If you’re near Washington, D.C. next week, you’ll have a chance to see a great lineup of nonfiction films at AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival, including six upcoming POV selections: The Learning, El Velador (The Night Watchman), Without Country (Sin País), If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, Where Soldiers Come From and Better This World.
POV filmmakers D A Pennebaker & Chris Hegedus (Kings of Pastry, Dont Look Back, The War Room) will also be honored at the Charles Guggenheim Symposium.
There’s more information and show times below.
The Learning
The Learning tells the story of four Filipino women who reluctantly leave their families and schools to teach in Baltimore. With their increased salaries, they hope to transform their families’ lives back home. The film will be competing in the Sterling US Feature Competition category.
Friday, June 24, 2011, 10:15 AM
Sunday, June 26, 2011, 4:15 PM
El Velador
(The Night Watchman)
In El Velador, POV alum Natalia Almada (Al Otro Lado, 2005) heads to Silverdocs with a haunting and intimate portrait of the extravagant mausoleums of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords. Get a sneak peak before its POV broadcast in 2012!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 3:30 PM
Friday, June 24, 2011, 11:00 AM
Without Country
(Sin País)
With intimate access and striking imagery, Without Country (Sin País) is a short film about a family fractured by deportation. Sin País will compete at Silverdocs in the Shorts category and will be seen on POV in 2012.
Thursday, June 23, 2011, 12:00 PM
Sunday, June 26, 2011, 9:00 AM
If a Tree Falls: A Story
of the Earth Liberation Front
If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front filmmaker Marshall Curry (the Oscar®-nominated Street Fight, POV 2005) lifts the veil on a radical environmental group the FBI calls America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat” and explores two of America’s most pressing issues — environmentalism and terrorism.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011, 6:30 PM
Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 11:00 AM
Where Soldiers
Come From
From a snowy small town in Northern Michigan to the mountains of Afghanistan and back, Where Soldiers Come From follows the four-year journey of childhood friends, forever changed by a faraway war.
Thursday, June 23, 2011, 12:15 PM
Saturday, June 25, 2011, 2:45 PM
Better This World
Better This World filmmakers Kelly Duane de la Vega and Katie Galloway go to the heart of the war on terror and its impact on civil liberties and political dissent in post-9/11 America. Don’t miss this dramatic tale of idealism, loyalty, crime and betrayal.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011, 6:00 PM
Thursday, June 23, 2011, 5:00 PM
D A Pennebaker &
Chris Hegedus
Silverdocs will honor Chris Hegedus and Donn Alan (D A) Pennebaker at its Charles Guggenheim Symposium, showing clips from their body of work, which includes Dont Look Back, The War Room and the 2011 POV selection Kings of Pastry. Previous honorees include Barbara Kopple, Frederick Wiseman and Albert Maysles.
The festival runs June 20-26, 2011, in Silver Spring, Md. For a full listing of show times and ticket info, visit silverdocs.com.
Check out POV’s Community Network for a complete listing of upcoming screenings. Want to see a free screening in your community? Tell us where in the comments or on Twitter @POVengage!