INAUGURAL “DOC MONTH” AT MoMA PRESENTS EARLY ACADEMY AWARD- WINNING AND -NOMINATED FILMS, CONTEMPORARY DOCUMENTARIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD, AND THE 2007 OSCAR-NOMINATED SHORTS Documentary Fortnight, 2008 to Focus on Environmental Documentaries DOC MONTH February 2–March 3, 2008 The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters NEW YORK, January 2, 2008—The Museum of Modern Art presents Doc Month, a new initiative that showcases the best of classic and contemporary nonfiction films each February. This inaugural edition comprises 11 short and feature-length World War II films from the archive of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Oscar’s Docs, 1941–1945: Bravery and Bias (February 2 through 10); the Museum’s annual Documentary Fortnight (February 13 through March 3), which includes a cross-section of provocative and challenging contemporary work from around the world; and the 2007 Academy Award nominees in the category of Best Short Documentary (February 17). Doc Month is presented February 2 through March 3, 2008, in The Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters. Oscar’s Docs, 1941–1945: Bravery and Bias February 2–10, 2008 The films in Oscar’s Docs: 1941–1945, Bravery and Bias reflect an intriguing period of Allied filmmaking, when directors, writers, and technicians such as John Ford, Frank Capra, Theodor Geisel (Dr. Seuss), and Gregg Toland, as enlisted servicemen, produced documentary shorts and features that proved how propaganda films can be among the most powerful weapons in any nation’s arsenal. This selection of films, the first of what will be an annual survey of documentaries from the Academy Film Archive, displays incredible feats of battlefield courage and ingenuity by soldiers and filmmakers alike. Among the titles is Churchill’s Island (1941), Stuart Legg’s riposte to Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda films, which won the first Academy Award for a documentary film on February 26, 1942. A majority of the documentaries that won or were nominated for that award through the war years used cinema to inform, inspire, and indoctrinate a public thrust into unprecedented global conflict. Nicholas Napoli’s Moscow Strikes Back (1942), photographed by 15 courageous cinematographers and narrated by Edward G. Robinson, gives a visceral account of the Soviet struggle against the Nazi invasion. Roy Boulting’s account of General Montgomery’s victory over the Germans under Erwin Rommel in Desert Victory (1943), gave the British public—and the army—a much-needed boost, while Don Siegel’s Hitler Lives? (1945), based on an anti-German film written by Theodor Geisel, was controversial for its assertion that Germans are essentially untrustworthy and must be constantly monitored lest fascism rise again from their ranks. Oscar’s Docs: 1941–1945, Bravery and Bias is organized by Rajendra Roy, The Celeste Bartos Chief Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art, and Ed Carter, Documentary Curator, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Documentary Fortnight, 2008 February 13–March 3, 2008 Documentary Fortnight, 2008, this year’s edition of MoMA’s annual showcase of contemporary nonfiction film and video, offers over 30 selections, with a focus on documentaries about the environment. In addition to Davis Guggenheim’s Academy Award-winning An Inconvenient Truth (2006), the diverse selection covers such ecological issues as the impact of an Austin housing development on that area’s water resources in Laura Dunn’s The Unforeseen (2007); the world premiere of Catherine Pancake’s film Black Diamonds (2006), which examines vast mountaintop coal removal in Appalachia; and Garbage Warrior (2006), director Oliver Hodge’s portrait of maverick architect Michael Reynolds and his crew of renegade house builders from New Mexico, who utilize beer cans, old tires, and other detritus to create “biotecture” in devastated areas around the world. Heidrun Holzfeind’s experimental work Exposed (2005) reveals the private recordings of dancer Katherine Gothraime’s chemical sensitivity to environmental toxins. Two new films will have their world premieres on February 13 as part of Documentary Fortnight, 2008. Manny Kirchheimer, whose Stations of the Elevated (1980) is a seminal film chronicle of graffiti art in 1970s New York, presents the world premiere of his new work SprayMasters (2007), in which four former New York graffiti artists featured in the 1980 film reflect on their teenage years as renegades sneaking into rail yards, decorating subway cars, and eluding arrest. To My Great Chagrin: The Unbelievable Story of Brother Theodore (2007), directed by Jeff Sumerel, is an account of Theodore Gottlieb, a cult stage personality and performer who became known as Brother Theodore for his outrageous comic/outsider performances in Los Angeles and New York City from the 1940s to the 1960s. The screening is followed by a discussion with Eric Bogosian, who was influenced by Theodore’s