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
