Silver Spring, Maryland, May 14, 2007—In the first of three program announcements, SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival announced the competition films for the 2007 Festival, taking place June 12-17, 2007 in the Washington, DC area. Each year the SILVERDOCS Sterling Feature Film Competition offers a diverse and colorful selection of films representing the ever-evolving state of the documentary around the world. Four of this year’s 10 outstanding competition films are new to US audiences, with one World, two North American and one US Premiere.

SILVERDOCS 2007 will present 100 films representing 41 countries selected from 1,735 submissions with nine World, six North American, four US and 11 East Coast Premieres. These represent an increase from 2006 when 100 films were selected from 1,687 submissions.

“The SILVERDOCS 2007 selection of films in competition offer an authentic, fresh take on our world.” said Festival Director Patricia Finneran. “They represent independent—and in-depth—perspectives on contemporary issues and highly specific yet universal explorations of the human experience.”

The Festival will again present a special award to the best film in the Music Documentary section. Music documentaries provide a front row seat to the personalities and power of the creative process and are always strongly represented at the Festival. Films screen in three sections: Competition, World View and Music Documentary. This year SILVERDOCS is also featuring Beyond Belief, a strand of documentaries exploring religion and faith. One of the films will receive recognition as the best documentary in the series.

The topics of competition films include: America as seen through the eyes of long-haul truck drivers; the election of the first woman to Afghanistan’s parliament; a look inside the walls of Israeli prisons where Palestinians are incarcerated; a Zen chef who uses cooking as metaphor for life; the human face of global economic power shifts between East and West,; immigrant organizing of LA sweatshops; the introduction of a democratic process in China via third grade class elections; an investigation of US policy on torture and the war on terror in the Middle East and an inquiry into the disappearance of a seminal but forgotten figure from Andy Warhol’s factory.

“Representing Afghanistan, China, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Germany, Haiti, Iraq, Israel and Mexico, and the US, the competition films tell a wide range of stories,” said Director of Programming Sky Sitney. “These films reflect the very best the documentary form has to offer—including memorable subjects, compelling storytelling, high cinematic values, and most importantly, a great deal of heart.”

This year SILVERDOCS is also conferring three new awards that will be presented annually at the Festival.

· The Cinematic Vision Award presented by Discovery HD Theater will be given to a feature and a short film that exhibit excellence and innovation in visual storytelling ($2,500 each).

· The WITNESS Award in honor of Joey Lozano will be awarded to a theatrical documentary about human rights violations or social justice issues ($5,000).

· The SILVERDOCS/American Film Market Award will be presented to a film of exceptional promise in the media marketplace and will include passes to the American Film Market (October 31 to November 7, 2007), airfare, five nights hotel and pre-arranged meetings with potential partners ($5,000 value).

SILVERDOCS and ACE/Animal Content in Entertainment present will again present a $10,000 development grant, initiated in 2006. The new awards join those for films in competition: Sterling Award Feature ($25,000 cash and in-kind, including $5,000 in film product from Kodak); Sterling Award Short ($5,000); and Music Documentary Award presented by Pump Audio ($2,500). The new awards bring the combined cash and in-kind prizes at SILVERDOCS to $55,000.

Award winners will be announced at the SILVERDOCS Award presentation on Saturday June 16, 2007. All films are also eligible for Audience awards for Best Feature and Short, which will be announced on Sunday June 17, 2007.

STERLING AWARD FEATURE FILM COMPETITION

BIG RIG / USA (Director: Doug Pray)—This stunningly photographed film follows a dozen long-haul truck drivers as they cross 21,000 miles of American highway. The nation’s beautiful scenery provides the backdrop for personal stories that emphasize how much America relies on their largely invisible labor. East Coast Premiere.

ENEMIES OF HAPPINESS / Denmark (Director: Eva Mulvad)—The first woman elected to Afghanistan’s parliament, Malalai Joya’s democratic spirit and love for her people have made her a heroine to many Afghans. Filmed during the final weeks of her 2005 campaign under threat of death, it reveals Joya’s courage and the human faces behind the news stories of burkas and blue-inked thumbs. East Coast Premiere.

HOTHOUSE / USA (Director: Shimon Dotan)—A gripping look at life behind the prison walls for some of the nearly 10,000 Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli prisons, this film reveals how prison life help forms a brotherhood that fuels the political divide. East Coast Premiere.

HOW TO COOK YOUR LIFE / Germany (Director: Doris Dorrie)—Just as life is a journey, not a destination, eating is about the process of cooking, not just food. This inspiring film follows Zen chef, Edward Brown, and good-naturedly ponders the relationship between cooking, life, and the world around us. North American Premiere.

LOSERS AND WINNERS / Germany (Directors: Michael Loeken, Ulrike Franke)—The idea of a shifting global economy, of the rise of the East and impending economic crisis in the West is in the Zeitgeist, but rarely do we see inside the working culture of either side. East Coast Premiere

MADE IN LA / USA/Spain (Director: Almudena Carracedo)—An intimate look into the blood, sweat and tears of Latina garment workers, who successfully organize against not only the sweatshops, but the glossy mall stores where there labor is displayed. World Premiere.

