The AFI Docs five-day festival wrapped up this week in the Washington, DC area. This year's Audience Award for Best Feature went to What Happened, Miss Simone? directed by Liz Garbus. This year's Audience Award for Best Short went to A Conversation with My Black Son directed by Blair Foster and Geeta Gandbhir. With 81 films from 25 countries, the festival brought together artists, national policy and opinion leaders along with global representatives.
AFI Docs attendees included America's greatest documentary filmmakers, including Alex Gibney, Barbara Kopple, Stanley Nelson and Morgan Neville.
National leaders in attendance included White House Cabinet Secretary and Chair of MBK Task Force Broderick Johnson, U.S. Representative Steve Cohen, U.S. Representative Ted Lieu, civil rights leader Julian Bond, former U.S. Representative Mary Bono, Federal Communications Commission Commissioner Mignon Clyburn, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony S. Fauci and former Governor of West Virginia and President of the Alliance for Excellent Education Bob Wise.
Global leaders at AFI Docs included the Ambassador of Kuwait H.E. Salem Abdullah Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Ambassador of Jordan Dr. Alia Hatoug Bouran, Ambassador of Lebanon Antoine Chedid and Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Anne Patterson.
American Film Institute AFI.com