June is upon us and so too is the DMV's biggest week of documentary. AFI DOCS returns to the area June 17-21, 2015. This year the festival is showcasing more than 80 films over the course of five days at eight different venues in Silver Spring and Washington DC. These are some of the films and events we are most excited about.

by Erica Ginsberg

AFI DOCS is back for its second year under its new moniker (I give it one more year before we stop saying "The festival formerly known as Silverdocs.") While the namechange isn't the only thing which changed, this year's festival (taking place from June 18-22) looks like it is bringing back some of what we loved about the Washington DC area's one and only documentary film festival. Call it AFI DOCS 2.0.

Since my previous blog called Reserving Judgment on AFI DOCS got people talking (even referenced in a Washington Post article about festival director Sky Sitney), I wanted to close the loop and share a few final thoughts on this year's festival now that I've had a few weeks to think about it.

After getting quite a bit of feedback on our post Reserving Judgment on AFI DOCS (including it being linked to in a Washington Post article on Festival Director Sky Sitney), the Docs In Progress crew was out in force at this year's festival to check out the films and what had changed with the festival.  We were especially excited that two of our summer interns, Samantha Ammons and Hannah Myers had a chance to attend, and we asked them to write a little about their experiences which we'll be sharing in the coming days.  First up: Hannah. 

by Erica Ginsberg

Change is hard.  We constantly experience it, resist it, and eventually adapt to it.  (If you don’t believe me, how many “New Facebooks” have you complained about in your status update, but never actually quit Facebook as a result?)

There is a new change those of us in the DC documentary community are facing, which has become the subject of many a status update, listserv posting, or water cooler conversation.  And that all relates to a certain all-documentary film festival in our own backyards.  The festival formerly known as Silverdocs.  Or more accurately formerly known as the AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival.

That festival is being reborn this year as AFI DOCS.  Or more accurately AFI DOCS Presented by Audi.

by Erica Ginsberg, Docs In Progress Executive Director

Hard to believe it has been 10 years of the AFI/Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival (known by its shorthand Silverdocs).  Even harder to believe I have gone to every one of those 10 festivals.  And harder still to figure out how to distill my wrap-up in a new way beyond a review-style run-down of films.  I am busier than ever this year too so pardon my brevity (at least by my usual run-on standards).

by Erica Ginsberg, Docs In Progress Executive Director

Can you believe this is the 10th anniversary of Silverdocs?   We may think of this as our neighborhood film festival, since the main venues are only a few blocks away from Docs In Progress.  But, in reality, Silverdocs is one of the top all-documentary film festivals in the world.  And that's what we love about it - the global and the local come together.

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The Silverdocs Film Festival and Conference is in full swing.  We’ll be filing some reviews next week, but just wanted to share a few impressions as it happens.  Contributor Matthew Radcliff attended an intriguing conference session on Tuesday - a DSLR workshop led by documentary filmmaker Steven Bognar and DP/Editor Matt Gottshalk from Alexandria-based McGee Digital Media.  Gottshalk is a noted expert on using DSLR cameras for video work and is a co-author of From Still to Motion.

OK, so we talked in Tip # 10 about not submitting at the final deadline.  Part of not waiting to submit late is about planning. Filmmakers are expected to spend a lot of time in planning their documentaries - from researching and planning what you want to film to how you are going to raise funds for it to your shooting schedule and shot list to logs and transcripts to your editing script or EDL to your added materials like music and archival. Often less time is planned for how the film is actually going to get out there. The plan often consists of "Get into Sundance. Get it into theaters. Sell it to a broadcaster. Move on to Next Film."  But even the minority of filmmakers who are lucky, talented, and savvy enough to actually follow through on this plan don't do so without a lot of research and planning.

Docs In Progress is pleased to offer more reflections on films at Silverdocs from guest reviewer Matthew Radcliff.