Thursday, June 14---------Thursday is Demme Day at SILVERDOCS, with Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme being honored and screenings of both new and celebrated non-fiction works from the veteran director. Demme is one of the few Hollywood directors who is equally at home in fiction films and in the documentary arena. In a career that now spans four decades and includes nearly 50 feature films and television programs, nearly 25% of Demme's output has been in the non-fiction world, as either director or producer. Documentary highlights of his career include: STOP MAKING SENSE (1984), SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA (1987), COUSIN BOBBY (1992),  ONE FOOT ON THE BANANA PEEL, ONE FOOT IN THE GRAVE (1994), COURAGE AND PAIN (1996), MANDELA (1996), STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK (1998), THE UTMOST (1998), BEA: A BLACK WOMAN SPEAKS (2003), THE AGRONOMIST (2003) and NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD (2006). His latest film, NEW HOME MOVIES FROM THE LOWER NINTH WARD, which chronicles the devastation of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans, nearly two years after the devastation, will have its world premiere at the Festival this afternoon.

Demme himself will be honored at the 2007 Charles Guggenheim Symposium at the AFI Silver Theater later this evening, when the veteran director will be interviewed by National Public Radio correspondent Michel Martin. Clips from Demme's varied career will be highlighted, along with a special sneak preview of his newest film project, entitled HE COMES IN PEACE, a profile of former President Jimmy Carter, as he tours the United States to promote his pacifist and humanist agenda for resolving world conflicts. As a special treat, SILVERDOCS audiences will be treated to two free outdoor showings of Demme musical documentaries: tonight's seminal STOP MAKING SENSE (1984), one of the best concert films ever made, starring The Talking Heads, and NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD (2006), a remarkable concert film and portrait of the singular musical artist, who recently survived a brain tumor and has produced songs celebrating the transitory nature of life and death.

Sandy Mandelberger, Festival Online Dailies Editor