Martin Scorsese To Attend 2005 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival

Acclaimed director Martin Scorsese plans to attend this year's Full Frame Documentary Film Festival in Durham, North Carolina, April 7-10, 2005.

At Full Frame, Scorsese will lead a tribute to Italian documentary filmmaker Vittorio De Seta. The Sicilian master made nine short documentaries in the 1950s documenting Sicilian and Sardinian life in his distinctively poetic style. Full Frame will screen all nine short documentaries by De Seta as well as his acclaimed 1961 feature “Banditi a Orgosolo.” Now in his eighties, De Seta is at work on a digitally shot film about African immigrants to Italy.

Filmmaker Salvo Cuccia will also be at Full Frame to honor De Seta. His documentary on De Seta (“Detour De Seta”) highlighting the director's vision also screens during the festival.

Scorsese will appear on stage in "An Evening with Martin Scorsese" discussing his career and the influence of documentary films on his own work. He has made several documentaries himself, including a new film on Bob Dylan that will premiere on the American Public Broadcasting Network in 2005.

Scorsese is Chairman of the Full Frame Festival Board and takes a hands-on interest in the Durham festival, considered the top Documentary festival in the United States. It is one of only five festivals accredited to qualify documentary shorts for the Academy Awards®. And, with the appearance of Scorsese and other top filmmakers, Full Frame will likely keep its position on Entertainment Weekly's annual "It List."

Joining Scorsese on the Festival Board are, among others: Ken Burns, Frank Capra, Jr., Ross McElwee, Chris Hegedus, Ric Burns and noted author Walter Mosley.

This year's Full Frame 2005 Career Award goes to two renowned documentary filmmakers with the same last name: brothers Ken Burns and Ric Burns. Ken Burns is known for his documentaries on Jazz and Baseball, among many others. Ric Burns documented the history of New York in an eight-part series that concluded with the attack on the World Trade Center. The brothers collaborated on the acclaimed PBS series on the Civil War.

The Friday evening program “An Evening with Ken Burns and Ric Burns” features sneak previews of the filmmakers’ most recent work. Ken Burns shares clips of his World War II project, while Ric Burns reveals bits of his current film projects on playwright Eugene O’Neill and artist Andy Warhol.

Nancy Buirski, the Festival's founder, said giving this honor to these two filmmakers was a priority for the festival.

"We wanted to recognize the distinct ways in which their individual careers have developed the medium in which they work. This is an unusual step we've taken this year to take on two filmmakers to honor, but we feel that, for our audience, this exploration of what makes a film a Ken Burns or a Ric Burns documentary will allow for a richer and more nuanced appreciation of the role each of these filmmakers has played in expanding our notion of history and culture."

More News from Full Frame 2005:

The first annual Full Frame Spectrum Award, sponsored by Spike TV, awards $5,000 cash to an American director of color whose short or feature film demonstrates artistic excellence and achievement.

.In conjunction with the International Visitor’s Council and funded by the U.S. State Department, the 2005 Full Frame Institute, new foreign exchange program hosts six Turkish filmmakers and send six American filmmakers to Turkey. A new documentary created by these filmmakers will be shown at the 2006 festival.

Renee Wright