More than 20,000 people are expected to make trips to Silver Spring this week for the internationally-renowned SILVERDOCS film festival, which is in its fifth year and focuses intensely on the environment and faith this go around.
Drawing from1,700-plus entries, the festival boasts a selection of 100 documentaries that span from an intimate tale of a third grade class monitor election in communist China to a far-reaching work on the Darfur crisis.
In addition to the films themselves, Festival Director Patricia Finneran told The Examiner that the six-day event also will offer unprecedented access to the characters behind the films, question-and-answer sessions and related performances.
“In many cases, these are your one and only chances to meet the creators…and these are films you can’t see anywhere else,” Finneran said. “We have 40 film subjects coming.”
For instance, tonight’s premiere celebration marks the first musical entertainment-infused opening.
To celebrate the folk stylings of Pete Seeger, the 88-year-old singer’s grandson will take the stage in collaboration with the showing of the documentary feature “Pete Seeger: The Power of Song.”
Later on in the week, festival-goers can attend a symposium honoring Academy-Awardwinning filmmaker Jonathan Demme in which the “Silence of the Lambs” director will be on hand.
Other highlights include:
> appearances by a number of the comics featured in “Stand Up: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age” in accordance with the world premiere of the film
> a panel discussion with National Institutes of Health researchers coinciding with the showing of the documentary “Coma”
> a double-dutch jump rope demonstration prior to the screening of the flick “Double Time.”
Hollywood insiders are a major part of the attendance. But Finneran said festival organizers take great care to offer plenty of tickets each night for local residents.
On Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nearby Silver Spring workers and citizens can take advantage of complimentary short program screenings from noon to 1 p.m.
And on Thursday and Friday nights, event organizers are presenting free, outdoor showings of Demme’s musical documentaries “Stop Making Sense” — about the rock group Talking Heads — and “Neil Young: Heart of Gold.”
“We receive a huge amount of support from Silver Spring and the greater D.C. area,” Finneran noted. “So we just want to be great partners and to really give back.”
