Retrospective on Contemporary American Documentary
Author: Mosaiko EditorPosted on: Feb 18th 2011
Greek text 
The Greek Film Archive, with the support of the U.S. Embassy, is pleased to present the week-long retrospective on the “Contemporary American Documentary” featuring award-winning contemporary documentaries that give insights into life and culture in the United States. The retrospective will open on February 24, 2011 and run through March 2, 2011, at the Film Archive (48 Iera Odos Str. & 134-136 Megalou Alexandrou Str.). For the complete program of screenings please call 210-3609695 or visit www.mosaiko.gr.
As part of the retrospective, two prominent experts on American documentaries will visit Greece for presentations and workshops. Oscar-winning documentary director Bill Guttentag and acclaimed producer Sandra Ruch will give workshops for filmmakers, media and film students and interested audiences in Athens. The workshops are organized in collaboration with Exile Room (12, Athinas Str., Monastiraki, tel: 210- 3223395) and will be free for the public.
From March 4-5, the Naoussa International Film Festival will host the retrospective in the city of Naoussa. The two-day program will include film screenings and a panel discussion with the two American experts. The event will take place at the Cultural Center School of Aristotle (Isvoria Naoussas.) For more information call 233-2024617, or visit www.mosaiko.gr and www.niff.gr.
The films being shown in both Athens and Naoussa cover a broad spectrum of cinematography and narrative techniques as well as themes; from human rights and immigration to the environment and natural disasters, and even stories of personal journeys.
The retrospective is part of the American Documentary Showcase, a touring program of about 60 independently produced documentaries that is traveling to nearly 25 countries worldwide. The films are introduced by accompanying U.S. filmmakers and film experts, who also conduct seminars and workshops on filmmaking and emergent media. Films chosen for the Showcase have earned Oscar and Emmy nominations and awards at Sundance, Tribeca and other film festivals.
Bill Guttentag is a two-time Oscar-winning documentary and feature film writer-producer-director. In Greece, he will present his 2009 film ‘Soundtrack for a Revolution,’ a documentary that tells the story of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and ’60’s through its powerful music. In 1988, Guttentag won an Oscar for the documentary ‘You Don’t Have to Die,’ and earned three more Academy Award nominations over the next 15 years before winning a second Oscar in 2003 for ‘Twin Towers.’ Since 2001, he has been teaching film and television business at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
Sandra J. Ruch served as Executive Director of the International Documentary Association, a nonprofit organization with 3,000 members that promotes nonfiction filmmaking and supports the efforts of filmmakers around the world, and Publisher of Documentary magazine from 2001-2008. Ruch serves on juries at film festivals around the world. She has recently started Cinelixir Productions, a company that helps documentary filmmakers with the creative and promotion elements of filmmaking.
ATHENS PROGRAM
February 24 – March 2, 2011
Screenings:
Film Archive
48 Iera Odos Str. & 134-136 Megalou Alexandrou Str.
(Kerameikos Metro station) Τ: 210 3609695, 3612046
Thursday 2/24
20:00 Which Way Home (Rebecca Cammisa, 2010) 94’
The story of Latin American children traveling to cross the U.S. border, facing the harrowing journey alone. Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary.
22:00 All Creative Work is Derivative (Nina Paley, 2010) 3’
Human culture evolves through copying. Animation.
22:05 Racing Dreams (Marshall Curry, 2010) 96’
Three kids practice and dream of one day racing on the professional NASCAR circuit, while navigating the challenging road between childhood and young adulthood. Best Documentary Award, Tribeca Film Festival.
Friday 2/25
20:00 King Corn (Aaron Woolf, 2007) 50’
Two East Coast college graduates move to Iowa to learn how to grow corn, raising troubling questions about how we farm and how we eat. Peabody Award.
21:30 Big River (Curt Ellis, 2009) 27’
The King Corn farmers have a new mission, to investigate the environmental impact of their farming on the people and places downstream.
22:00 New Muslim Cool (Jennifer Maytorena Taylor, 2009) 56’
A Puerto Rican-American rapper and ex drug dealer starts a new path as a young Muslim, and carries his message of faith to young people through hip-hop. Best Documentary Award, CineFestival/San Antonio.
Saturday 2/26
20:00 A Man Named Pearl (Scott Galloway, Brent Pierson, 2006) 78’
Pearl Fryar, a black self-taught topiary artist, wins “Best Yard” award and attracts visitors and tourists to a community that was reluctant to accept black residents at first.
