Jurying a festival can be a very challenging experience, especially when its at one of the best programmed festivals in the world. As the official program for SILVERDOCS came to a close yesterday and my duty as a jury member came to a close, I’ve had the opportunity to spend the past couple of days letting all the material I had the chance to view in DC soak in. There was a lot.

The shorts at this year’s SILVERDOCS Festival challenged viewers in a number of ways. It was a very strong program with what seemed to be a number of great works coming from Scotland and the UK. Sky and her team did a wonderful job pairing similar themed shorts with features as well as constructing several shorts programs on different subjects. In the end, our jury decided to give 2 special jury mentions to films that have been receiving great attention on the circuit, THE POODLE TRAINER and BETWEEN DREAMS. But it was a new film by UK director Andy Taylor Smith called THIS CHAIR IS NOT ME that resonated the most with our jury. The film follows Alan Martin as he speaks about the turning point in his life, the point where he decides that he will no longer be defined by his cerebral palsy, but as the beautiful and unique individual he is. Our reason for awarding this film?

“The film we are honoring strikes a perfect balance of substance and style. By mimicking the subject’s refusal to limit himself, the filmmaker pushes the boundaries of traditional storytelling techniques. Using an innovative visual language and complex narrative structure, it allows viewers an opportunity to experience the world through the subject’s unique point of view.”

All in all, my first SILVERDOCS experience surpassed my very high expectations. There is a reason why so many people consider this the largest and best doc festival in the US. Sky and her team do an amazing job programming, not just features and shorts but also a number of wonderful sidebars. There is also a great sense of community between filmmakers and industry, despite the festival being so large. I was quite surprised at just how “homey” this festival felt. And then there is the Conference and The Good Pitch which I was only able to make for one afternoon. The pitches were compelling and the entire Good Pitch crew ran one of the tightest events I’ve seen in quite some time. They had a number of industry broadcasters, NGO’s and philanthropists reviewing pitches…and believe it or not, it was a success! Out of the 3 pitches I saw, all walked away with leads to broadcast and one very special filmmaker went home with nearly $60,000 in hand.

So despite the intense heat, SILVERDOCS was an unforgettable experience. We walked away with several shorts and some features that we are very excited about sharing with our audiences next Fall. This will be the last festival I’ll attend before CIFF and it was a pleasure to end on such a high note. We’ve been traveling pretty much non-stop since February searching for little film treasures along the way…there’s lots and they’re out there!

Congrats to Sky Sitney and crew for putting on such a wonderful event. Looking forward to 2011.

-Ben