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Now Playing at 2009 Film Festivals: Tribute to Spike Lee, First Sign Language Feature!
Wednesday, May 20, 2009 at 1:51PM 
Film Festival Events happening this week in May 2009 take place in Florida, Washington and Toronto. Spike Lee is in the mix at one of them while the film festival world and movie lovers alike celebrate the first ever sign language feature film.
1. Seattle International Film Festival
Seattle, Washington
Dates: Starts tomorrow on Thursday May 21, 2009 and runs through Sunday June 14, 2009.
The website for Seattle International Film Festival states that it will "present the Golden Space Needle Award for Outstanding Achievement in Directing to Spike Lee in recognition of his extraordinary filmmaking career".
2. Delray Beach Film Festival
Delray Beach, Florida
Dates: Started Yesterday and runs through Sunday May 24, 2009.
One of the featured films at the Delray Beach Film Festival include BAGHDAD DIARY, which plays today at 5:00pm.
Bside Description for BAGHDAD DIARY:
Baghdad Diary' is a documentary on the Iraq War and its aftermath from two unique perspectives: an Iraqi man and his family struggling to survive and an American television cameraman embedded at the frontlines with the US Army. In March 2003, a Norwegian journalist smuggled a video camcorder into Iraq for Fadil Kadom, a 36 year-old Iraqi taxi driver. Kadom videotapes everything he sees: his family's preparations for war, the days of bombs and missiles, Baghdad's fall and the horrific explosion of insurgent and sectarian violence. Embedded with the Third Infantry Division in Kuwait, NBC News cameraman Craig White and correspondent David Bloom, bring the war into American living rooms, live from a television transmission vehicle, the 'Bloommobile', as they race toward Baghdad. 'Baghdad Diary' is Fadil Kadom's and Craig White's story, videotaped by each of them at great personal risk.
Fadil Kadom's video diary unmasks the horrors of Saddam's torture houses and mass graves, celebrates the return of religious freedom in Karbala, and reveals the mounting fear as Iraqi streets turn deadly. In nine dangerous trips to Iraq, Craig White's camera rides side by side in combat with American soldiers as they fight their way through Iraq, and witness to the disintergration of Iraqi civil society. Numerous emotional and graphic scenes include the death of NBC colleague David Bloom, and the ambush at Objective Curly, a battle so fierce that Craig White thought he would not survive. This documentary is their 'Baghdad Diary', a cautionary tale of war's human toll.
3. Toronto International Deaf Film and Arts Festival
Toronto, Ontario
Dates: Starts tomorrow on Thursday May 21, 2009 and runs through Saturday May 23, 2009.
The 2009 Toronto International Deaf Film and Arts Festival will be screening the film Universal Signs (captioned for the hearing in subtitles) during it's Opening Night Gala. Doors Open at 5:30p.m. with a Wine & Cheese Reception. The Universal Signs Screening starts at 7:30 with a Post Show Q&A with Stars from the film.
Film Description for the Universal Signs movie:
Universal Signs (Pictured at the Beginning of this post) is a modern silent film told in mesmerizing American Sign Language (ASL) and captioned for the hearing. After the death of his (Natale as "Andrew") fiancee's daughter, who dies in his care because he couldn't hear her drowning, Andrew a Deaf man shuts himself off from the world. Haunted by memories, it is only through a new friendship that he can learn to forgive, love and reconnect.
Universal Signs starring Canadian actors Anthony Natale (Mr. Holland's Opus, Jerry Maguire) and Sabrina Lloyd (Sports Nights) directed by Ann Calamia and produced by Calamia, Catherine Miller and Lupe Ontiveros is the first full-length Sign Language film in history, according to a press release for the 2009 Toronto International Deaf Film and Arts Festival.
Coming up next on the Madlab Post....A Film Festival goer reviews movies and events from Oklahoma!
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