WASHINGTON — It’s that time again — time to heed that annual call to take off your escapist hats of fiction entertainment and instead turn cinema’s lens on pressing realities.
The nation’s hottest documentary film festival, AFI DOCS, returns to the nation’s capital June 17-21.
It’s your chance to join the world’s top filmmakers at screenings across Downtown D.C. at the Newseum, Landmark E Street Cinema, U.S. Naval Heritage Center and National Portrait Gallery, as well as the AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, where the festival began as SILVERDOCS 13 years ago.
“The American Film Institute was created in Washington actually 50 years ago this year … then relocated to Los Angeles,” Festival Director Michael Lumpkin tells WTOP. “Thirteen years ago, the organization was looking at starting a documentary film festival, and the Washington D.C. area seemed like a great place to do it. I think the history of the festival — and what it’s become — proved that correct, that Washington is a great town for documentary films.”
This year’s slate opens with “Best of Enemies,” about the 1968 political debates between liberal Gore Vidal and conservative William F. Buckley Jr. The film is co-directed by Robert Gordon and Oscar-winner Morgan Neville (“20 Feet from Stardom”), both of whom stopped by WTOP:
“This one actually predates ’20 Feet.’ We’ve been working on this film for five years. As a documentary filmmaker, you always have a bunch of projects you’re working on … But in a way they’re both films about divas,” Neville jokes.
“We came across a bootleg DVD of most of the raw 1968 debates between Gore Vidal and Bill Buckley and they screamed of contemporary relevance to us,” Gordon says.
Other highlights include “Cartel Land,” which won Best Director and Best Cinematography at the Sundance Film Festival. The documentary follows vigilantes who rise up to take on drug cartels on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Director Matthew Heineman joined WTOP in studio:
“I never thought I would be in shootouts between vigilantes and cartels. I never thought I would be in meth labs in the dark, desert night. I never thought I would be in torture chambers as they were interrogating cartel members, but that’s where this film lead me,” Heineman tells WTOP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gkYBbBK0qoM
Other highlights include “3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets,” which won the Special Jury Prize for Social Impact at the Sundance Film Festival. It chronicles the 2012 shooting death of Jordan Davis, which sparked a racially charged conversation similar to Trayvon Martin, Oscar Isaac and other recent incidents. Director Marc Silver and Davis’ father, Ron Davis, joined WTOP in studio:
“It’s not just that person you kill, but you kill the hopes of a family, so you need to think twice when you have that gun and be a more responsible gun owner and more responsible about your actions,” Davis tells WTOP. “In 3 1/2 minutes, not only did Jordan lose his life, but (gunman) Michael Dunn actually ended his own life, where he has a prison sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole. … Would Michael Dunn take those 3 1/2 minutes back? I think he would.”
A different social issue is tackled in “Requiem for the American Dream,” which premiered at the 2015 Tribeca Film Festival, featuring interviews with Noam Chomsky on the issue of income inequality.
If education reform is more of your passion, you don’t want to miss “Most Likely to Succeed.”
On a lighter note, Silver Spring native Sacha Jenkins explores the evolution of hip-hop fashion in his new documentary “Fresh Dressed,” featuring interviews with everyone from Nas to Kanye West.
Jenkins phoned WTOP to discuss the movie:
“To make a film that is chiefly based on a lot of what I was exposed to as a kid, what would go on to become my DNA, get into Sundance, had a huge opening in New York last night, and then to have the privilege to come back to Silver Spring, to come back to the D.C. area and screen the film, it’s almost like I’m coming back home and telling the folks about my wild trip,” Jenkins tells WTOP.
Entrepreneurs will enjoy “Steve Jobs: Man in the Machine” by the legendary Alex Gibney, who earned an Oscar nomination for “Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room” (2005) and won the Oscar for “Taxi to the Dark Side” (2007) about enhanced interrogation policies.
Those looking for something a little lighter might like a pair of documentaries about the histories of two very different publications. Barbara Coppel’s “Hot Type” chronicles 150 years of “The Nation” magazine, while Douglas Tirola’s “Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead” chronicles “National Lampoon.”
An annual highlight is always the Guggenheim Symposium, offering the AFI Docs equivalent of a Life Achievement Award. Past recipients include Erroll Morris (“The Thin Blue Line”), Frederick Wiseman (“Titicut Follies”), Spike Lee (“When the Levees Broke”) and Albert Maysles (“Grey Gardens”).
This year’s recipient is Stanley Nelson, whose Emmy-winning “The Murder of Emmett Till” (2003) inspired the U.S. Justice Department to reopen Till’s 1955 murder investigation, citing new evidence exposed by the film. This year, Nelson will screen “Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution.“
“Stanley has been kind of the chief documentary filmmaker that’s looked back at different aspects of the Civil Rights Movement and African American history, and just has done incredible work over the years to inform the American public and the world about that rich history,” Lumpkin says.
The festival closes with HBO’s “Mavis!” by Jessica Edwards about iconic singer Mavis Staples.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4d9f4GruAE0
Last year, roughly 11,000 people attended AFI Docs. This year, Lumpkin is hoping for between 15,000 to 20,000 people, due to the ever-growing popularity of documentaries in D.C.
“There is a great deal of nonfiction, documentary production that goes on in D.C.,” Lumpkin says of companies like National Geographic and Discovery.
“I also think Washington is, demographically, one of the smartest parts of the country, if not the smartest. So I think it’s a very well-educated, well-informed population — and I think that is a great alignment with documentary film. So I think that is another reason why the festival, and documentaries, have become so popular in the D.C. area.”
Click here for the full schedule of films. Check back throughout the week as WTOP adds interviews with the various filmmakers.
