The Starz Denver Film Festival would like to congratulate all of the films selected for the Academy Awards Feature Documentary short-list, including Denver-based filmmaker Daniel Junge and producer Henry Ansbacher. The Festival is especially proud of the three titles included in this year's festival program: 'They Killed Sister Dorothy', 'The Garden' and 'Pray the Devil Back to Hell'. Additionally, 'The Betrayal' will open at the Starz FilmCenter in January 2009 as part of the Denver Film Society's year round programming. Read all about it after the jump.
They Killed Sister Dorothy
Screening: Saturday, November 22, 1:00 p.m. - King Center
Directed by Daniel Junge
Via courtroom footage and shockingly candid interviews, Colorado-based filmmaker Daniel Junge (Iron Ladies of Liberia, SDFF 30) chronicles the search for justice following the execution of an activist nun in Brazil and its implications for the future of the rainforest. They Killed Sister Dorothy, which won the Audience Prize and the Grand Jury Award at SXSW this year, will premiere on HBO in 2009. The film is screening in the festival competition section for The Maysles Brothers Award for Best Documentary.
**Director Daniel Junge, producer Henry Ansbacher and film subject David Stang will be in attendance
THE GARDEN
Screenings: Friday, November 21, 9:30 p.m. - Starz FilmCenter
Saturday, November 22, 4:30 PM - Starz FilmCenter
Directed by Scott Hamilton Kennedy
The focal point of Scott Hamilton Kennedy's impassioned documentary is a fourteen-acre community garden (once the nation's largest) in South Central Los Angeles. Following the riots of 1992, an embattled group of mostly Latin-American immigrants known as the South Central Farmers turned the corner of 41st and Alameda into a repository of civic pride, planting there beans, corn, papaya trees, and more-along with seeds of hope for their families. But five years ago, a rich developer began making plans to raze their oasis and thus their dreams.
** Director Scott Hamilton Kennedy will be in attendance
PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL
Festival screenings for this film have already passed, but be sure to see it at the Starz FilmCenter in January 2009 as part of the Denver Film Society's year round programming.
Directed by Gini Reticker
Shortly after warlord-turned-president Charles Taylor was elected in 1997, Liberia erupted into civil war for the second time in a decade. Child soldiers ran rampant through the streets of Monrovia, terrorizing the local population, while the opposition group-Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy-moved in, destroying much of the countryside as they went. After more than 250,000 people were killed and upwards of a million displaced, thousands of women from around the country banded together to achieve what their male compatriots could not: an end to the killing and a movement toward peace.
THE BETRAYAL
Opening at the Starz FilmCenter in January 2009!
Directed by Ellen Kuras
Filmed over the course of 23 years, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) is the story of a family's epic journey from war-torn Laos to the mean streets of New York. Thavisouk Phrasavath tells his own story of the struggling as a young man to survive both the war and the hardships of immigrant life, as well as his mother's astonishing tale of perseverance. Renowned cinematographer Ellen Kuras' directorial debut is a remarkable collaboration with co-director Phrasavath-a poetic deeply personal film about the hidden, human face of war's "collateral damage."
2008 SDFF DETAILS
The Starz Denver Film Festival, Nov. 13-23, will feature nearly 175 films representing the work of filmmakers from all corners of the globe. More than 150 film artists will be in attendance to introduce their works to enthusiastic Festival audiences.
For more information about SDFF 31 and the full line-up of programs and films, please visit www.denverfilm.org.
