18 June 2007

Documentaries on Social Relations, Politics Win at Film Festival

100 international documentaries from 42 countries screened

 

Director Eva Mulvad and Malalai Joya speak during a question and answer session after their film, Enemies of Happiness, was shown at the Silverdocs international documentary film festival on June 14 in Silver Spring, Maryland. (Photo by Lauren Ruane/AFI)

Directors of the film Enemies of Happiness speak at the Silverdocs film festival. (Photo by Lauren Ruane/AFI)

By Carolee Walker
Staff Writer

Silver Spring, Maryland – Films about social and political relations took home audience and jury awards at the 2007 Silverdocs international documentary film festival.

Top award winners Please Vote for Me, by Chinese director Weijun Chen, and Enemies of Happiness, by Danish filmmaker Eva Mulvad, use stories about the political campaign process to educate about democracy.

Please Vote for Me is the light-hearted story of three 7-year-olds campaigning to be third-grade class monitor in a school in Wuhan province in China. The film, which is in Mandarin with English subtitles at the festival, “touches our hearts with humor and humanity, while addressing complex questions about the future of China and the meaning of democracy,” said Patricia Finneran, Silverdocs festival director, at the awards ceremony June 17.

In the film, the director travels with the three candidates, two boys and a girl, to their homes and classroom, where they conduct real campaigns and are chosen in a free election.

In Enemies of Happiness, which follows the intense final weeks of Malalai Joya’s successful election campaign to the Afghan parliament, Joya uses the democratic political process to advocate for women’s rights amid death threats from powerful politicians opposed to her candidacy. Ironically, in May, just after the film was completed, the Afghan parliament voted to suspend Joya from her seat, citing a rule forbidding members from criticizing each other. Joya is a vocal critic of Afghan parliamentarians who have ties to Northern Alliance warlords.

Silverdocs, organized by the American Film Institute (AFI) and the Discovery Channel television company, is an annual documentary film festival that brings new long and short documentary films to Washington. This year, 100 films from 42 countries were screened over six days. Now in its fifth year, Silverdocs is becoming a well-known venue for international documentary filmmakers to access U.S. audiences, according to Finneran. At nearly all of the screenings, audiences are invited to participate in question-and-answer sessions with individuals associated with the films, including directors and producers.

Nine Iranian filmmakers screened clips of their new films in a cultural exchange hosted by AFI, in partnership with the festival and the Meridian International Center in Washington. The Iranian filmmakers are traveling to four U.S. cities over three weeks to meet with American filmmakers in an open dialogue about filmmaking techniques.

FILMS SPOTLIGHT AMERICAN DEMOCRACY AT WORK

Two political films by American directors explore the theme of collaboration to confront and solve pressing issues. State Legislature, by director Frederick Wiseman, takes more than three hours to show audiences real life in small-town America, where most of the laws that hit close to home are enacted. Issues presented to the Idaho Legislature while the film was being made included whether kindergarten should be mandatory for all 5-year-olds and whether smoking in public spaces should be banned.

Wiseman spent an entire 12-week legislative session in Idaho, where “citizen legislators” debate the not-so-glamorous, yet important, laws of ordinary communities. Citizen legislatures are made up of elected officials who work in their normal jobs year-round but take time out to attend legislative sessions and enact laws. Citizen legislators, who rarely have political ambitions, bring professional experience to lawmaking and an enormous commitment to public service, Wiseman said in a videotaped message to the Silverdocs audience. The lawmakers know that when they go home after the legislative session they have to live with the same laws as everyone else, he said. “I am one of my constituents,” a lawmaker tells Wiseman in the film.

Women set an example to men that politicians can work in a collaborative fashion, says U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington state in 14 Women, which had its world premiere at Silverdocs on June 14. A documentary about the women who served in the U.S. Senate in 2006, 14 Women is an engaging look at how the common bonds of female politicians can cross party lines. Republican and Democratic women lawmakers focus on health care, education, employment, security and the environment, director Mary Lambert said at the premiere. So-called women’s issues now have become human issues that are priorities for American voters, Lambert added.

FILMS FEATURE MUSLIMS IN AMERICA

Two short films exploring social relations in America feature Muslims who balance humor and commitment in their professional and personal lives.

The American director Yoni Brook’s short documentary, A Son’s Sacrifice, tells the heart-warming story of a Muslim man who quits his job in advertising to run the family halal slaughterhouse in Queens, New York. His modern approaches to organizing sales during Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, test the son’s faith and patience, but his connection to this vibrant and devout community is strengthened in the end. A Son’s Sacrifice won the Silverdocs audience award for short films.

My Name is Ahmed Ahmed follows the career of the well-known Muslim comedian who jokes about his name. “You can’t hate somebody when he’s making you laugh,” Ahmed says in the film. “It’s an interesting time to be Muslim in America,” he says, and humor is a way to break apart stereotypes, he adds. Arab-American comedy has become very successful in the United States, director Matthew Testa told the Silverdocs audience, and if stand-up comedians can change ideas about Muslim life in America, then that is a good thing, he said. (See “Activist Arab-American Comics Mine Stereotypes for Laughs.”)

Muslims and Arab Americans provide rich material for laughter and reflection, U.S. director Glenn Baker told an enthusiastic audience at the late-night screening of Stand Up: Muslim-American Comics Come of Age on June 13. From the Palestinian comedienne with cerebral palsy to the Arab American with a New Jersey accent, the Muslim comics in the film offer positive images of these ethnic cultures with self-effacing wit.

The American Film Institute maintains an extensive film library and trains filmmakers at its conservatory in Los Angeles. Additional information on AFI is available on its Web site. More information about Silverdocs is available on its Web site.

See “Afghan Women’s Struggles, Triumphs Highlighted in Documentaries“ and “Darfur Genocide Graphically Depicted in Documentary.”

Also see The Arts-Film.

(This is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://www.america.gov)