In between screenings of Best Worst Movie and Winnebago Man, I ran into the man who was protesting Marion Barry’s arrival at Silverdocs. Turns out to be another Silverdocs filmmaker, Dean Hamer, the director of Out in the Silence.

Mr. Hamer was vigorously yelling “Shame! Shame!” as Barry walked among the crowd, and here he explains his reasons — and also gives Silverdocs some knocks for allowing Barry “to be treated like a rock star.” We also discuss the historic uses of shame.

Thanks, again, to the Canon Powershot A590. I may just sell the big, pro Panasonic.

Marion Barry arrived at the AFI Silver Theater for the world premier of The Nine Lives of Marion Barry, which closes the festival. Typically, emotions were stirred. After some limo-exiting negotiations, Barry emerged looking fit and trim and proceeded to walk away from the theater and down the block, past the long line of folks waiting in the stand-by line for the sold-out show. A festival source told me that Hizzoner had “30 people” in the line.

Good foresight. As soon as Barry’s foot hit Colesville Road, several people (at least one wearing the promotional Silverdocs tote bag) began chanting “Shame! Shame!” and variations on that theme. They were countered by a few cheers and applause and one woman who bird-dogged the Shamers with her “Marion! Marion!” song.

Barry seemed oblivious to the contretemps, basking, once more, in the attention as he headed around the corner toward…Panera Bread?

Shot, again, with my trusty Canon Powershot A5990. I am officially entering this video in next year’s Silverdocs.

And with that headline, I announce my geezerdom. But some of the more youthful Silverdocs volunteers and participants are video blogging like fiends. Here’s a collection posted on the YouTube, which I understand is popular wiith young people these days.

Here’s an interview with my pal Amy King, the Karaoke Queen:

Troll 2 may be, as the documentary about its making and aftermath contends, the Best Worst Movie, but the actual best best movie ever made is Faiza Ahmad Khan’s debut feature, Supermen of Malegaon. Actually, it’s two of the greatest films ever made. The first is Khan’s documentary, following a group of poor, movie-obsessed men in the besotted town of Malegaon, India — in the middle of nowhere and nowhere near either Hollywood or Bollywood — as they struggle to make the Malegaonian version of Superman. The second is that actual movie, a condensed version of which plays at the end.

Supermen of Malegaon proves that desire and will can overcome an amazing lack of resources and limited skill. To paraphrase the tagline of the original Superman movie: “You will believe a man can pretend to fly.” Somewhere, Christopher Reeve is smiling.

I didn’t have my pro camera with me when I sat down with director Khan in front of McGinty’s, so I grabbed my trusty Canon Powershot A590. Which fits conceptually with discussing a film all about no-tech filmmaking.

SPOILER ALERT! In my embarrassingly gushing praise of Khan’s work I reveal many aspects of the film. Even knowing them shouldn’t mar the film’s considerable charms, but be forwarned. Khan also discusses the “Slumdog problem.”

Stopped into the handy Festival Hub last evening for a quick power-up and e-mail check and discovered — I was at an art opening.

Gone were the movie posters, the comfy counches, the big hi-def screen, most of the green-shirted staff. Instead, a jazz duo was tuning up and actual art was hung on a wall.

Pyramid Atlantic was reclaiming its space for the evening to showcase the work of Patti Ownens.

Stopped into the handy Festival Hub this afternoon and…everything’s back to “normal.” Stop messing with my mind, Silverdocs!

I’m not sure how many of the films screening at Silverdocs were actually shot and are screening on film. Fewer than last year, certainly. But old technology doesn’t vanish immediately just because digihipsters fall in love with their Flip Minos. The container holding the attendee survey forms is a film cannister — put the many big reels of your movie inside, padlock it, and ship it across the country, knowing that it’s safe and secure.

Yeah, your MP4 file will get there faster — but safe and secure? Heh. And what lovely rust on the box…

A woman at the screening of Cat Ladies called it “the saddest film I’ve ever seen.” I kind of agree, but don’t think that’s a bad thing. The film is utterly riveting, going deep into the daily lives of four Toronto women who live with from three to more than 140 cats. The film has stayed with me for days.

Director Christie Callan-Jones and producer Jeannette Loakman are, understandably, not rushing to add that quote to the poster. We spoke with both women about their film, which I’m predicting will be one of the hits of the fest. First, Callan-Jones discusses how and why she made the film, and what is the dang deal with these women anyway?

