Worldviews and More At Fifth Silverdocs

Once again, Silverdocs is keeping it real. At the fifth annual documentary film festival, Tuesday through June 17, Washingtonians can get sneak peeks at films destined for cinematic release, and possibly worldwide acclaim. After all, last year's festival screened the short "The Blood of Yingzhou District," which later won an Academy Award, and the Oscar-nominated feature "Jesus Camp."

AFI Silver Theatre and Discovery Channel staff selected this year's crop of 100 documentaries from 1,735 submissions, filling the rosters of the festival's program categories, including Silver Awards competitors (best short and feature-length films), World View (internationally focused films), Beyond Belief (on religion) and Music Documentaries.

With films from 42 countries, Silverdocs is chockablock with international pickings, some funny, some sad, some just plain offbeat. Choices include a film about a Swiss type font ("Helvetica"), a meditation on Paris's Père Lachaise cemetery ("Forever"), a look at Mexican wrestlers ("Super Amigos") and a visit to a fashion show in a Siberian prison ("Miss Gulag"). Silverdocs habitués expecting hard-hitting, ripped-from-the-headlines features can see films such as "The Devil Came on Horseback," on the genocide in Darfur; "Hard Road Home," about a reentry program for ex-cons in Harlem; and "A Walk to Beautiful," about Ethiopian women with severe childbirth injuries trying to reclaim their lives and dignity.

This year, another category, Independent Documentary Perspectives on War, includes "Taxi to the Dark Side," on interrogation techniques under the Bush administration; "No End in Sight," by political scientist Charles Ferguson; and "Chicago 10," a semi-animated look back at protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

In the religion category, "Bridge Over the Wadi" tackles teaching Arab and Israeli kids together; "Audience of One" is about an evangelical filmmaker on an improbable mission; and "Living Goddess" follows a young Nepalese girl believed to be the living incarnation of a Hindu-Buddhist deity. (On June 15, the goddess, named Sajani, will make her first trip out of Nepal for the world premiere of the film at AFI.)

Another subject making an appearance is the Rev. Billy, the focus of "What Would Jesus Buy?" The East Coast premiere of the film on June 17 will be followed by a performance by the Rev. Billy and his Stop Shopping Gospel Choir, preaching their anti-commercialist gospel to filmgoers.

The festival also features several competitions -- full-length films and shorts vie for Sterling awards, and Best Music Documentary and Audience awards, plus new awards: Cinematic Vision (best visual storytelling), Witness (films on human rights or social justice issues), Silverdocs/American Film Market (most promising for commercial release) and this year's special award in the Beyond Belief slate. The films up for Sterling awards -- the festival's equivalent of best in show -- include "Big Rig," about long-haul truck drivers; "Enemies of Happiness," about Afghanistan's only female Parliament member; and "How to Cook Your Life," about a Zen chef and more.

The festival will travel from Silver Spring to downtown Washington on June 15 for a free program called "Why Democracy?" at the National Archives. Filmmakers, journalists and other guests will lead a conversation and show excerpts from Weijun Chen's "Please Vote for Me," about Chinese third-graders vying to be class monitor, "Iron Ladies of Liberia" and "Dinner With the President."

Jonathan Demme, this year's Charles Guggenheim Symposium honoree, will premiere his post-Katrina documentary, "New Home Movies From the Lower 9th Ward," on Thursday afternoon. Then two of Demme's music documentaries -- "Stop Making Sense" (1984) with the Talking Heads and last year's "Neil Young: Heart of Gold" -- will be shown free Thursday and June 15, respectively, at sunset on the plaza outside the theater.

For more information and a full schedule, visit http://www.silverdocs.com.