Academy’s Contemporary Documentaries
Series Spotlights Struggles in Asia

Beverly Hills, CA — “The Blood of Yingzhou District” and “Blindsight” will screen as part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 26th annual “Contemporary Documentaries” series on Wednesday, October 24, at 7 p.m. at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood. Admission is free.

“The Blood of Yingzhou District” depicts the hardship of poor residents in the remote villages of China’s Anhui Province who contracted AIDS when they sold their blood at blood banks that used unsanitary needles. This film follows several orphaned children who lost their parents to this disease and witnesses how traditional obligations to family and village collide with the terror of infection. Directed by Ruby Yang and produced by Thomas Lennon, “The Blood of Yingzhou District” won an Academy Award® for Documentary Short Subject in 2006.

“Blindsight” follows six Tibetan teenagers as they climb Mount Everest, an expedition made all the more dangerous because they are blind. Believed to be possessed by demons because of their handicap, the children are feared by their parents, scorned by their villages and ostracized by society. This film, directed by Lucy Walker and produced by Sybil Robson Orr, is a compelling study in the clash of cultures, and proof that onerous superstitions cannot thwart young people from reaching extraordinary heights.

The first part of the series comprises 13 feature-length and short documentaries that will screen on Wednesday evenings through November 28, and includes several of the 2006 Academy Award®-nominated films as well as other documentaries considered by the Academy that year. The series will resume in March 2008 and continue through June.

The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at 1313 Vine Street in Hollywood. All seating is unreserved. 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.

Editors: Downloadable images are available at http://photos.oscars.org.

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