BLESSED IS THE MATCH, PRAY THE DEVIL BACK TO HELL Screening

Roberta Grossman’s Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh and Gini Reticker’s Pray the Devil Back to Hell (above, lower photo) will be screened as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 28th annual “Contemporary Documentaries” series on Wednesday, November 11, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission is free.
Blessed Is the Match: The Life and Death of Hannah Senesh tells the story of poet, diarist, and paratrooper Hannah Senesh, who took part in the only military rescue mission for Jews during the Holocaust. Blessed Is the Match was also produced by Grossman, who will be present to take questions from [...]

DAVID MCCULLOUGH, GLASS: A PORTRAIT OF PHILIP Screening

David McCullough: Painting with Words (top); Philip Glass in GLASS: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts (bottom)

David McCullough: Painting with Words and GLASS: a portrait of Philip in twelve parts will be screened as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 28th annual “Contemporary Documentaries” series on Wednesday, November 4, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission is free.
Directed by Mark Herzog and produced by Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman, David McCullough: Painting with Words takes a look at the career of Pulitzer Prize-winning author David McCullough (Truman, John Adams). Herzog will be present to take questions from the audience following the screening.
Shot on [...]

ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD, FLOW: FOR LOVE OF WATER Screening

Werner Herzog’s Academy Award-nominated Encounters at the End of the World (above, lower photo) and Irena Salina’s Flow: For Love of Water will be screened as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 28th annual “Contemporary Documentaries” series on Wednesday, October 21, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission is free.
Directed by Herzog and produced by Henry Kaiser, Encounters at the End of the World looks at human beings interacting with the harsh environment of Antarctica. Werner Herzog will be present to take questions from the audience following the screening.
Flow: For Love of Water deals with the dire consequences of increased privatization [...]

CRIPS AND BLOODS: MADE IN AMERICA, THE GARDEN Screening

Set in Los Angeles’ impoverished inner city areas, the documentaries The Garden (above, lower photo) and Crips and Bloods: Made in America will be screened as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 28th annual “Contemporary Documentaries” series on Wednesday, October 7, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission is free.
In Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s The Garden, the organization South Central Farmers fight a wealthy developer in order to preserve the community garden they created after the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The Garden earned an Academy Award nomination for Documentary Feature. Kennedy will be present to take questions from the audience following the [...]

MAN ON WIRE, IN A DREAM Screening

Philippe Petit in James Marsh’s Man on Wire (top); Isaiah and Julia Zagar in Jeremiah Zagar’s In a Dream (bottom)

James Marsh’s Man on Wire and Jeremiah Zagar’s In a Dream will launch the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ 28th annual "Contemporary Documentaries" screening series on Wednesday, September 30, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission to all screenings in the series is free.
Man on Wire tells the story of Philippe Petit, who in 1974 walked on a wire illegally rigged between the twin towers of New York City’s World Trade Center — a feat that became known as "the artistic crime of the century." Directed [...]

MY KID COULD PAINT THAT, SALIM BABA, PLEASE VOTE FOR ME Screening

Salim Baba (right), Please Vote for Me and My Kid Could Paint That will be screened as the final installment of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ annual "Contemporary Documentaries" series on Wednesday, June 3, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission is free.
Salim Baba tells the story of 55-year-old Salim Muhammad, who, with the help of a hand-cranked projector inherited from his father, has made his living screening discarded film scraps for kids in North Kolkata, India, for 45 years. Directed by Tim Sternberg and produced by Francisco Bello, Scott Mosier and Raja Dey, Salim Baba earned an Academy Award [...]

OPERATION HOMECOMING, BODY OF WAR Screening

Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience (top photo) and Body of War (bottom photo) will be screened as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 27th annual "Contemporary Documentaries" series on Wednesday, May 13, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission is free.
Directed and produced by Richard E. Robbins, the Academy Award-nominated Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience presents letters written by US military personnel and their families who have been involved in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Directed and produced by Ellen Spiro and former talk-show host Phil Donahue, Body of War tells the story of 22-year-old Tomas Young, who volunteered to fight [...]

A PROMISE TO THE DEAD: THE EXILE JOURNEY OF ARIEL DORFMAN, PORTRAITS OF A LADY Screening

Neil Leifer’s Portraits of a Lady and Peter Raymont’s A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel Dorfman will be screened as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences‘ 27th annual Contemporary Documentaries series on Wednesday, April 29, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission is free.
Portraits of a Lady takes a look at the work of 25 artists who participated in a painting session with former US Supreme Court judge Sandra Day O’Connor in 2006. Following the screening, Leifer and co-producer Walter Bernard will take questions from the audience.

A Promise to the Dead: The Exile Journey of Ariel [...]

THE RAPE OF EUROPA, OCHBERG’S ORPHANS Screening

Ochberg’s Orphans (right) and The Rape of Europa will be screened as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 27th annual "Contemporary Documentaries" series on Wednesday, April 1, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood.  Admission is free.
Directed by Jon Blair and produced by Blair, Paul Goldin and Georgina Townsley, Ochberg’s Orphans tells the story of a South African businessman’s efforts to save 300,000 Jewish Russian children who had been orphaned in anti-Semitic attacks during the Russian Revolution and ensuing civil war.
Directed and produced by Richard Berge, Nicole Newnham and Bonni Cohen, The Rape of Europa depicts the theft and destruction — [...]