Documentaries Dealing In Reality
By: Hope Wilkos, Writer/Blogger
If you enjoyed the most recent Tribeca Film Festival 2014, you are sure to be impressed by AFI DOCS Documentary Festival, set to take place beginning on June 18th and running through June 22, 2014.
What gives this film festival its stature and its stand-out quality, is that it takes place at landmark venues in Washington, DC and the world-class AFI Silver Theatre, the independent film hub of the metropolitan region. What distinguishes this film festival from the rest is its ability to focus on documentary film topics which is ultimately shown to influential audiences who can bring about positive change. That audience includes cultural leaders, senators, members of Congress and even Supreme Court Justices. This is the one film festival that can make use of effective storytelling to make a powerful impact on issues that need a platform of awareness and a social medium for exposure in order to be dealt with properly. These are films that can shape our world and quite simply, our future.
Although there will be many outstanding films that will stir up a mix of raw emotions within each of us, two of the chosen films are compelling and thought provoking, standing out for their subject matter and the amount of heart and soul that went into each production.
‘THE FIX’ is a film that is heart wrenching at times but deals with a very tough subject with sensitivity and grace. Laura Naylor is the producer and director of the film. Her intention was to tell a story of addiction and disease, not just on a very broad level but with a more personalized approach. In order for her audience to feel the full impact, Naylor shot ‘THE FIX’ primarily at a methadone clinic in the Bronx. Determination, courage and the ability to share everything they have been through, made for a most inspiring film of pain turned around into redemption. Too often, society does not want to deal with addiction and its destruction but through ‘THE FIX’, Laura Naylor pursues addiction with a different ending. There is hope, there is possibility and Naylor puts it into her own words.
“The overwhelming majority of injection drug users in the U.S. are infected with hepatitis C. It is a huge epidemic that is little understood or acknowledged by the general public, yet it affects five times as many people as HIV in this country. There are completely curative, life-saving treatments for the disease, but drug users don’t have access to treatment because of their marginalized place in society. ‘THE FIX’ was funded almost entirely by donations and donated services. We kept the budget extremely small, working with a bare-bones crew, so that all proceeds can go directly to help fund hepatitis C treatment for former and current drug users in the Bronx.”
This film was one of the Official Selections of the 2014 Soho International Film Festival, the 2014 REEL Recovery Film Festival in New York City and now one of the Official Selections of AFI Docs. It is scheduled to be shown on June 19th, 2014 at 6:15 P.M. at the AFI Silver Theater. Following the showing, Laura Naylor will be on hand to answer questions and with her will be one of the individuals who was part of her subject matter, Junior Alcantara. It will open your eyes to a problem that has been ignored for too long.
Another brilliant film with controversial subject matter is ‘SOFT VENGEANCE.’ ‘SOFT VENGEANCE‘ is a film about Albie Sachs, a lawyer, writer, art lover and freedom fighter, set against the dramatic events leading to the overthrow of the apartheid regime in South Africa. As a young man, Albie defended those committed to ending apartheid in South Africa. For his actions as a lawyer, he was imprisoned in solitary confinement in Cape Town, tortured through sleep deprivation and forced into exile. In 1988 he was blown up by a car bomb set by the South African security forces in Maputo, Mozambique, which cost him his right arm and the sight of one eye, but miraculously he survived and after a long year of rehabilitation in England, he recovered. Returning to South Africa following the release of Nelson Mandela, Albie helped write the new Constitution and was then appointed as one of the first 11 judges to the new Constitutional Court, which for the past two decades has been insuring that the rights of all South Africans are afforded protection.
Abby Ginzberg is the producer of the film and Oscar-nominated actress, Alfre Woodard, is the executive producer and film’s narrator. Ginzberg will be present during the showing and as a very special treat for all the film attendees, the Honorable Ebrahim Rasoul, South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States, will participate in a conversation following the showing of the film. This is its Washington D.C. debut after premiering at Full Frame Documentary Film Fest. The screening will take place on Friday, June 20, 2014, at 1:30 P.M. at the AFI Silver Theater.
If you have the ability and most notably the opportunity to attend the AFI DOCS Documentary Film Festival, it is well worth participating in. Presenting sponsor is AT&T with Official Sponsors being the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Stella Artois Belgium.
There are amazing and incredible films that will fill all five of your days, leave you in an emotional whirlwind and give you immense admiration for such artistic talent in the international film community.
PHOTOS Courtesy of THE FIX Facebook Page and SOFT VENGEANCE Facebook Page
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