If A Tree Falls | Maryland Film Festival Blog

Posts Tagged 'If A Tree Falls'

Academy Award Nods to MFF Documentary Alums Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky, Marshall Curry

Published February 8, 2012 Uncategorized Closed
Tags: 2012 Academy Awards, Agnieszka Holland, Bruce Sinofsky, earth liberation front, If A Tree Falls, In Darkness, Joe Berlinger, Marshall Curry, Paradise Lost, west memphis 3

PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY by MFF Alums Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky

After over 20 years of painstaking work, MFF Alums Joe Berliner and Bruce Sinofsky have received a Best Documentary Academy Award nomination for their film PARADISE LOST 3: PURGATORY, the conclusion of the award-winning trilogy on the West Memphis Three, a trio of Arkansas teenagers who were found guilty of a triple homicide despite questionable evidence.

MFF Alums Bruce Sinofsky and Joe Berlinger

Arriving on the scene just days after the 1993 arrests, the filmmakers initially assumed they were making a documentary about guilty teenagers. But, after embedding themselves in the community prior to the 1994 trials, they came to question the guilt of the West Memphis 3 and, by the time the trials were over, they were convinced that Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley were the victims of a modern-day witch hunt.

Also receiving an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary is MFF alum Marshall Curry for his film IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT.

In December 2005, Daniel McGowan was arrested by Federal agents in a nationwide sweep of radical environmentalists involved with the Earth Liberation Front— a group the FBI has called America’s “number one domestic terrorism threat.”

For years, the ELF—operating in separate anonymous cells without any central leadership—had launched spectacular arsons against dozens of businesses they accused of destroying the environment: timber companies, SUV dealerships, wild horse slaughterhouses, and a $12 million ski lodge at Vail, Colorado.

IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION FRONT tells the remarkable story of the rise and fall of this ELF cell, by focusing on the transformation and radicalization of one of its members.

IN DARKNESS by Agnieszka Holland

Polish filmmaker Agnieszka Holland (director of several films, among which include WASHINGTON SQUARE and two episodes of The Wire, shot in Baltimore) has received a Foreign Language Film Academy Award nomination for her new film, IN DARKNESS.

During World War II, numerous Jews hid from Nazis in the underground sewer systems of major cities. This veritable labyrinth of underground passages, full of rats and waste, provided a safe haven as the Nazis starved and ultimately liquidated the ghettos. Based on a true story, IN DARKNESS portrays this subterranean life through the experiences of Lvov sewer worker Leopold Socha (Robert Wieckiewicz) and the people he meets on his rounds.

MEREDITH VIEIRA to interview RACHEL GRADY, MARSHALL CURRY and LAURA POITRAS at the MFF FUNDRAISER!

Published February 23, 2011 Uncategorized Closed
Tags: 12th & Delaware, Academy Award, Boys of Baraka, If A Tree Falls, Jesus Camp, Laura Poitras, Marshall Curry, Meredith Vieira, My Country My Country, Rachel Grady, Racing Dreams, Street Fight, The Oath

On March 11th, MEREDITH VIEIRA will interview three distinguished documentary filmmakers during our MFF PRODUCES fundraising event. Each has been nominated for an Academy Award, and each has honored films about important subjects in the news.

Vieira will engage our filmmaker guests in a discussion around the subject “Are Documentary Filmmakers the New Journalists?”

Rachel Grady– (BOYS OF BARAKA, JESUS CAMP, and 12th & DELAWARE). Exploring issues of educating urban boys, children in the world of fundamentalist Christianity, and abortion, Rachel Grady and filmmaker partner Heidi Ewing have always brought incredible insight to issues that divide people. Cited by Time Magazine as one of five innovator filmmakers in 2007, MFF has had the privilege of showcasing all of her films. Rachel Grady is currently working on her newest film, DETROIT HUSTLES HARDER.

Marshall Curry– (STREET FIGHT, RACING DREAMS, IF A TREE FALLS: A STORY OF THE EARTH LIBERATION MOVEMENT). A self taught documentary filmmaker, Marshall’s first film, STREET FIGHT, chronicled Cory Booker’s first attempt to run for Mayor of Newark, NJ. Booker was a Stanford and Yale grad who had a good record as a councilman and had been living in Newark’s infamous projects. He immediately attracted attention, and gathered around him a tireless group of volunteers. He got crushed. The film was nominated for both an Academy Award and an Emmy. RACING DREAMS, Marshall’s second film, followed a few teenage race car drivers as they learned to contend on the NASCAR circuit, and won Best Documentary at Tribeca 2009. His latest film, covering the issue of eco-terrorism, was in the competition of Sundance 2011, and, like each of the first two, will be part of MFF.

Laura Poitras– (MY COUNTRY, MY COUNTRY; THE OATH) Diving in to two of the most reported news stories of the past few years, Laura gained access to a physician in Baghdad as he decided to run in the first election after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and then spent a year with Osama Bin Laden’s driver/bodyguard in Yemen. The results are two remarkable films, taking the viewer deep inside of stories that were all over the front pages.