Silverdocs Documentary Festival

Where the impression of the Sheffield DocFest film selection is one of British provinsialism (see below), there is reason to say bravo to the American Silverdocs, that offers its viewers a quality programme. The Discovery Channel supports the festival but it is not really Discovery-like films that are being shown, on the contrary. (Silverdocs takes place in and around downtown Silver Spring, Maryland – just minutes from downtown Washington, DC – at the AFI Silver Theatre, the flagship theatre of the AFI, one of the premier film exhibition spaces in the country, and the top art house cinema in the region.) June 20-26 are the dates of the festival.

At the Sterling World Competition category of the festival, you find films like the Polish At the Edge of Russia, the Latvian Family Instinct, the Scottish The First Film, the Belgian Grande Hotel, the Dutch Position among the Stars and the Georgian Bakhmaro (photo) by Salome Jashi, a film that starts its world tour at Silverdocs. Here is the description of the film taken from the site of Deckert Distribution – producer of the film is German Heino Deckert. dvd copy of the film may be bought through the site:

“A journey into a lively but rotting building – a microcosm intruded by the constant anticipation of change. A three-story brick building in a provincial Georgian town. At the center of the building is a restaurant whose walls are covered with bright green and orange plastic foam and where tables are set, waiting for customers – who rarely come. Just like customers, change also comes rarely here. Just like the others in the building waitress Nana and her boss are waiting… This building, which resembles Noah’s Ark, is a microcosm, a model of this troubled country with its endless demonstrations and opposition rallies. On the backdrop of political events, somehow, all of life is here.”

Salome Jashi’s previous films  from the first Their Helicopter have been reviewed on this site

http://deckert-distribution.com/

http://silverdocs.com/

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Tue Steen Müller
Tue Steen Müller

Müller, Tue Steen
Documentary Consultant and Critic, DENMARK

Worked with documentary films for more than 20 years at the Danish Film Board, as press officer, festival representative and film consultant/commissioner. Co-founder of Balticum Film and TV Festival, Filmkontakt Nord, Documentary of the EU and EDN (European Documentary Network).
Awards: 2004 the Danish Roos Prize for his contribution to the Danish and European documentary culture. 2006 an award for promoting Portuguese documentaries. 2014 he received the EDN Award “for an outstanding contribution to the development of the European documentary culture”. 2016 The Cross of the Knight of the Order for Merits to Lithuania. 2019 a Big Stamp at the 15th edition of ZagrebDox. 2021 receipt of the highest state decoration, Order of the Three Stars, Fourth Class, for the significant contribution to the development and promotion of Latvian documentary cinema outside Latvia. In 2022 he received an honorary award at DocsBarcelona’s 25th edition having served as organizer and programmer since the start of the festival.
From 1996 until 2005 he was the first director of EDN (European Documentary Network). From 2006 a freelance consultant and teacher in workshops like Ex Oriente, DocsBarcelona, Archidoc, Documentary Campus, Storydoc, Baltic Sea Forum, Black Sea DocStories, Caucadoc, CinéDOC Tbilisi, Docudays Kiev, Dealing With the Past Sarajevo FF as well as programme consultant for the festivals Magnificent7 in Belgrade, DOCSBarcelona, Verzio Budapest, Message2Man in St. Petersburg and DOKLeipzig. Teaches at the Zelig Documentary School in Bolzano Italy.

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