Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Docs Series Travels to Zimbabwe

"Music by Prudence" and "Mugabe and the White African" will screen as the next installment in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 29th annual "Contemporary Documentaries" series on Wednesday, March 30, at 7 p.m. at the Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission to all screenings in the series is free.

"Music by Prudence" is the story about the most unlikely voice of hope - singer-songwriter Prudence Mabhena and her band of seven young disabled Zimbabweans - trying to survive in a bankrupt country. Directed by Roger Ross Williams and produced by Williams and Elinor Burkett, the film earned the 2009 Academy Award® for Documentary Short Subject.

In "Mugabe and the White African," a courageous white farmer, Mike Campbell, challenges Zimbabwe's president, Robert Mugabe, before an international court in an effort to protect his property, his family's livelihood and that of the 500 black workers who also live on his farm. The film was directed by Lucy Bailey and AnDrew Thompson and produced by David Pearson and Elizabeth Morgan Hemlock.

The 29th annual "Contemporary Documentaries" series continues through June 1, showcasing feature-length and short documentaries drawn from the 2009 Academy Award nominations, including the winners, as well as other important and innovative films considered by the Academy that year.

All films will screen at the Linwood Dunn Theater at the Academy's Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study on Wednesdays at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6 p.m. All seating is unreserved. The filmmakers will be present at screenings whenever possible.

The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood. Free parking is available through the entrance on Homewood Avenue (one block north of Fountain Avenue). For additional information, visit www.oscars.org or call (310) 247-3600.