From James Longley's Iraq In Fragments
Iraq In Fragments (*Winner)
Director/Producer: James Longley
Producer: John Sinno
Typecast Pictures, Typecast Releasing, HBO Documentary Films
Iraq In Fragments illuminates post-war Iraq in three acts, building a vivid picture of a country pulled in different directions by religion and ethnicity. Filmed in vérité style, with no scripted narrative, the film powerfully explores the lives of ordinary Iraqis: people whose thoughts, beliefs, aspirations and concerns are at once personal and illustrative of larger issues in Iraq today.
Can Mr. Smith Get To Washington Anymore?
Director/Producer: Frank Popper
Producers: Matt Coen, Mike Kime
Mr. Smith Movie, LLC, Sarah Jo Marks/At Risk Films, Independent Lens, PBS
This is the story of the 2004 Democratic congressional primary race for the US Congress--a race to replace Congressman Dick Gephardt. It's told from inside the campaign of Jeff Smith, a 29-year old part-time political science instructor at Washington University. This is a David and Goliath story--one that shows what confronts fresh political faces with new ideas and passionate supporters when they go head-to-head against the corporate establishment, name recognition and voters who, for the most part, don't pay attention.
Deliver Us From Evil
Director/Producer: Amy Berg
Producers: Hermas Lassalle, Frank Donner
Disarming Films, Lionsgate
Deliver Us from Evil is the story of Oliver O'Grady--the most notorious pedophile priest in the modern history of the Catholic Church--and an investigation into how he was allowed to forge a trail of destruction across northern California under the knowing eye of the church hierarchy for over 20 years.
SHOWBUSINESS: A Season to Remember
Director/Producer: Dori Berinstein
Dramatic Forces, Regent Entertainment
Broadway veteran Dori Berinstein unflinchingly chronicles the aspirations, heartbreak, ecstasy and risks that went into creating Broadway's 2003-'04 season, with emphasis on four of its biggest musicals: Wicked, Avenue Q, Taboo and Caroline, or Change. Lensing a veritable "who's who" of theater-makers, including Alan Cumming, Rosie O'Donnell, Tony Kushner and George C. Wolfe among countless others, this lively film illuminates the joys of creativity and collaboration while giving equal time to the cold reality of economics and the chilling impact of the critics.
Sierra Leone's Refugee All Stars
Directors/Producers: Zach Niles, Banker White
SodaSoap Productions, P.O.V./American Documentary, PBS
This is the remarkable story of a group of musicians who form a band while living in a West African refugee camp. They were forced from their homes by a brutal civil war that took the lives of many of their loved ones and left them with physical and emotional scars that may never heal. But through music they find a place of refuge, a sense of purpose and a source of power.