Editor

Big Sky Documentary Film Festival has announced the official selections for their ninth annual event to be held in Missoula, Montana February 17-26, at the Historic Wilma Theatre.  The 144 film program, culled from nearly 1000 entries from all over the world will feature a free opening night screening of Matthew Akers's new film Marina Abramovi The Artist is Present (sponsored by HBO Documentary Films); a massive music sidebar of new and classic films and live performances (sponsored by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences); and retrospective and visiting artist programs featuring films by Barbara Kopple, D.A.

Pennebaker, Agi Orsi, Caveh Zahedi, Dave Markey and celebrated animator Bill Plympton.

Other special features of the 2012 event include live musical accompaniment to, classic silent City Symphonies, performed by Stellarondo & NexdoorPrisonHotel; Two programs from Emily Armstrong & Pat Iver's acclaimed Nightclubbing series featuring rarely seen CBGB & Mudd Club vintage punk performances by Iggy Pop, Blondie, The Talking Heads and others; Work-In-Progress screenings; and The Big Sky Doc Shop, a new industry-focused four-day event that offers documentary filmmakers opportunities for networking, discussion, and professional development, through workshops, panels, and the annual Big Sky Documentary Pitch session.

Confirmed guests of Doc Shop include Diane Weyermann (Food, Inc) Yance Ford (POV) Lois Vossen (Independent lens/ITVS)and Marshall Curry (If A Tree Falls).

The Festival will feature three venues this year

- two screens at the Wilma and a third at the Crystal Theater, 515 South Higgins on the Hip Strip.  "This is going to be an incredibly exciting year," said Festival Director, Mike Steinberg. "The energy and joy inherent in this year's line-up is a reflection of the enormous support we have seen from our community and our national and local sponsors".

Visit the festival website, bigskyfilmfest.org for film info, volunteer opportunities and to purchase passes online.

The Official Selections for the 2012 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival:

OPENING NIGHT FILM

Marina Abramovic The Artist is Present (Director: Matthew Akers) Free Screening sponsored by HBO Documentary Films (Filmmakers in Attendance)

CLOSING NIGHT FILM

Under African Skies    (Director: Joe Berlinger)

FEATURE FILM COMPETITION

Andrew Bird: Fever Year (Director: Xan Aranda) Battle For Brooklyn (Directors: Suki Hawley & Michael Galinsky) Calvet (Director: Dominic Allan) The Carrier (Director: Margaret Betts) Chasing Ice (Director: Jeff Orlowski) Faceless (Director: Jason Lapeyre) Laura (Director: Fillipe Gamarona Barbosa)

SHORT FILM COMPETITION

After (Director: Jeremy Cohan)

Aside the Sea  (Director: Sine Skibsholt) Ben Franklin Blowing Bubbles (Director: Jonathan Napolitano) Blue Rinse (Director: Matt Leigh) Guanape Sur (Director: Janos Richter) Kudzu Vine (Director: Josh Gibson) Making Noise In Silence (Director: Mina T. Son)

MINI-DOC COMPETITION

Grandpa Looked Like William Powell (Director: David B. Levy) Mr Smith's Peach Seeds (Director: Stewart Copeland) The Noble Earth (Director: Bryan McManus) No Wine Left Behind (Director: Kevin Gordon) Spirit of the Blue Bird (Director: Xstine Cook, Jesse Gouchey) Stray Dawg (Director: Sean Dunne)

BIG SKY AWARD COMPETITION

Boomtown (Director: Torben Bernhard & Travis Low) The Lookout (Director: Brian Bolster) Painting John (Director: Audrey Hall) Pot Country (Director: Kate McLean, Mario Furloni) Smoke Songs (Director: Briar March)

VISITING ARTISTS AT BSDFF 2012

BARBARA KOPPLE: Letting It Shine

A Force of Nature

Harlan County, USA

Shut Up And Sing

Wild Man Blues

(Filmmaker in Attendance)

TEENAGE WASTELAND: The Films of Agi Orsi Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who (Director:

Paul Crowder, Murray Lerner, Parris Patton) Dogtown and Z Boys (Director: Stacy Peralta) No Room For Rock Stars (Director: Parris Patton) Riding Giants (Director: Stacy Peralta) (Filmmaker in Attendance)

TAKING IT PERSONALLY: Four Films by Caveh Zahedi I Am Sex Addict I Don't Hate Las Vegas Anymore In The Bathtub Of The World Untitled Work-In-Progress (Filmmaker in Attendance)

