LOS ANGELES, July 24, 2008 — From matadors to musicians; water to war; and Kashmir to Laos, the International Documentary Association (IDA) holds a mirror up to all corners of the world, featuring 14 feature documentaries from filmmakers like Scott Hicks and Ellen Kuras, in its inaugural New York City Theatrical Documentary Showcase, DocuWeek™. The IDA’s DocuWeek, which has had great success in Los Angeles for a dozen years, will run August 8-14 at the Village East Cinema (189 Second Avenue) and at the IFC Center (323 Avenue of The Americas).

“We developed this showcase to give deserving filmmakers an opportunity to qualify for Oscar® consideration by providing theatrical platforms where their films can be seen,” says IDA President diane estelle Vicari. “In addition to our annual Los Angeles run, we are thrilled to also bring these outstanding films to audiences in New York for the first time.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ rules require documentary features to be exhibited on theatrical screens for paid admissions in Los Angeles County and Manhattan, twice daily for at least seven consecutive days. DocuWeek Los Angeles will be held August 22-28, with program information to be released shortly.

Since its inception, 25 films featured in DocuWeek have gone on to be nominated for Academy Awards®, with six films winning Oscars, including the 2008 Feature Documentary winner, TAXI TO THE DARKSIDE.

Features appearing in this year’s New York City DocuWeek are: The Betrayal (Nerakhoon), Dear Zachary: A letter to a Son About His Father, Fire Under the Snow, FLOW, The Forgotten Woman, GLASS: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts, The Matador, Of Time and the City, Pray the Devil Back to Hell, Project Kashmir, Spirit of the Marathon, War Child, An Unlikely Weapon, and Yodok Stories.

Each film will run twice daily at the Village East Cinema or the IFC Center. Tickets for individual films are $12 for general admission, $9 for IDA members, and $8 for seniors, and can be purchased at the respective box offices, or at www.villageeastcinema.com and www.ifccenter.com. A complete schedule and additional information about each film can be found on the International Documentary Association’s website at www.documentary.org.

The presenting sponsor for New York City DocuWeek is Langley Productions. Contributing sponsors include Chubb Insurance, DeWitt Stern, L.A. Weekly and Alpha Cine Labs.

DOCUWEEK NY 2008: COMPLETE FILM LINEUP

An Unlikely Weapon
Director/Producer: Susan Morgan Cooper
Eddie Adams photographed 13 wars, six American Presidents and every major film star of the last 50 years. History was changed through his lens. But the photo that made Eddie famous would haunt him his entire life. In 1968, he photographed a Saigon police chief, General Nygoc Loan, shooting a Vietcong guerilla point blank. The photo brought Eddie worldwide recognition and a Pulitzer Prize, but he was haunted by the man he had vilified. He would say, "Two lives were destroyed that day- the victim and the general." Others would say three lives were destroyed.

The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Director/Producer: Ellen Kuras
Co-Director: Thavisouk Phrasavath
Producer: Flora Fernandez-Marengo
Filmed over the course of 23 years, The Betrayal (Nerakhoon) is the epic story of a Laotian soldier family's journey from war-torn Laos to the mean streets of New York. Thavisouk Phrasavath tells his own deeply personal story as a young man struggling to survive a war and the later hardships of immigrant life, counterpointed by his mother's astonishing tale of perseverance. Renowned cinematographer Ellen Kuras' directorial debut is a remarkable collaboration with Phrasavath-a poetic, cinematically resonant film about the hidden, human face of war's "collateral damage."

Dear Zachary: a letter to a son about his father
Director/Producer: Kurt Kuenne
On Nov. 5, 2001, Dr. Andrew Bagby was murdered in Pennsylvania; the prime suspect, his ex-girlfriend Dr. Shirley Turner, fled the US for Newfoundland, where she announced that she was pregnant with Andrew's child. She named the little boy Zachary. Filmmaker Kurt Kuenne, Andrew's childhood friend, originally began this film as a way for Zachary to learn about his father. But when Turner was allowed to walk free on bail in Canada and given custody of Zachary while awaiting extradition to the States, the film's focus shifted to Zachary's grandparents, and their desperate efforts to win custody of the boy. See the trailer!

Fire Under the Snow
Director/Producer: Makoto Sasa
The Venerable Palden Gyatso, a Buddhist monk since childhood, was arrested by the Chinese Communist Army in 1959. He spent 33 years in prison for the "crime" of demonstrating peacefully. He was starved and tortured. His nation and culture were destroyed, his teachers, friends and family displaced, jailed or killed under Chinese occupation. Despite this, he remained unbroken, and kept the flame of his spirit ablaze.

FLOW
Director: Irene Salina
Producer: Steven Starr
Irena Salina's award-winning documentary investigates what experts label the most important political and environmental issue of the 21st Century: the world water crisis. Salina builds a case against the growing privatization of the world's dwindling fresh water supply with an unflinching focus on politics, pollution, human rights and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel. Interviews with scientists and activists intelligently reveal the rapidly building crisis, at both the global and human scale, and the film introduces many of the governmental and corporate culprits behind the water grab, while begging the question, "Can anyone really own water?"