PLEASE VOTE FOR ME / China (Director: Weijun Chen)—What does democracy look like in the world’s largest Communist country? Start small, very small. This charming film follows the intense politicking to become class monitor of a third grade class in Wahun Province China. North American Premiere.

THE PRICE OF SUGAR / USA (Director: Bill Haney)—When a charismatic Spanish Priest arrives in the Dominican Republic and protests the slave labor of dispossessed Haitians in the sugar plantations, he ignites a firestorm of protest and tension. East Coast Premiere.

TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE / Israel (Director: Alex Gibney)—An examination of torture and the war on terror, beginning with the death of an innocent Afghani taxi driver. Alex Gibney tracks the development of the Bush administration’s interrogation techniques in Afghanistan, Guantanamo, and Iraq. Washington, DC Premiere.

A WALK INTO THE SEA: DANNY WILLIAMS AND THE WARHOL FACTORY / USA (Director: Esther Robinson)—An artful inquiry into the disappearance of the filmmaker’s uncle, Danny Williams, a promising young filmmaker and seminal but forgotten figure in Andy Warhol’s inner circle at The Factory. The film weaves rarely seen footage from the period with contemporary interviews with surviving Factory members. Washington, DC Premiere.

Sterling Award Feature Jury: Liesl Copland, head of acquisitions of Red Envelope Entertainment, the newly created original content division of Netflix; Matt Dentler, the Producer of the South by Southwest Film Conference & Festival; and Ross Kauffman, the 2005 Academy Award winning director of BORN INTO BROTHELS.

BEST MUSIC DOCUMENTARY AWARD

BUILDING A BROKEN MOUSETRAP (plus two shorts) / USA (Director: Jem Cohen)—From the acclaimed filmmaker of INSTRUMENT about the band Fugazi, comes an electric concert film featuring the Dutch band the Ex preceded by two lyrical shorts: NYC WEIGHTS AND MEASURES and BLESSED ARE THE DREAMS OF MEN. Washington, DC Premiere.

HIP HOP REVOLUTION / South Africa (Director: Weamm Williams)—Twenty-five year journey of hip hop in south Africa, from its birth on the Cape Flats to the political uprising in the 80s, giving youth a medium to express themselves and incite pride when it was needed most. North American Premiere.

KURT COBAIN ABOUT A SON / USA (Director: AJ Schnack)—A surprising portrait of the man behind the icon, Kurt Cobain, in his own words narrating this visually stunning film of his childhood, Nirvana’s sudden rise to fame, his controversial relationship with Courtney Love, and his struggles with pain and depression. Washington, DC Premiere.

NOMADAK Tx / Spain (Director: Raul De la Fuente)–The film follows two musician’s magical journey as they traverse the world with a magical instrument, the Txalaparta. Washington, DC Premiere.

NOTE BY NOTE (THE MAKING OF STEINWAY L1037) / USA (Director: Benjamin Niles)—Steinway pianos are hand built in the Bronx. The builder imparts unique personality to each. This film elegantly shows the creation of Steinway L1037 and examines the process by which pianists select a Steinway Grand for performances. Washington, DC Premiere.

SCOTT WALKER 30TH CENTURY MAN/ UK (Director: Stephen Kijak)—With his wry lyrics and reclusive nature, Walker’s creative influence reaches further than his name, inspiring the likes of Bowie, Brian Eno, the Smiths, and Radiohead with his unusual tenor vibrato and melancholy songscapes. Washington, DC Premiere.

Music Documentary Jury: Rosanna Arquette is an actress and filmmaker best known for her early film role in DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN. She directed SEARCHING FOR DEBRA WINGER, and more recently, ALL WE ARE SAYING, in which musicians speak about music, business, art and life; Joe Berlinger, Director of BROTHER’S KEEPER, PARADISE LOST, and METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER, among others.

STERLING AWARD FOR BEST SHORT

The Festival also presents a Sterling Award for Best Short, in recognition of this increasingly acclaimed art form. The Short Film program will be released in the subsequent program announcement. Shorts programmed in SILVERDOCS have gone on to be nominated for an Academy Award each year of the Festival. THE BLOOD OF YINGZHOU DISTRICT, directed by Ruby Yang, which had its world premiere at SILVERDOCS 2006, received the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short.

Sterling Award Short Jury: Yance Ford, Series Producer P.O.V. American Documentary; Amir Labaki, filmmaker, founder and director of the It's All True International Documentary Film Festival; and Liz Ogilvie, head of programming for Docurama Films, an independent digital distribution company.

