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Past Events

Southern Documentary Fund Announces Fall Dates-- Southern Docs Screening Series

We're excited to announce fall dates for our ongoing screening series at the Durham Arts Council (DAC). We will be spotlighting completed SDF works and giving directors and audiences a chance to connect.

All shows begin at 7:30 pm at the DAC's PSI Theater click here for DAC website and location details. Admission is FREE for SDF members and project directors. General admission is $5 per person. Interested in free admission? Check out the benefits of SDF memberships click here.

Screening Schedule:
Friday, October 17, 2008 Bending Space: Georges Rousse and the Durham Project

Directors Kenny Dalsheimer and Penelope Maunsell will be in attendance

Friday, November 14, 2008 Love Lived on Death Row
Director Linda Booker will be in attendance. Panel discussion to follow screening

Tickets are sold at the door beginning at 6:45pm. Get there early to get your ticket and your seat! For more information please call SDF at 919-308-3714.

Stay tuned for 2009 Southern Docs dates!

100-Mile Film Series: Sustainable Cinema

100-Mile Film Series: Sustainable Cinema is a film series featuring documentaries and narrative films involving producers, directors, subjects and/or locations within 100 miles of Pittsboro, NC. Screenings run through December and take place at The General Store Cafe in downtown Pittsboro two Tuesdays a month. Cynthia Hill and Charlie Thompson's film The Guestworker will screen on November 18th. Check out ChathamArts for film descriptions and screening times.

Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for students. Proceeds benefit ChathamArts and arts education programs.

SDF at the Charlotte Film Festival

SDF will participate in the Works-In-Progress session at the Charlotte Film Festival. We will screen The Electricity Fairy by Tom Hansell. The film will screen Sunday, September 28th at 3:25 pm at Queens University's Sykes Auditorium. To read more about this film and to purchase tickets click here.

Moving Midway Set For Theatrical Release

Moving Midway directors Godfrey Cheshire and Jay Spain have inked a deal with independent film distributor First Run Features. The film opens in NYC and the Triangle area in September. For more information about the film and screening dates Click here

Bending Space Update

Bending Space: Georges Rousse and the Durham Project had summer screenings at the Woods Hole Film Festival, deadCENTER Film Festival (Oklahoma City) and Brooklyn Independent Cinema Series.

The film will screen on September 26th at the Charlotte Film Festival , the Hot Springs Documentary Film Festival on October 25th, and Cucalorous Film Festival in Wilmington, NC. To purchase a copy of Bending Space Click here

Change Comes Knocking: The Story of the North Carolina Fund heads for the Big Easy

Change Comes Knocking is screening at the New Orleans Film Festival on Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 3:30pm.

Mountain Top Removal

On August 1, 2008 Mountain Top Removal received the audience award for Best Documentary Feature at the Woods Hole Film Festival in Woods Hole Massachusetts. For more information about this award and all of the winners click here. Haw River Films has joined with Rory Delaney of Mdb Films in Louisville Kentucky to produce the first annual Mountain Aid Benefit Concert. at the Shakori Hills festival site in Chatham county on June 19,20 and 21 of 2009. The concert will be hosted by Nashville artist and West Virginia native Kathy Mattea.

SDF Sponsored Films Sweep Best Documentary Category

Congratulations to director Rebecca Cerese whose film Change Comes Knocking- The Story of the NC Fund won first place for Best Documentary at the Appalachian Film Festival, which was held last week in Huntington, West Virginia click here for more details.

Further congratulations to Mike O'Connell, director of Mountain Top Removal , for a second place win in the documentary category. Mountain Top Removal has received the Reel Current Award selected and presented by Al Gore at this years Nashville Film Festival. This award is given to a documentary with extensive insight into a social or environmental issue. To read more about this award Click Here.

Rex Miller's film SOMAY KU: A Uganda Tennis Story won best documentary at the Malibu Film Festival. To read more about Miller click here.

SDF February 1, 2008 Fundraiser: A Celebration In The City of Docs

In celebration of its fifth anniversary and all the progress that's been made on the Southern doc scene during that time SDF held a reception and screening at the Carolina Theatre in downtown Durham on Friday, February 1, 2008. Reception attendees enjoyed food, drink, dessert, and a vibrant social scene before a screening of the SDF sponsored documentary Doubletime, the story of the much-loved local jump-roping squad the Bouncing Bulldogs. Also attending the event were members of The Bouncing Bulldogs who put on a live jump rope performance for an enthusiastic audience. SDF would like to thank all who attended and supported this event to make it a fitting celebration for documentary work.

SDF still needs your support. If you would like to become a member of SDF please click here.

Dr. Steven Channing Premieres Durham: A Self Portrait

It seemed like almost everyone in Durham turned out November 16,2007 for the much-anticipated premiere of Durham: A Self Portrait at the Carolina Theatre. Complete with red carpet and searchlights, the affair was one to remember as members of the community attended two screenings that night (a third was added on Sunday, due to popular demand).

The film received much-deserved attention from the media as well; read the full text of The Herald Sun's editorial here. Read The Independent Weekly's interview with Dr. Channing here.

Buy your copy of the Durham: A Self Portrait DVD here.

Down in the Hollow Reaches Completion

Congratulations to SDF Project Director Peden Young, who recently finished his documentary Down in the Hollow. The film premiered in Oakland, CA on November 10 to a packed and appreciative house, and Peden is off to a great start with his compelling film.

SDF Welcomes Three New Projects:

Miss Nancy Minds Their Manners follows 74 year old "Miss Nancy" and her young charges as they learn and live manners and hospitality for five days at her "Etiquette Camp" in rural Hertford, NC.
Passing it On will reflect on Reynolds Price's 50 years of teaching English literature and writing at Duke University.
Private Violence explores the issue of domestic violence through the eyes of four main characters working in an often confusing system: an advocate, a police officer, a judge, and a men's counseling director.

The Guestworker Goes on Tour

Cynthia Hill and Charles Thompson's The Guestworker has been selected for the Southern Circuit Screening Tour, the nation's only regional independent film tour. The Guestworker will appear in 9 Southern cities over 10 days in October, and Ms. Hill will participate in post-screening discussions. visit SouthArts.org for more information.

SDF a Strong Presence at Cucalorus Film Festival

Wilmington, North Carolina's Cucalorus Film Festival, held from November 7-10, will be featuring a number of SDF projects this year, including Somay Ku: A Uganda Tennis Story, Mountain Top Removal, Moving Midway, and Love Lived on Death Row. SDF's Director of Operations, Jessye McDowell, will also be screening her short film, Los Trivinos de Huasco, and will host a panel on fiscal sponsorship with Cynthia Hill (The Guestworker), Linda Booker (Love Lived On Death Row), and Rex Miller (Somay Ku: A Uganda Tennis Story).

SDF Awarded Grant by Mary Duke Biddle Foundation

The Southern Documentary Fund has received a generous grant of $5,000 from the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, to be put towards the advancement of new programs. Thanks to the Foundation and their support!