Documentary Film Festival.

From Feb 9th through 11th, 2006The 4th Annual Florida Room’s Documentary Film Festival is coming back this year to Española Way with a completely new theme: “The State of Our Water” which has become a significant issue based on recent events – devastating natural disasters and the privatization of potable water, pollution and water management – demonstrating the utter importance of water from an environmental and economical point of view. The festival opens on Thursday, February 9 at 8:00 p.m. with the film “One Water” preceded by the short, “Bottle This.” The festival program also includes “Thirst,” “Water Warriors,” “Naked Planet,” “Cowboys, Indians and Lawyers,” “The Miami River” and “Plagues & Pleasures on the Salton Sea.” Each evening a panel of filmmakers, activists and local leaders will lead an open discussion regarding issues related to the evening’s films. The film, “One Water,” will feature live accompaniment composed and conducted by Thomas Sleeper and played by members of the University of Miami’s Frost Symphony Orchestra. Poet, Deborah Magdalena, will join the festival team again this year servin as host for the panels on Thursday and Saturday evening. Ms. Magdalena will also perform a spoken word piece. Jim DeFede, renowned journalist, will moderate the panel on Friday evening, February 10. This event is produced by The Florida Room, an organization founded by filmmakers Rhonda L. Mitrani and Juan Carlos Zaldivar. The Florida Room works directly with distributors to maximize the impact of documentary films, instigate social change, facilitate the collaboration of local arts and aids in the development of existing venues for artists to present their work in Miami