The Forgotten Woman
Director: Dilip Mehta
Producers: Noemi Weis, David Hamilton
Following the international success of the Oscar-nominated film Water (directed by Dilip Mehta's sister, Deepa), the filmmakers received thousands of letters from audience members wanting to know more about the state of widows in India today. The Forgotten Woman brings the understanding of the destitution and marginalization of millions of widows who are forced by age-old traditions to live out their remaining years in isolation. Shunned by society in the 21st century, many issues still surround women's search for economic independence in order to attain a modicum of self-sufficiency and basic human dignity. See the trailer!

GLASS: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts
Director/Producer: Scott Hicks
Producer: Scott Hicks, Susanne Preissler
Filmmaker Scott Hicks gives us a unique glimpse behind the curtain into the life of a surprising and complex man. GLASS: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts is a remarkable mosaic of one of the greatest-and at times controversial-artists of this or any era.

The Matador
Directors/Producers: Stephen Higgins, Nina Gilden Seavey
The Matador is the epic tale of David Fandila's quest to become the world's top-ranked bullfighter. Heart-wrenching setbacks and thrilling successes dramatize 'El Fandi's' three-year journey across Spain and Latin America and into the pages of bullfighting history. As David struggles to achieve his place in the pantheon of Spain's greatest bullfighters, he is confronted by those who question the place of this ancient and brutal ritual in the modern world.

Of Time and the City
Director: Terence Davies
Producer: Solon Papadopoulos, Roy Boulter
Of Time and the City is a heartfelt, lyrical and bitingly humorous personal perspective on the process of change and time. The result is a love song and a eulogy to director Terence Davies' birthplace, Liverpool.

Pray the Devil Back to Hell
Director: Gini Reticker
Producer: Abigail Disney
Pray the Devil Back to Hell is the gripping account of a group of brave and visionary women who demanded peace for Liberia, a nation torn by a decades-old civil war. The women's historic, yet unsung achievement finds voice in a narrative that intersperses contemporary interviews, archival images and scenes of present-day Liberia. The film recounts the experiences and memories of the women who were instrumental in bringing lasting peace to their country.

Project Kashmir
Directors/Producers: Senain Kheshgi, Geeta V. Patel
Filmmakers Senain Kheshgi and Geeta V. Patel, two American friends from opposite sides of the divide, investigate the war in Kashmir and find their friendship tested over deeply rooted religious biases. Project Kashmir explores war between countries and war within oneself by delving into the fraught lives of young people caught in the social/political conflict of one of the most beautiful, and most deadly, places on earth.

Spirit of the Marathon
Director/Producer: Jon Dunham
Producer: Gwendolen Twist
From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Mark Jonathan Harris comes the first-ever nonfiction feature film to capture the drama and essence of the famed 26.2 mile running event. Filmed on four continents, Spirit of the Marathon brings together a diverse cast of amateur athletes and marathon luminaries. As six unique stories unfold, each runner prepares for and ultimately faces the challenge of the Chicago Marathon. More than a sports movie, Spirit of the Marathon is an inspirational journey of perseverance and personal triumph, a spectacle that will be embraced by runners and non-runners alike. See the trailer!

War Child
Director/Producer: Karim Chrobog
Producer: Afshin Molavi
War Child chronicles the tragic but ultimately hopeful life of Emmanuel Jal, a former child soldier of Sudan's brutal civil war and emerging international rap star with a message of peace for his country. His story mirrors his homeland: tragedy and terror mingling with hope and restoration. Orphaned, firing a gun that he (at age seven) could barely hold aloft, trekking through deserts in search of shelter, Jal was adopted by an aid worker. His rise from orphan to soldier to refugee to rap star represents one of the 21st century's most inspiring and hopeful journeys.

Yodok Stories
Director: Andrzej Fidyk
Producer: Torstein Grude
North Korean Great Leader Kim Il Sung ordered the seed of class enemies destroyed to the third generation. Anyone in a family with a "criminal" is considered guilty by association. That is why entire families are sent to labor camps with life sentences, and without court hearings. Today more than 200,000 are imprisoned, subject to the worst kinds of slave labor and torture. Of the many hundreds of thousands who have lived and died in the camps, only a few have escaped. In Seoul, South Korea, these escapees decided to expose the camps through a controversial musical based on their own experiences.

ABOUT IDA
The IDA is a nonprofit, membership organization based in Los Angeles. The organization was founded in 1982 to promote and celebrate nonfiction filmmakers and is dedicated to increasing public awareness and appreciation of the documentary genre. For more information about IDA's DocuWeek Theatrical Documentary Showcase, visit www.documentary.org or call 213-534-3600 x7438.

DocuWeek is a trademark of the International Documentary Association.

Oscar and Academy Award are registered trademarks of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.

Media Contact:
Valentina Valentini (valentinav@ccspr.com) /Sally Christgau (sallyc@ccspr.com) 760-438-5250
Eddie Schmidt (eddie@documentary.org) (213) 534-3600 x 7485