DocFest07 opens with the New York premiere of To Die in Jerusalem, an extraordinary story from the Middle East about a suicide bomber and her victim. Filmmaker Hilla Medalia's harrowing work follows the mother of the victim on her quest to meet the mother of her daughter's killer. Ambassador Dennis Ross, Distinguished Fellow at Washington Institute for Near East Policy, will be on hand to lead the discussion with Medalia following the screening

DocFest07 continues over nine days with a slate of new and noteworthy works of nonfiction exploring a vast range of subjects—from the rise of legendary British band The Who (U.S. premiere of Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who) to the Soviet Union's launching of Sputnik fifty years ago (New York premiere of David Hoffman's Sputnik Mania).

Building on the success of previous festivals, in which the Paley Center has premiered such award-winning films as Born Into Brothels and Street Fight, this year's slate of premieres includes such highly anticipated documentaries as Ted Braun's Darfur Now (to be released by Warner Independent Pictures this fall), Michael Chandler's Knee Deep (presented by The Full Frame Institute), Greg Whiteley's Resolved (winner of the Audience Award at this year's Los Angeles Film Festival), and Michael Blackwood's Peter Eisenman: Building Germany's Holocaust Memorial (presented in conjunction with the Architectual League of New York). A smash hit during its Oscar-qualifying run in Los Angeles this summer, Joan Brooker-Mark's Larry Flynt: The Right to be Left Alone will make its New York premiere with a special appearance by the Hustler publisher himself.

The Festival will close with the New York premiere of Chicago 10, in which director Brett Morgen (On the Ropes, The Kid Stays in the Picture) mixes animation and archival footage to present the players and ideas of the sixties, notably Abbie Hoffman (voiced by Hank Azaria) and Jerry Rubin (Mark Ruffalo). Earlier in the festival, Morgen will present two unseen episodes of his acclaimed Sundance Channel series Nimrod Nation.

DocFest07 will also celebrate two decades of remarkable nonfiction television from P.O.V. with 20 Years of P.O.V.: The Art of Personal Storytelling, a roundtable discussion involving filmmakers Alan Berliner and Ralph Arlyck, P.O.V. founder Marc Wess, and current P.O.V. chief Simon Kilmurry. P.O.V. is also an instrumental part of one of the festival's most popular offerings, the workshop-competition, The Art of the Documentary Pitch, cosponsored by the International Documentary Association (IDA). Five emerging filmmakers (pre-selected from a call for entries) will have the opportunity to pitch their nonfiction concept to a panel of television executives and producers, who will then award the winning filmmaker with $5000 grant, sponsored by American Documentary Inc., producers of the award-winning P.O.V. series for PBS.

As part of the Paley Center's commitment to global issues, the festival will feature a side-bar, "Focus: Africa," which showcases such topics as the impact of AIDS in South Africa, the brutal civil war in Uganda, and the topsy-turvy world of Nigeria's blossoming film industry.

The Festival also travels to Afghanistan with a screening of Afghanistan Unveiled, an exploration of the struggle for women's rights in the war-torn country, which will be followed by a conversation with Afghan documentarian Jamila Emami. The Paley Center's Taffner International Gallery offers another look at this country through a gallery exhibit, "Documenting A Changing Afghanistan: Photographs of Kabul from Andrew Xenios," which runs from October 23, 2007, through January 6, 2008. Xenios' work offers a unique look at current-day Afghanistan where change is seen in the computer screens, cell phones, and televisions that appear within the traditional images of the marketplace as well as in the stories of the women photographed. Funding for this exhibit has been provided by the New Hudson Foundation and Creative Visions Foundation. -- mtr.inet7.com