THE-SLIGHTLY-NON-FICTION-ISH-SOMEWHAT DOC-LIKE-HOW-TO-FILMS OF BILL PLYMPTON

A collection of strange yet some how instructive films from the celebrated illustrator/animator, including 25 Ways To Quit Smoking, How To Kiss, and Santa: The Fascist Years.  (Filmmaker in

Attendance)

NIGHTCLUBBING WITH PAT IVERS & EMILY ARMSTRONG

Two rarely seen compendiums (Greatest Hits 1975-80 & The Origins of Hardcore) of late 70s performances from a massive archive featuring Blondie, Iggy Pop, The Talking Heads and others, captured by Ivers & Armstrong when they were the house videographers at downtown punk meccas CBGB and The Mud Club. (Filmmakers in Attendance.)

IT'S ALL OVER NOW: The Classic Rock-Docs of D.A. Pennebaker Don't Look Back Monterey Pop Ziggy Stardust

PUNK-A-MUCK: 3 by Dave Markey

1991: The Year Punk Broke

The Slog Movie

(This Is Known As) The Blues Scale

WORK-IN-PROGRESS SCREENINGS

Code of the West (Director: Rebecca Richman-Cohen) The List (Director: Beth Murphy) Untitled Work In Progress (Director: Caveh Zahedi) The Winding Stream (Director: Beth Harrington) (Filmmakers in Attendance)

WINTER IN THE BLOOD PREVIEW EVENT

A sneak peek at Alex & Andrew Smith's much anticipated new feature based on Montana writer James Welch's beloved novel.  With clips and trailers from the film, a screening of Visionary Insight, a behind-the-scenes film by Big Sky Alum Tracy Rector, and live musical performances from the soundtrack. (Filmmakers in Attendance)

CITY SYMPHONIES

Stellarondo and NexdoorPrisonHotel perform LIVE musical accompaniment to silent Avant-garde classics, and a new film by Artist/Animator Andy Smetanka.

Manhatta (Director: Paul Strand)

Berlin Symphony of a Great City (Director: Walter Ruttmann) To The West (Director: Andy Smetanka)

BIG SKY MIX-TAPE: a massive mash of new and vintage films that celebrate the power of music through the ages.  From Bluegrass to Soul, from Jazz to Punk, the melodiously diverse program (presented by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences) also features a myriad of live musical performances throughout the festival (presented by The Missoula Community Foundation).

1991: The Year Punk Broke (Director, David Markey) Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who (Directors:

Paul Crowder, Murray Lerner, Parris Patton) American Juggalo (Director: Sean Dunne) Andrew Bird: Fever Year (Director: Xan Aranda) The Archive (Director: Sean Dunne) Between Rooms and Voices (Director: Kyle Eaton) Better Than Something: Jay Reatard (Directors: Alex Hammond & Ian Markiewicz) Don't Look Back (Director: D.A. Pennebaker) Give Me That Banjo (Director: Marc Fields) In Love With These Times: New Garage Explosion

(Directors: Aaron Brown & Joseph Patel)

Kevin (Director: Jay Duplass)

King For Two Days (Director: Noah Hutton) Man & Machine (Director: Jesse Roesler) Monterey Pop (Director: D.A. Pennebaker) No Room For Rock Stars (Director: Parris Patton) Pianomania (Director: Robert Cibis & Lilian Franck) Piano Pat (Director: Matthew J. Clark) Refugee All Stars in Montana (Director: Colin Ruggiero) Roll Out Cowboy (Director: Elizabeth Lawrence) Sing Your Song (Director: Susanne Rostock) Shut Up And Sing  (Director: Barbara Kopple) The Slog Movie (Director: David Markey) Smoke Songs (Director: Briar March) Sound It Out (Director: Jeanie Finlay) Sounds and Silence (Director: Peter Guyer & Norbert Wiedmer) Stray Dawg (Director: Sean Dunne) The Swell Season (Director: Nick August-Perna) Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser (Director: Charlotte Zwerin) (This Is Known As) The Blues Scale (Director: David Markey) Water on the Road: Eddie Vedder Live (Director:

Brendan Canty & Christoph Green)

Way of the Crowd (Director: J.D. Moore)

Shut Up And Sing (Director: Barbara Kopple) Under African Skies (Director: Joe Berlinger) Wild Man Blues (Director: Barbara Kopple) The Winding Stream (Director: Beth Harrington) Ziggy Stardust (Director: D.A. Pennebaker)

