Details on the opening night to follow…

Before the official opening of the festival, there was a small gathering in the lobby of the Silver Theater.

Here are some photos of Silver Spring, as the preparations get underway.

It’s a languid rainy Monday, but it’s the beginning of a week that I expect will be full of beauty, controversy, pain, and awe.  We are heading down to DC (Silver Spring, Maryland, to be precise) for Silverdocs, perhaps the most important documentary film festival in America, where I’ll be participating in a filmmakers’ conference and covering the fest for an online magazine called Cinemaminima. The festival, co-founded by AFI (American Film Institute) and the Discovery Channel, will feature some of the best documentaries from around the world, including many world premieres, and special sections on Health and South Africa. Check back here or at Cinemaminima for reviews, interviews, photos, and personal insights.

Among the films I’m most looking forward to:

Road to Guantanamo, by Micheal Winterbottom and Mat Whitecross, which tells the story of four British citizens of Pakistani descent who were detained on their way to a wedding and ended up at the notorious US detention center

Beyond Eyurv, by John Mounier, about a teenaged boy who leaves the close-knit Hasidic community where he was raised and struggles to integrate into the secular world

Danielson: A Family Movie, by JL Aronson, about the enigmatic, Christian indie rock group the Danielson Famile.  I saw the Danielson’s perform in Philadelphia recently, and was both confused and mesmerized.

More soon….

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