And Loakman discusses the film’s very clever marketing ploy: giving away a series of Cat Lady buttons, each with a different image. Thus, like any true cat lady, you must collect them all.

Even though it might seem like I slammed him about the uselessness of the Future of Public Media panel, peripatetic CinemaTech blogger Scott Kirsner was kind enough to e-mail me a link to his latest insight: The Second Most Important Question a Filmmaker Can Ask

Here is that question: What groups, online communities, blogs, Web sites, or non-profits do you think would be interested in this film?

Do read the whole post, as I think he’s right. And that discussion is what the Public Media panel should have been about. Next year, maybe we’ll see more of Kirsner.

As long as we’re log-rolling, here’s another plug for Scott’s book, Fans, Friends & Followers: Building An Audience and a Creative Career in the Digital Age. As with the festival, be green and get the PDF version.

The “Future of Public Media” panel was described as a “fun-filled, role-playing simulation that asks a cast of experts to step out of 2009 and project themselves into the public media of the future.” Those assembled experts, or “rapporteurs,” were:

• Joaquin Alvarado, senior VP for diversity and innovation at the Corporation for Public Broadcasting
• Pat Aufderheide, director of AU’s School of Communications
• Scott Kirsner, CinemaTech blogger and author of Fans, Friends, and Followers: Building an Audience and a Creative Careeer in the Digital Age (Disclosure: don’t know him, but he’s linked to my blog in the past)
• Orlando Bagwell, director Media, Arts and Culture, the Ford Foundation
• John Boland, chief content officer, PBS
• Andy Carvin, social media strategist, NPR
• Doug Craig, senior VP home entertainment, Discovery Communications
• Paco de Onis, producer Skylight Pictures
• Jacquie Jones, executive director National Black Programming Consortium
• Alyce Myatt, executive director Grantmakers in Film + Electronic Media
• Marita Rivera, VP and GM, Radio and Television, WGBH

Moderator Alvarado opened the show with the clever quip, “We’ve been waiting for the future for so long. Why is it so lame?” Which unfortunately set the theme. The event was clever, well-produced, and the goal of creating dialog, and possibly understanding, out of the current raging chaos is laudable. But the notions the rapporteurs came up with were mostly vague, and thus useless. Yes, I did walk in wanting to know what the future will be. The panel was titled “The Future of Public Media.”

Of course, if anyone in the room actually could predict the future, they wouldn’t be sharing that info with strangers — they’d be stocking up on venture capital or weapons. So no disrespect, but the exercise smacked of over-thinking by festival organizers looking for “fun-filled” programming, and the mood was a bit too self-congratulatory for my taste.

Discovery’s Craig and CPB’s Boland couldn’t see much outside their boxes, Craig suggesting that in the future, “television is still the predominant media.” Hey, why think yourself out of a job? Likewise, Kirsner didn’t stray very far from the topics he covers on his blog and in his latest book, which he’s been promoting a lot lately. (And which I bought and enjoyed, but which is an insightful assessment of the current moment and not necessarily a road map to tomorrowland.)

Nonetheless, here’s a selection of the group’s predictions, observations, and quips. Pick the ones you want to come true and bet heavily:

• The future is only getting worse.
• Twitter and Google will merge.
• Boxee will be a success
• “Donate Now” buttons will be ubiquitous (Ahem — I have one.)
• After noting all of the tech and social-media advances — and the economic disruption they’ve caused — Alvarado asked, “How do we shut all this innovation down?” The assessment was “You do have to let the crazies in.”
• Lots of talk of combining citizen and professional journalism
• Micro-payments are go
• The landscape will be more competitive
• NPR will produce iPhone apps and indulge citizen journalism (This may be true now; hard to tell)
• Directors are becoming ringmasters
• The Ford Foundation probably has more money than the Ford Motor Company
• Younger philanthropists are changing the game
• Local ethnic media will have their act together
• Smartphones will be ubiquitous, even in the third world
• No more tote bags
• More effort must be spent in marketing than in production
• Long-awaited end of television as we know it.
• We’re all storytellers
• Games are the way people interact with stories

Actually, I really enjoy the lemon chicken sandwich. Mmmmm….