NATURAL FACTS  - Films About Nature, Wildlife & the Environment

Among Giants (Director: Chris Cresci, Ben Mullinkosson & Sam Price-Waldman)

Back to Land (Director: Tijana Petrovi)

History Is Unwritten (Director: Aaron Jones)

If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation

Front (Director: Marshall Curry & Sam Cullman)

Lads & Jockeys (Benjamin Marquet)

Last Call at The Oasis (Director: Jessica Yu)

Mating For Life (Director: Cindy Stillwell)

L'or des Autres (The Gold of Others) (Director: Simon Plouffe)

A Salton Soul (Directors: Mike Agnew, Greg Balkin, Tim Kressin)

Schrebergaart (Director: Yann Tonnar)

Surviving Progress (Director: Mathieu Roy)

Tanglewood (Director: Sarah Newens)

To Make a Farm (Director: Steve Suderman)

Up in Smoke (Director: Adam Wakeling)

Well-Fed (Director: Anna Moot-Levin)

Y.E.R.T. - Your Environmental Road Trip (Directors: Ben Evans & Mark Dixon)

Young Bird Season (Director: Nellie Kluz)

ART IS - New Films About Art & Artists

Adventures in Plymptoons (Director: Alexia Anastasio)

AGLOW (Director: Howard Libov)

The Art of Fighting (Director: Gavain Browne)

Artist In The Margin (Director: Emily Haddad)

Baring It All (Director: Patricia Zagarella)

Black Rock Horse (Director: Todd Darling)

Come On Down and Pick Me Up (Director: Jon Bougher, Nicholas Corrao)

Everything Is Incredible (Director: Tyler Bastian, Trevor Hill, Tim Skousen)

Four Cubic Feet of Space (Director: Tony Gault)

Kiss The Paper (Director: Fiona Otway)

Poetry of Resilience (Director: Katja Esson)

Robert Williams: Mr. Bitchin' (Director: Mary C. Reese)

Scraped Up (Director: Chrissy Dodson)

YOUNGER THAN YESTERDAY: Films About Aging

Aquadettes (Director: Drea Cooper)

The Best Thing I Ever Done (Director: Margaret Emily McKenzie)

The Gentle Sport (Directors: Jenni Nelson & John Rory Fraser)

Happy (Director: Roko Belic)

Maurice (Director: Patrick Kack-Brice)

Tramping In Bohemia (Director: Margot Buff)

You're Looking At Me Like I Live Here And I Don't

(Director: Scott Kirschenbaum)

BIG SKY/BIG WORLD - New Films from Around the Globe

Crazy Horse (Director: Frederick Wiseman)

Crazy Wisdom: The Life & Times of Chogyam Trungpa

Rinpoche (Director: Johanna Demetrakas)

Finding Fidel (Director: Bay Weyman)

Hold On Tight (Director: Anna Rodgers)

Hombre máquina (Machine Man) (Director: Roser Corella)

Jiro Dreams of Sushi (Director: David Gelb)

Kyren and the Mysterious World of Sight (Director: Emma Calvelvey)

Tales of the Waria (Director: Kathy Huang)

Unlikely Treasures (Director: Tally Abecassis)

AMERICAN SPECTRUM

Angel For Hire (Director: Mary Flynn & Nina Goodby)

The Bus (Director: Damon Ristau)

Cafeteria Man (Director: Richard Chisolm)

Cartography (Director: Sara Mott)

Disaster (Director: Laura Green)

Ecstasy of Order (Director: Adam Cornelius)

Holy Rollers (Director: Bryan Storkal)

An Imaginary Thing (Director: Reva Goldberg)

Language of the Unheard (Director: Jacqueline Reyno)

Little Mom (Director: Maria Fortiz-Morse)

Living Tiny (Director: Paul Meyers, Paul Donatelli)

Love and Allegiance (Director: Adam Smith & Tijana Petrovic)

Love Hacking (Director: Jenni Nelson)

Man on a Mission (Director: Mike Woolf)

Manufactured Fortunes (Director: Kevin Gordon)

A New Sight (Director: David Keller)

Ordinary Skier (Director: Constantine Papanicolaou)

Patriot Guard Riders  (Director: Ellen Frick)

Promenade (Director: Briar March)

Shangri-La (Director: Adam Smith)

Still (Director: Tracy Rector)

Visionary Insight: Behind The Scenes of The Film

Winter In The Blood    (Directors: Tracy Rector &

Lou Karsen)

Vito (Director: Jeffrey Schwartz)

You Have the Right to an Attorney (Director: Matthew Bockelmann)