The documentaries Phoenix Dance (above, top photo), Rehearsing a Dream, and Shut Up & Sing (above, lower photo) will conclude the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' Spring 2008 "Contemporary Documentaries" series on Wednesday, June 11, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission is free.
Karina Epperlein's Phoenix Dance tells the story of dancer Homer Avila, who lost a leg to cancer but returned to the stage to perform with Andrea Flores a dance choreographed by Alonzo King.
Directed and produced by Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon, Rehearsing a Dream (right) received an Academy Award nomination for Documentary Short Subject in 2006. The film revolves around the yearly meetings of "the country's most gifted 17-year-old performing and visual artists" sponsored by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts' youngARTS program in Miami, where the teenagers are mentored by the likes of Mikhail Baryshnikov, Vanessa Williams, and Michael Tilson Thomas.
Directed by Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck (Gregory Peck's daughter) and produced by Kopple, Peck, and David Cassidy, Shut Up & Sing travels with the Dixie Chicks for a three-year period that covers their astounding success and the controversy sparked by their lead singer's — quite tame and level-headed — anti-George W. Bush comments in 2003, when to speak negatively about Bush or the (then) overwhelmingly popular Iraq War was tantamount to committing high treason. The Dixie Chicks were harassed, boycotted, and received death threats for daring to make use of their freedom of speech at a most inconvenient time. Kopple and Peck will be present to answer questions from the audience.
As per the Academy's press release, "the 26th annual Contemporary Documentaries series is a showcase for feature-length and short documentaries drawn from the 2006 Academy Award nominations, including the winners, as well as other important and innovative films considered by the Academy that year."
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). Doors open at 6 p.m. All seating is unreserved. For additional information, visit www.oscars.org or call (310) 247-3600.
Photos: Courtesy Simon & Goodman Picture (Rehearsing a Dream), Courtesy of Cabin Creek Films (Shut Up & Sing)
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Phoenix Dance was great. The story alone was good, but the talent truly great. What courage, what determination. And they're good, not just inspirational.