News Archives
Past Events
The Soccer Project Set To Screen At The Center For Documentary Studies
After screening at Fresh Docs on March 28th, directors Luke Boughen, Rebekah Fergusson, Gwendolyn Oxenham, and Ryan White are set to screen a one hour version of the film at CDS. The directors welcome your feedback and questions after the film. The screening will take place at the CDS auditorium Wednesday, April 16th at 6 pm.
Love Lived On Death Row Coming to a Screen Near You
Love Lived on Death Row will screen April 17- 20th at The Cackalacky Film Festival in Charlotte, NC. See website for details on this event click here. The film is also slated to screen at the 6th Annual Ybor Festival of the Moving Image April 16th- 20th, click here for details.
Bending Space Receives Festival Screening
Bending Space: Georges Rousse and the Durham Project by Durham filmmakers Penelope Maunsell and Kenny Dalsheimer has been screening in film festivals and cities across the US and returns to Durham Thursday, April 17th to fill the screen at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. There will be two screenings at 6 pm and 7:30 pm. Admission is free and tax deductible contributions to support film distribution are welcome.
Bending Space explores the creative process of visionary French artist Georges Rousse and his impact on 200 enthusiastic volunteers and the community who came out to see his work. The film captures the mind-bending illusions they created together in Durham's own wildly successful public art project.
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.
Love Lived On Death Row Coming to a Screen Near You This Fall
Fall Film Festival and Community Screenings
Wednesday October 17th- NEW ORLEANS FILM FESTIVAL, 7:30 pm Prytania Theatre, 5339 Prytania St, Uptown New Orleans. Sister Helen Prejean & filmmaker Linda Booker will be in attendance. Ticket information and complete program at http://www.neworleansfilmfest.com/main.html
Friday October 19th- INDIE MEMPHIS FILM FESTIVAL, 3:35 p.m. All movies and events will take place at Malco's Studio on the Square in midtown Memphis, unless noted otherwise. Tickets for the Soul of Southern Film Festival are available at Malco's Studio on the Square, 2105 Court Street, during the festival. Tickets may be purchased at the Studio on the Square ticket counter and online at http://www.malco.com
November 1-4 — ROCKY MOUNTAIN WOMEN'S FILM FESTIVAL, Colorado Springs, CO. Community Screening Thursday evening Nov. 1st. Festival Screening Sunday, November 4th, at 1:30 pm. Filmmaker Linda Booker will be in attendance. http://www.rmwfilmfest.org
November 7-10 — CUCALORUS FILM FESTIVAL, downtown Wilmington, NC. date & time TBA. Post-screening panel discussion with Janet Syriani, Russ Sizemore, Meg Eggleston and filmmaker Linda Booker. http://www.cucalorus.org
November 13th — BLOWING ROCK/BOONE NC, 7:00 pm, Mariam & Robert Hayes Performing Arts Center. Sponsored by the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation. Meg Eggleston & filmmaker Linda Booker will be in attendance. Directions at http://www.brcac.org/location.php
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!
Mountain Top Removal to Screen at Fresh Docs
Friday, September 28, 7:30 p.m. Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University 1317 W. Pettigrew Street Durham, NC 27705 telephone: 919-660-3663 A happy-hour gathering, Docudropby4fun, will start at 6:30 p.m. before Fresh Docs.
Mountain Top Removal examines the issues surrounding this form of coal mining, now occurring on a massive scale throughout southern Appalachia. The film chronicles the actions of different groups of citizens working to stop this mining practice, in which entire mountains are leveled to access coal.
Ed Wiley, a resident of Rock Creek, West Virginia, is outraged by the health and environmental hazards posed by a mine located next to Marsh Fork Elementary School, and he joins other locals in the fight to get the school moved out of harm's way. As summer wears on in the small coal-mining community of Whitesville, West Virginia, Ed decides to walk to Washington, D.C., to draw attention to the school. A decision to stop the expansion of the mine next to Marsh Fork Elementary signals a small victory for local citizens in their battle. The politics of West Virginia and the coal industry are deeply intertwined and the final outcome is uncertain. Along the way the film examines the effects of mountain-top removal through scholars, authors, and citizens who live with it every day.
Michael Cusack O'Connell, producer/director, grew up in Reston, Virginia, and currently resides in Pittsboro, North Carolina. He studied at the College for Recording Arts in San Francisco, California. He has been employed by UNC Television since 1990, first as a soundman and currently as a videographer/editor. His work also includes producing and directing feature series for UNC-TV. O'Connell has received two regional Emmy Awards: the first for his videography workon Watch Me Play, a history of professional women's basketball, and the second for his videography work on AMA-ZONE, a children's program exploring the search for biopharmaceuticals in the Amazon rainforest, produced by PBS affiliate WNEO/WEAO. He was selected twice as a CPB American delegate to the International Public Television Conference (2005, 2007). In 2005 his independent production company, Haw River Films, released the musical-mentary Grassroots Stages, which was distributed nationally on PBS. Mountain Top Removal is the second documentary feature release from Haw River Films.
Bending Space: Georges Rousse and the Durham Project to Premiere at the Carolina Theater!
Bending Space: Georges Rousse and the Durham Project A Documentary Film by Kenny Dalsheimer and Penelope Maunsell. September 10, 2007 at 7:30 PM Q&A with filmmakers and artist to follow.$20. All seats general admission. (Sorry, no discounts, group rates, or cinema passes) All profits equally support The Carolina Theatre of Durham, Inc. and The Southern Documentary Fund for distribution of Bending Space.
What happens when a visionary French artist meets the iconoclastic and creative spirit of a former Tobacco Road town in the midst of a downtown revitalization? A singular grassroots arts project emerges that confounds expectations and takes the city of Durham, North Carolina by storm as buildings from a past incarnation of the city are transformed into temporary canvases for dramatic public art.
Bending Space: Georges Rousse and the Durham Project, an hour-long documentary film by Durham filmmakers Kenny Dalsheimer and Penelope Maunsell, captures the creative genius of French photographer and installation artist Georges Rousse and follows the artist and hundreds of volunteers during a September 2006 public art residency in Durham. The film includes interviews with Rousse, project coordinators and volunteers, and people on the street as they visit the installations. Bending Space reveals the complex process of creating Rousse's signature trompe l'oeil illusions of color and shape that ultimately become the stunning large format color photographs exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide. The film is witness to the energy that is unleashed when a remarkable photographer and an art-loving community join forces to create art and experience a city in new and unexpected ways.
Venue: Fletcher Hall at The Carolina Theatre of Durham 309 West Morgan Street, Durham, NC 27701
Box Office: (919) 560-3030 (888) 241-8162 www.carolinatheatre.org
Tickets go on sale Thursday, August 9th. Box office is open 11am-6pm M-F and again at 6:30pm on the night of the show.