Arts Editor

As a newspaper reader, Sig Libowitz thought he knew what took place during the Guantanamo military tribunals.

But it was only when he read the transcripts of those trials of accused terrorists -- the basis of the film The Response (www.theresponsemovie.com) that he wrote, produced and acts in and will be screened as part of the DC Shorts Film Festival this week -- that he realized how little he actually knew.

"It is an incredible story, and I wanted to share it," says the Bethesda resident. "The real-life nature of it is incredibly dynamic."

The movie, which Libowitz describes as "a mystery that has woven through it the courtroom process," stars Peter Riegert, Aasif Mandvi and Kate Mulgrew.

Although the subject is extremely controversial, he has tried to keep it from being part of the polemic about the Iraq War. "Our intent is that the film is neither left wing or right wing, and I think that is why we are so successful," says the producer/writer. "The film has attracted attention and support from groups that include the Pentagon, Amnesty International and the ACLU."

It has recently been shown at the Pentagon and the Justice Department and been named the 2009 American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award winner in Drama & Literature.

With his background as an attorney and in the film industry, Libowitz seems to be well-qualified for this film.

The 30-something producer was born in Baltimore -- he attended the Orthodox Talmudical Academy through the eighth grade. Always fascinated by movies, he "fell in love with acting and how films are made at the end of high school" and decided he "could actually do this."

Graduating from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts with a major in drama and international politics, he worked in Hollywood and New York for several years as an executive at Paramount and Warner Brothers studios, as an actor in TV shows like Law and Order and The Sopranos and behind the camera in films such as The Ice Storm (1997), Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and In the Bedroom (2001).

Today, he works as an attorney with the District's Venable law firm (he graduated from the University of Maryland law school in 2007), while continuing "to keep my hands in the film business," he says.

The movies at the festival, which runs today through Sept. 17, will be shown in groups in two-hour-long "showcases," with each film lasting from one minute to 27 minutes.

The Response will be shown tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Landmark E Street Cinema, Saturday at 3:30 p.m. at U.S. Navy Memorial's Burke Theater, Sunday at 6 p.m. at Landmark E Street Cinema, Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. at Landmark E Street Cinema and Sept. 17 at noon at Landmark E Street Cinema.

Other Jewish-themed films at the festival include On The Road to Tel-Aviv (about choosing a bus back to the city in wartime), today at 7 p.m. at Landmark E Street Cinema; Hillel's Angels (the world of Jewish motorcyclists) tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Landmark E Street Cinema and at 3:30 p.m. at U.S. Navy Memorial's Burke Theater; Mama, L'Chaim! (Chaim cares for his Holocaust-survivor mother) tomorrow at 10 p.m. at Landmark E Street Cinema, Saturday at 1 p.m. at U.S. Navy Memorial's Burke Theater; Shiva (a middle-aged Jewish woman visits the homes of recently widowed men in hopes of finding love) tomorrow at 10 p.m. at Landmark E Street Cinema, Saturday at 1 p.m. at U.S. Navy Memorial's Burke Theater.

For more information and to buy tickets, go to www.dcshorts.com.