2005/C_AFI_LA/052005/index.html.

SILVERDOCS is proud to have COMCAST, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Microsoft as Official Sponsors.

More About AFI and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center

AFI is a national institute providing leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television and digital media. AFI trains the next generation of filmmakers at its world-renowned Conservatory, maintains America's film heritage through the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and explores new digital technologies in entertainment and education through AFI's New Media Ventures. As the largest nonprofit exhibitor in the US, AFI ON SCREEN encompasses the annual AFI FEST presented by Audi: AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival and SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival, while offering year-round programming at ArcLight Hollywood and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland. AFI AWARDS, the annual almanac for the 21st century, honors the most outstanding motion pictures and television programs of the year, while AFI's 100 Years ... series has ignited extraordinary public interest in classic American movies. And, during the past 32 years, AFI'S LIFE ACHIEVEMENT AWARD has become the highest honor for a career in film. The AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center is a newly-restored 49,000 square-foot art deco complex with three theatres -- one historic, two new state-of-the-art stadium-style theatres -- a cafe, a film-based retail outlet, office and meeting spaces, and reception and exhibition areas located in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland. More information about AFI and the AFI Silver Theatre can be found by visiting www.AFI.com or www.AFI.com/silver.

More About Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications is the leading global real-world media and entertainment company. Discovery has grown from its core property, the Discovery Channel, first launched in the United States in 1985, to current global operations in more than 160 countries and territories with 1.2 billion cumulative subscribers. DCI's over 90 networks of distinctive programming represent 21 entertainment brands including TLC, Animal Planet, Travel Channel, Discovery Health Channel, Discovery Kids, Discovery Times Channel, The Science Channel, Military Channel, Discovery Home Channel, Discovery en Español, Discovery HD Theater and FitTV. DCI's other properties consist of Discovery Education and Discovery Commerce, which operates 120 Discovery Channel retail stores. DCI also distributes BBC America in the United States. DCI's ownership consists of four shareholders: Liberty Media Corporation (NYSE:L), Cox Communications, Inc., Advance/Newhouse Communications and John S. Hendricks, the Company's Founder and Chairman.

Source: SILVERDOCS

CONTACT: Jody Arlington of AFI, +1-301-495-6759, jarlington@AFI.com; or Katie Stack of Discovery, +1-240-662-3705, Katie_Stack@discovery.com, both for SILVERDOCS

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Web site: http://www.silverdocs.com/

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