one-man off-Broadway show, comedian and talk-show host Dick Cavett, director Sumerel, Tom Schiller, Lorca Morello, and other Brother Theodore devotees. The exhibition also features stories about women who are sparking societal changes in Afghanistan (Eva Mulvad and Anja Al-Erhayem’s Enemies of Happiness [2006]) and Pakistan (Mohammed Naqui’s Shame [2007]). A special tribute salutes Joan Churchill, a West Coast filmmaker and cinematographer whose work over the past 30 years reveals a history of the documentary from the 1970s to the present. On February 23, Churchill will be present to introduce and discuss her 2003 documentary (co-directed with Nick Broomfield) Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer, the story of a Florida prostitute who was executed in 2002 for killing seven men and who was the inspiration for Patty Jenkins’s 2003 film Monster, which garnered a Best Actress Oscar for Charlize Theron. Many of the directors whose works are presented as part of Documentary Fortnight, 2008 will appear in person to introduce their screenings, give first-hand reports of their experiences, and discuss the challenges of making documentaries. Documentary Fortnight, 2008 is organized by Sally Berger, Assistant Curator, and William Sloan, Consultant, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art. Eightieth Academy-Nominated Documentary Shorts February 17, 2008 at 5 p.m. MoMA presents its annual screening of the Academy Award nominees in the category of Best Documentary Short. Details of individual titles will be available at www.moma.org when the Academy Award nominees are announced on January 22. Eightieth Academy-Nominated Documentary Shorts, is organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, Department of Film, The Museum of Modern Art. The Museum acknowledges its copresenting partners: Asian CineVision, Cinema Tropical, Taiwan International Documentary Festival (TIDF), Planet in Focus International Environmental Film and Video Festival, Tribeca Film Festival and Women Make Movies. No. 1 Press Contact: Paul Power, (212) 708-9847, or [email protected] For downloadable images, please visit www.moma.org/press Public Information: The Museum of Modern Art, 11 West 53rd Street, New York, NY 10019 Hours: Wednesday through Monday: 10:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Friday: 10:30 a.m.-8:00 p.m. Closed Tuesday Film Admission: $10 adults; $8 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D. $6 full-time students with current I.D. (For admittance to film programs only.) The price of a film ticket may be applied toward the price of a Museum admission ticket when a film ticket stub is presented at the Lobby Information Desk within 30 days of the date on the stub (does not apply during Target Free Friday Nights, 4:00–8:00 p.m.). Museum Admission: $20 adults; $16 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D.; $12 full-time students with current I.D. Free, members and children 16 and under accompanied by an adult. (Includes admittance to Museum galleries and film programs) Target Free Friday Nights 4:00–8:00 p.m. Subway: E or V train to Fifth Avenue/53rd Street Bus: On Fifth Avenue, take the M1, M2, M3, M4, or M5 to 53rd Street. On Sixth Avenue, take the M5, M6, or M7 to 53rd Street. Or take the M57 and M50 crosstown buses on 57th and 50th Streets. The public may call (212) 708-9400 for detailed Museum information. Visit us on the Web at www.moma.org DOC MONTH SCREENING SCHEDULE Saturday, February 2 4:00 Churchill’s Island. 1941. Canada. Produced, directed and edited by Stuart Legg. Narrated by Lorne Greene. Repurposed Nazi footage and heroic images of British forces serve as a “return-fire” response to the Germans’ successful use of Leni Riefenstahl’s propaganda films of the era. Winner of the first Documentary Academy Award. Preserved by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) from a nitrate print loaned by Library and Archives Canada. 22 min. Prelude to War. 1942. USA. Directed by Lt. Colonel Frank Capra. Narrated by Walter Huston, Captain Anthony Veiler. The first in the landmark series Why We Fight, Frank Capra’s production was an attempt by US military brass to use Hollywood techniques of music and film editing to indoctrinate recruits, as well as a public reluctant to move into the global arena. Much of the initial research for the film was done by the Department of Film at MoMA. New print made by National Archives and Records Administration. 53 min. 8:00 Moscow Strikes Back. 1942. USSR. Produced by Nicholas Napoli. Narrated by Edward G. Robinson. Photographed by fifteen courageous cinematographers, a visceral tracing of the Soviet struggle against the Nazi invasion; winter warfare at its most bone-chilling, conducted by a collective force of civilians, partisans and soldiers. Pre-Cold War propaganda extolled the character of the Russian people, described a common Russian-American value system and cemented the US-Soviet alliance. New print made by National Archives and Records Administration.