Part II of the 27th annual "Contemporary Documentaries" screening series, presented by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, kicks off with two Academy Award-nominated documentaries, James Longley's short Sari’s Mother and Michael Moore's controversial feature Sicko, on Wednesday, March 25, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission to all screenings in the series is free.
Sari’s Mother chronicles an Iraqi woman’s struggle to help her 10-year-old son, Sari, who is dying of AIDS.
Directed by Michael Moore and produced by Moore and Meghan O’Hara, Sicko is an indictment against the ailing U.S. health care system, through which huge corporations get richer at the expense of sick Americans.
The screening schedule for this year's "Contemporary Documentaries" series, which runs through June 2009, is as follows:
March 25
Sari’s Mother
Directed and produced by James Longley
Academy Award nominee: Documentary Short Subject
Sicko
Directed by Michael Moore
Produced by Moore, Meghan O’Hara
Academy Award nominee: Documentary Feature
April 1
Ochberg’s Orphans
Directed by Jon Blair
Produced by Blair, Paul Goldin, Georgina Townsley
The Rape of Europa
Directed and produced by Richard Berge, Nicole Newnham, Bonni Cohen
April 15
Darfur Now
Directed by Theodore Braun
Produced by Cathy Schulman, Don Cheadle, Mark Jonathan Harris
The Devil Came on Horseback
Directed by Annie Sundberg and Ricki Stern
Produced by Stern, Sundberg, Gretchen Wallace, Jane Wells, Ira Lechner, Eileen Haag, Cristina Ljungberg
April 29
Portraits of a Lady
Directed by Neil Leifer
Produced by Walter Bernard, Leifer
A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman
Directed and produced by Peter Raymont
May 13
Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience
Directed and produced by Richard E. Robbins
Academy Award nominee: Documentary Feature
Body of War
Directed and produced by Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue
May 27
Lake of Fire
Directed and produced by Tony Kaye
June 3
Salim Baba
Directed by Tim Sternberg
Produced by Francisco Bello, Scott Mosier, Raja Dey
Academy Award nominee: Documentary Short Subject
Please Vote for Me
Directed by Weijun Chen
Produced by Don Edkins
My Kid Could Paint That
Directed and produced by Amir Bar-Lev
The 27th annual "Contemporary Documentaries" series is described as "a showcase for feature-length and short documentaries drawn from the 2007 Academy Award nominations, including the winners, as well as other important and innovative films considered by the Academy that year."
All films will screen at the Linwood Dunn Theater at the Academy’s Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. All seating is unreserved. Filmmakers will be present at screenings whenever possible.
The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood. Free parking is available through the entrance on Homewood Avenue (one block north of Fountain Avenue). For additional information, visit www.oscars.org or call (310) 247-3600.
Sari's Mother Photo: Courtesy of the Margaret Herrick Library
THE CAKE EATERS Sneak Preview at the Egyptian Theatre
MAN IN THE MOON: Robert Mulligan Tribute