DocHouse & The Grierson Trust present: a day of award-winning documentaries
Spend the day at The Riverside Studios where you can watch the best docs of the year on the big screen, meet the directors and other filmmakers and have lunch or coffee with friends in the sun along the river
Saturday, 20 March 2010, Time: 12:30 – 23:00
Location: Riverside Studios, Crisp Road, W6 9RL, London, UK – www.riversidestudios.co.uk – www.dochouse.org – Box Office: 020 8237 1111 – Tickets: £5 per film or £18 for a day pass
AT 12:30 pm – BURMA VJ – Best Cinema Documentary
Anders Østergaard, Norway/Sweden/Denmark, 2009, 84 mins
Winner of over 40 International Awards and Academy Award® Nominee
Acclaimed filmmaker, Anders Østergaard follows Burma’s video journalists, who risk torture and life in jail by keeping the flow of news coming out of their closed country. Armed with small handycams, they smuggle out undercover reports, broadcast them back into Burma via satellite and offer them as free usage for international media.
AT 2:15 pm – THRILLER IN MANILA – Best Historical Documentary
Plus Q&A with Director John Dower
John Dower, UK, 2008, 91 mins
Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize World Cinema Documentary Nominee
Joe Frazier, now 63, takes us on an emotional journey back to 1975 and the most hyped boxing match in history. Frazier has never forgiven Ali for his racial taunting calling Frazier 'Gorilla' and 'Uncle Tom’. Although Ali beat Frazier in Manila in 1975 in their third and final fight, Frazier says, 'I clearly won the fight. The proof is in the pudding. I'm walkin', I'm talkin', I'm still havin' fun at 63’.
AT 4:30 pm – THE MONA LISA CURSE – Best Arts Documentary
Plus Q&A with Director Mandy Chang
Mandy Chang, UK, 2009, 75 mins
The Mona Lisa Curse is a timely polemic by internationally renowned art critic Robert Hughes which examines how the world's most famous painting came to influence the art world. With his trademark style, Hughes explores how museums,the production of art and the way we experience it, have radically changed in the last 50 years.
AT 7 pm – AFGHAN STAR – Best Documentary on a Contemporary Issue
Plus Q&A with Director Havana Marking
Havana Marking, UK/Afghanistan, 2009, 87 mins
Sundance Film Festival Audience and Directing World Cinema Documentary Award Winner
Afghan Star was watched by a third of the population of Afghanistan. Over 11 million people, in voting for their favourites, experienced a taste of democracy. Afghan Star is a small but significant unifying force for the country's diverse ethnic groups; a celebration of hope in the midst of adversity, 'the aim is to take the people’s hand from weapons to music'.
AT 9pm – THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD – Most Entertaining Documentary
Andy Bichlbaum/Mike Bonanno, France/USA/UK, 2009, 87 mins
Berlin International Film Festival Panorama Audience Award and IDFA DOC U! Award Winner
Andy Bichlbaum and Mike Bonanno are two guys who just can’t take “no” for an answer. They have an unusual hobby, posing as top executives of Corporations they hate. Armed with nothing but thrift-store suits, they lie their way into business conferences and parody their corporate nemeses in ever more extreme ways – basically doing everything they can to wake up their audiences to the danger of letting greed run our world.