Arts & Entertainment

Silver Docs Becomes AFI Docs, Expands into DC

The American Film Institute intends to continue programming at its Silver Spring theater.

 

Ten years after the American Film Institute began its annual film festival, Silver Docs, at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center in Silver Spring, the company announced this week that it would retool its signature event, naming it "AFI Docs," and hosting screenings in Washington, DC. 

"History has proven that great change in civil societies is often, if not always, catalyzed by art. It is this that inspires us to be in Washington, DC, with storytellers whose voices serve as catalysts for action," Bob Gazzale, AFI president and CEO, said in a statement.

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The company plans to show screenings on the National Mall and at the National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of American History and the Newseum, in addition to Silver Theatre. 

Discovery Communications, another global brand based in downtown Silver Spring, has traditionally been the major sponsor of the festival, The Washington Post reported. When Discovery began pulling out of the event, AFI went looking for other ways to keep the tradition going.

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“We created a very distinct brand that in some ways brought incredible opportunities and challenges simultaneously,” Sky Sitney, director of AFI Docs, told The Post. She added that a declining economy and trouble finding sponsors “made it difficult to think beyond maintaining the wonderful things we’d created.”

AFI Docs is sponsored by Audi. 

The company has stressed that it is not leaving Silver Spring, just expanding into Washington.

“Our activities will continue as they have been in Silver Spring,” Stiney said. “But there’s something symbolically potent about having a robust festival, especially a documentary festival, truly in the heart of DC, within view of the Capitol and the White House. It functions logistically and symbolically as a significant move.”

AFI Docs is scheduled for June 19 to 23. Programming, screening schedules, registration and passes will be released in the coming weeks and posted at AFI.com/AFIDOCS.


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