AFI-Discovery Channel SILVERDOCS Documentary Festival has announced it's 2009 slate. With 122 films unspooling in the Washington, DC area from June 15-22, 2009, the fest should have something for every doc lover.

The festival will open with Kristopher Belman’s More Than a Game, the story of five talented young basketball players from Akron, Ohio, led by future NBA superstar LeBron James. From inner-city gym to a national high school championship, the film follows the "Fab Five's" improbable seven-year journey.

The Sterling US Feature competition includes 11 films, 4 of which are world premieres. The diverse line up features films whose subjects range from world poverty to genital cutting to female bullfighting. A few familiar names, such as Anne Aghion (My Neighbor, My Killer) and Marshall Curry (Racing Dreams), can be found amidst the collection. 10 films -- 5 of which are US premieres -- will be shown in the Sterling World Feature competition. Other sections of the festival include the Best Music Documentary, Sterling Short Films, Silver Spectrum, and Special Programs. The five day International Documentary Conference runs concurrently with the festival, and provides new perspectives on craft, funding, distribution and audience engagement. Given the preponderance of online deals for docs over the last year, it makes sense that this year’s program explores storytelling in an ‘always on’ world.

AJ Schnack's latest effort, Convention, is this year's Centerpiece Screening. The ensemble doc was created by a crew of notable doc filmmakers, including Laura Poitras (My Country, My Country), Paul Taylor (We Are Together), Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar (A Lion in the House), and Daniel Junge (They Killed Sister Dorothy). The film
tells the behind-the-scenes story of the 2008 Democratic National Convention through the eyes of its organizers, reporters, police and protesters. SILVERDOCS will close with The Nine Lives of Marion Barry, directed by Dana Flor and Toby Oppenheimer, a look into the polarizing force that is former D.C. mayor Marion Barry.

A number of faves on the festival circuit are making their appearance at SILVERDOCS. Those who have heard about Louie Psihoyos's The Cove, Joe Berlinger's Crude, Laura Gabbert and Justin Schein's No Impact Man, R.J. Cutler's The September Issue, Ondi Timoner's We Live In Public, Havana Marking's Afghan Star and Ben Steinbauer's Winnebago Man will finally have a chance to see these films.

Though the historic 2008 presidential election is now eight months behind us, it's aftershocks can still be felt in the SILVERDOCS programming. “Apropos of Barack Obama's historic election, filmmakers this year have tapped into the zeitgeist of African-American icons and a generational shift of power and perspective," says Sky Sitney, SILVERDOCS Artistic Director. "From Muhammad Ali in Facing Ali to LeBron James in More Than A Game; from Marion Barry in The Nine Lives of Marion Barry to Obama's historic nomination in Convention. These national politicians, athletes, and in Soul Power and Still Bill, musicians, have carried the hopes and dreams, and high expectations of millions. Each film reflects the changing nature of America's cultural, economic and political landscape in our journey to become a more perfect union."

As always, an eclectic group of special guests is scheduled to appear at the festival. "The Greatest," aka Muhammad Ali, will indeed be on site to present Facing Ali, which chronicles 10 heavyweight boxers who faced and fought the the boxing champ. The film is directed by Pete McCormack and produced by Derik Murray. Albert Maysles is being honored at the Charles Guggenheim Symposium for his extraordinary body of work, and the festival will include a Maysles retrospective. The Symposium honors the legacy of artistic excellence, profound respect for humanity and democratic values of the late four-time Academy Award winning Guggenheim. Tom Bernard, Sony Pictures Classics co-president and co-founder, is the featured speaker at the Documentary Conference. He'll be addressing how "The Future is Strange" in a chat with Conference attendees.

For more on SILVERDOCS, including the full festival line up, visit the SILVERDOCS website.