21:30 The Betrayal – Nerakhoon (Ellen Kuras, 2008) 96’
A family’s journey from war-torn Laos to the mean streets of New York over the course of 23 years. The family is trapped between what it was forced to leave behind and building a new life in a new country.
Sunday 27/2
20:00 No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos (James Chressanthis, 2008) 90’
Immigrant cinematographers Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond came to the U.S. after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 and shaped the visual aspect of American cinema in the 1960’s and 70’s. Best Documentary Award Santa Fe Film Festival.
22:00 Reading the Water (Niklas Sven Vollmer, 2007) 40’
An experimental look at the relationship between a marine biologist/ naturalist father and his son, which is also a metaphor of the family ecosystem.
Monday 2/28
20:00 Trouble the Water (Tia Lessin, Carl Deal, 2008) 96’
An intimate portrait of two unlikely heroes and an underprivileged community during Hurricane Katrina. Best American Documentary Award Sundance Film Festival, and Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary.
22:00 FLOW For the Love of Water (Irena Salina, 2008) 84’
An award-winning film about what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st century, the world water crisis. Best Documentary Award United Nations Association Film Festival.
Tuesday 3/1
20:00 Soundtrack for a Revolution (Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman, 2009) 83’
The history of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 60’s through its powerful music soundtrack. Best Documentary Director Award Chicago International Film Festival, and Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary.
21:30 Panel discussion with director Bill Guttentag, producer Sandra Ruch, Professor Maria Komninou and director Katerina Patroni on documentary filmmaking, moderated by Valerie Kontakos (director/producer/Exile Room).
Wednesday 3/2
20:00 Unnatural History of Wall Street (Gary Leib, 2008) 1’
An animated economic history of New York. Animation.
20:05 Welcome to Shelbyville (Kim A. Snyder, 2010) 70’
A community in the South grapples with rapidly changing demographics and is called to integrate a growing Latino population and hundreds of Somali refugees.
Question & Answer session with producer Sandra Ruch and Maria Komninou, Secretary General of the Film Archive and Professor of Media at the University of Athens.
21:45 Neshoba (Micki Dickoff, Tony Pagano, 2008) 90’
The story of a Mississippi town still divided over the meaning of justice, 40 years after the 1964 murders of three civil rights workers (the FBI investigation became known as “Mississippi Burning”). Best Documentary Award, Boston Film Festival and New York International Film Festival.
Workshop: “Crossing the Atlantic”
A two-day workshop with Sandra Ruch and Bill Guttentag
Exile Room
Admission Free
12 Athinas Str., 3rd Floor
(Monastiraki Metro station) T: 210 3223395
Monday 2/28
13:00-16:00 Producer Sandra J. Ruch will present the before and after process of making a documentary: from securing funding to sending it to festivals and promoting it.
Wednesday 3/2
13:00-16:00 Writer-director-producer Bill Guttentag will discuss the documentary experience: from preparing for shooting to putting the finishing touches on your film.
NAOUSSA PROGRAM
March 4-5, 2011
Friday 3/4
18:00 Racing Dreams (Marshall Curry, 2010) 96’
Three kids practice and dream of one day racing in the professional NASCAR circuit, while navigating the challenging road between childhood and young adulthood. Best Documentary Award, Tribeca Film Festival.
20:00 Soundtrack for a Revolution (Bill Guttentag, Dan Sturman, 2009) 83’
The history of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 60’s through its powerful music soundtrack. Best Documentary Director Award Chicago International Film Festival, and Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary.
21:30 Q & A with director and producer Bill Guttentag.
Saturday 3/5
11:00 Open discussion with Oscar-winning documentary director Bill Guttentag and acclaimed producer Sandra Ruch on:
“The contemporary world through the documentary lens”
Simultaneous translation into Greek available
18:00 FLOW For the Love of Water (Irena Salina, 2008) 84’
An award-winning film about what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st century, the world water crisis. Best Documentary Award United Nations Association Film Festival.
20:00 Which Way Home (Rebecca Cammisa, 2010) 94’
The story of Latin American children traveling to cross the U.S. border, facing the harrowing journey alone. Academy Award Nomination for Best Documentary.
ADMISSION FREE
Cultural Center Aristotle’s School
Ιsvoria, Naousa
Τ: 2332024617
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