WHAT’S NEW FOR SILVERDOCS 2007

Guggenheim. The Festival’s signature program, the Charles Guggenheim Symposium, honors the legacy of the late four-time Academy Award winning filmmaker, Charles Guggenheim, by recognizing a filmmaker who shares the same artistic excellence and profound respect for humanity and democratic values. In 2007, the Symposium will honor Jonathan Demme. His documentary work includes NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD (2006); THE AGRONOMIST (2003); STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK (1998); COUSIN BOBBY (1992); SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA (1987); and STOP MAKING SENSE (1984). SILVERDOCS will screen a series of excerpts from Demme’s body of documentary work, as well as the theatrical World Premiere of his latest documentary HOME MOVIES: NEW STORIES FROM THE NINTH WARD and outdoor screenings of STOP MAKING SENSE and NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD.

International Documentary Conference. The 2007 Conference explores The Future of Real 2.0: Rights, Revenue and Readiness drills down into Web 2.0 and the expanding world of interactive on-line communities, user-generated content and new distribution platforms. The Conference will also explore Filmanthropy, a new wave of links between documentary, non-profits and advocacy groups. The keynote address will be given by Ted Leonsis, NANKING producer, media leader (Vice Chairman, America Online) and a leading philanthropist who has turned his attention to documentary film as a means of raising awareness of important social issues. Other Conference highlights include in-depth workshops on Becoming a Green Production House, Spotlight on Discovery, A Blue Print on Fundraising for Documentaries, Producing for U.S. Public Television, and sessions on the programming, acquisition and commissioning priorities of critical industry players.

Beyond Belief. This year’s featured thematic program is Beyond Belief, a series of documentaries exploring faith, fanaticism, spirituality and ethics in society.

SILVERDOCS Goes Green. SILVERDOCS is the first documentary Festival in North America to go carbon neutral and is instituting Festival-wide initiatives to produce a green event. SILVERDOCS is also convening PROJECT GREENCODE to help develop industry standards.

About SILVERDOCS

SILVERDOCS is an international film festival celebrating the creative vision of independent filmmakers and the power of documentary to expand our world-view and enhance our understanding of the world around us. SILVERDOCS presents six days of programming from over 41 countries, plus special screenings and the concurrent four-day International Documentary Conference. Now in its fifth year, SILVERDOCS has become the most talked about documentary festival in the United States. In 2007, SILVERDOCS announced that it will become the first carbon-neutral documentary festival in North America.

Leading filmmakers such as Nick Broomfield, Werner Herzog, Jim Jarmusch, Alan King, Barbara Kopple, Al Maysles, Stanley Nelson, Martin Scorsese and Penelope Spheeris have shared their work and their perspectives with Festival and Conference participants.

SILVERDOCS provides business and creative connections between filmmakers, broadcasters, distributors and funders from both established and emerging media markets at the International Documentary Conference which includes over 60 panels and workshops and is attended by over 650 filmmakers and guests from around the world. Former Vice President Al Gore delivered the keynote address at the 2006 Conference, and speakers from every major documentary media outlet regularly participate.

The Festival is presented through a unique alliance between AFI, a national institute providing leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television and digital media and Discovery Communications, the number one non-fiction media company in the world with operations in 170 countries and territories reaching nearly 1.5 billion cumulative subscribers.

The Festival—which will take place June 12 – 17, 2007—serves as a launch pad for independent documentaries and affords international filmmakers access to US audiences.

SILVERDOCS takes place at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, a year-round cinema complex presenting first-run art house film, calendared screening series and themed festivals. The 49,000 square-foot art deco complex houses three theaters—one historic, two new state-of-the-art stadium-style theaters—and a café; it is located in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, just across the street from Discovery World Headquarters. For more information, go to www.SILVERDOCS.com.

About the American Film Institute

AFI is a national institute providing leadership in screen education and the recognition and celebration of excellence in the art of film, television and digital media. AFI trains the next generation of filmmakers at its world-renowned Conservatory, maintains America's film heritage through the AFI Catalog of Feature Films and explores new digital technologies in entertainment and education through the AFI Digital Content Lab and K-12 Screen Education Center. As the largest nonprofit exhibitor in the US, AFI ON SCREEN encompasses the annual AFI FEST presented by Audi: AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival—as well as year-round programming at ArcLight Hollywood and the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, including SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival. AFI AWARDS, the annual almanac for the 21st century, honors the most outstanding motion pictures and television programs of the year, while AFI's 100 Years . . . series has ignited extraordinary public interest in classic American movies. And, during the past 34 years, AFI’s Life Achievement Award has become the highest honor for a career in film. Additional information about AFI is available at AFI.com.

About Discovery Communications

Discovery Communications, Inc. is the number-one nonfiction media company reaching more than 1.5 billion people in over 170 countries. Through TV and digital media, Discovery's 100-plus worldwide networks include Discovery Channel, TLC, Travel Channel, Animal Planet and Discovery Health. DCI is owned by Discovery Holding Co. (NASDAQ: DISCA, DISCB), Cox Communications Inc., Advance/Newhouse Communications and John S. Hendricks, Discovery’s founder and chairman. For more information please visit www.discovery.com.