The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is practically a Durham institution. Besides inspiring Mayor Bill Bell to temporarily rename Durham "Realitywood" in past years, the festival bring hundreds of documentaries, filmmakers and audience members from around the world to the Bull City.
Founded in 1998 by Nancy Buirski, the festival's chief executive officer and artistic director, Full Frame is entering its tenth year as the world's premier documentary film festival. This year's festival plans to host superstars such as Mira Nair (Monsoon Wedding), Martin Scorsese and Michael Moore.
To celebrate a decade of dedication to documentaries, Full Frame is hosting the "Countdown to Ten" film series. The special screenings will feature the previous winners of the Grand Jury Award, Full Frame's highest honor, bestowed upon a film by a prestigious board of filmmakers and scholars.
"We are celebrating our tenth anniversary and wanted to have an opportunity to give back to the community that has supported us for the past ten years," Buirski said.
The series kicks off Feb. 7 at 7:30 p.m. with 1998 co-Grand Jury winners In Harm's Way and Travis. In Harm's Way is filmmaker and sexual assault victim Jan Krawitz's autobiographical story about her childhood notions of safety and her adult encounter with random violence. Richard Kotuk's Travis follows the then-seven-year-old title character's battle with AIDS.
All the films will play at downtown Durham's historic Carolina Theatre on consecutive Wednesdays-with the exception of the Feb. 13 showing of the 1999 co-winners Photographer and Return with Honor. The more than 80-year-old theater is integral to the history of the festival, Buirski said.
"It has been one of our most important venues," she said. "Carolina was the theater where we started, so it is very important for us to come back to it."
The topics in the series are diverse-from mysterious musician deaths (2001 co-winner Benjamin Smoke) to An Inconvenient Truth director Davis Guggenheim's story about novice school teachers (2002 winner The First Year).
Those interested in the Middle East, however, will find several films that explore the less seen sides of war. Last year's winner, Iraq in Fragments, features three distinct stories from Baghdad, Shia revolutionary hotbed Naseriyah and Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.
Although not directly connected to any war, 2005 co-winner Murderball features many post-war vets using sports to cope with newly garnered wounds. Also following on the Middle East trend is 2004 winner Control Room, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at Al-Jazeera, the Arabic news network. Return with Honor, chronicling the stories of Vietnam POW pilots, resonates with those affected by the current quagmire in Iraq.
"We are all concerned with what is going on in the world today and this is a great way to understand it," Buirski said.
For college students who enjoy frat-pack films such as Wedding Crashers and Anchorman, documentaries may not seem appealing, but Buirski said students may surprisingly find the series' selection intriguing.
"If [students] try to see the movies they may realize it is not like going to an educational film, its like watching fiction," she said.
"They are enormously entertaining and when you get a compelling story that is real there is nothing more important," she added.
Buirski said she believes it is critical for all college students, who make up a small part of the Full Frame audience, to take advantage of the series and the festival.
"They have a wonderful opportunity to see what have been some of the most powerful films in the past ten years," she added.
The "Countdown to Ten" series runs from Feb. 7 to April 5 at the Carolina Theatre, 309 W. Morgan Street, Durham. Tickets are $4. For more details visit www.fullframefest.org.
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