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August 12 - September 1 at IFC Center

August 19 - September 8 at Laemmle Sunset 5

A Marine Corps cover-up of one of the worst water contamination incidents in US history, the glaring reality of the media's objectification of women, as well as portraits of assassinated journalist Anna Politkovskaya and the man behind Elmo are all part of the lineup of outstanding films that will be presented in the International Documentary Association's 15th Annual DocuWeeks™ Theatrical Documentary Showcase.

Download the DocuWeeks™ 2011 press release. All publicity and credential requests please contact Ashley Mariner at Dish Communications.

DocuWeeks™ Los Angeles Program & Schedule - Download
DocuWeeks™ New York Program & Schedule - Download

Plan your DocuWeeks™ Los Angeles and New York screenings with the FilmFest DocuWeeks iPhone App - Download

FEATURES (New York Week 1)

Better This World  More Info Directors/Producers/Writers: Katie Galloway, Kelly Duane de la Vega
Two boyhood friends from Midland, Texas–David McKay and Bradley Crowder–fall under the sway of a charismatic revolutionary ten years their senior. At the volatile 2008 Republican National Convention, the "Texas Two" cross a line that radically changes their lives. The result: eight homemade bombs, multiple domestic terrorism charges and a high stakes entrapment defense hinging on the actions of a controversial FBI informant. A dramatic story of idealism, loyalty, crime and betrayal, Better This World goes to the heart of the War on Terror and its impact on civil liberties and political dissent in post-9/11 America.

Producer: Mike Nicholson
Executive Producers: Julie Goldman, John Battsek, Nicole Stott, Sally Jo Fifer/ITVS, Simon Kilmurry/American Documentary/POV
Loteria Films
89 min. USA
Website/Trailer | Filmmaker Q&A

The Boy Mir—Ten Years in Afghanistan  More Info Director/Executive Producer/Writer: Phil Grabsky
Following the international hit The Boy who Plays on the Buddhas of Bamiyan, The Boy Mir tracks cheeky, enthusiastic Mir from a childish 8 to a fully grown 18-year-old over ten years in Afghanistan. This is a journey into early adulthood in one of the toughest places on earth, and a journey that mirrors the vitally important story of Afghanistan.

Seventh Art Productions
90 min. UK/Afghanistan
Website/Trailer | Filmmaker Q&A

Darwin  More Info Director/Producer: Nick Brandestini
Darwin is a documentary film about an isolated community at the end of a weathered road in Death Valley, California. Propelled from society by tragic turns, the people of Darwin (population 35) must now find ways to coexist in a place without a government, a church, jobs, or children. The near-ghost town's survival depends on a fragile, gravity-fed waterline that descends from the mountains where top secret weapons are being tested. The film tells the story of a uniquely American place and yet a place that is unique even within America.

Executive Producer: Vesna Brandestini
Producers: Sandra Ruch, Taylor Segrest
Writer: Taylor Segrest
88 min. Switzerland/USA
Website/Trailer | Filmmaker Q&A

Miss Representation  More Info Director/Producer/Writer: Jennifer Siebel Newsom
Like drawing back a curtain to let bright light stream in, Miss Representation uncovers a glaring reality we live with every day, but fail to see. It's clear the mainstream media objectifies women, but what most people don't realize is the magnitude of that phenomenon and the way objectification gets internalized—a symbolic annihilation of self-worth—and impedes girls and women from realizing their full potential. In a society where media is the most persuasive force shaping cultural norms, the collective message that a woman's value and power lie only in her youth, beauty and sexuality is pervasive. – Caroline Libresco/Sundance Film Festival

Writer: Jessica Congdon
Executive Producers: Geralyn Dreyfous, Sarah Johnson Redlich, Regina Kulik Scully
Girls Club Entertainment, LLC
89 min. USA
Website/Trailer | Filmmaker Q&A

Unfinished Spaces  More Info Directors/Producers: Alysa Nahmias, Benjamin Murray
In 1961, three young, visionary architects were commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to create Cuba's National Art Schools on the grounds of a former Havana golf course. Construction of their radical designs began immediately, and artists from all over the country reveled in the beauty of the schools. But as the dream of the Revolution quickly became a reality, construction was halted and the architects and their designs were deemed irrelevant in the prevailing political climate. Forty years later, the schools are in use, but decaying. Castro has invited the exiled architects back to finish their unrealized dream.

Ajna Films
86 min. USA/Cuba
Website/Trailer | Filmmaker Q&A

SHORTS (New York Week 1)

The Barber of Birmingham  More Info Directors/Producers: Gail Dolgin, Robin Fryday
Mr. James Armstrong is a rank-and-file "Foot Soldier" and proud proprietor of Armstrong's Barbershop, a cultural and political hub in Birmingham, Alabama, since 1955. Eight-five years-young, he fought for the right to vote while carrying the American flag in the 1965 Bloody Sunday march from Selma to Montgomery. He was the first to integrate his children in the all-white Graymont Elementary School. On the eve of the election of the first African-American president, Mr. Armstrong, the barber of Birmingham, sees his unimaginable dream come true.

Producer: Judith Helfand
Executive Producer: Chicken & Egg Pictures
Purposeful Productions, Inc.
26 min. USA
Website/Trailer | Filmmaker Q&A

The Home Front  More Info Director: Phie Ambo
The Home Front is about conflicts in our private sphere: feuds between neighbors. The film follows a boundary inspector who mediates between disagreeing neighbors. We enter the homes of the feuding parties to learn about the conflicts from both sides. Why is it so difficult to solve a conflict so close at hand? And what do fences and hedges represent? Is this really what the conflicts are all about?

Producer: Sigrid Dyekjaer
Danish Documentary
40 min. Denmark
Website/Trailer | Filmmaker Q&A

Maya Deren's Sink  More Info Director/Producer/Writer: Barbara Hammer
Maya Deren's Sink, a tribute to Maya Deren, the mother of avant-garde American film, evokes her creative spirit through a meditation on the architectural details of her homes. Fragments from Deren's films are projected in the spaces where they were originally filmed while a ghosted actor performs a script crafted from her writing. Teiji Ito's family, Carolee Schneemann, Judith Malvina and others tell stories of Deren's fiery personality, driving ambition, and charm. As "the walls speak" Deren lives again in this evocative documentary film.

Barbara Hammer Productions
29 min. USA
Website/Trailer | Filmmaker Q&A