AFI Docs

The AFI Docs (formerly Silverdocs) documentary film festival was an American international film festival. Created by the American Film Institute and the Discovery Channel, it was held annually in Silver Spring, Maryland and Washington, D.C.,  from 2003 to 2022, when it was merged into AFI Fest, a Los Angeles-based film festival.

The festival was held for five days in June at the AFI Silver Theatre and other locations in Washington, D.C.

Yoruba Richen won the Audience Award in 2013 for The New Black, which looked at about the African-American community response to marriage equality initiatives.

Several organizations usually took part in the events: BBC, CPB, Discovery Channel, TLC, Animal Planet, The Ford Foundation, HBO, Latino Public Broadcasting, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Miramax, National Black Programming Consortium, National Geographic, PBS, the Sundance Institute, The Weinstein Company.

At one point, the AFI Docs Advisory Board included: Ken Burns, Davis Guggenheim, Chris Hegedus, Werner Herzog, Barbara Kopple, Spike Lee, Albert Maysles, Errol Morris, D A Pennebaker, and Frederick Wiseman.

Notable participants

 * AOL vice-chairman emeritus Ted Leonsis
 * BET co-founder Sheila Johnson
 * Former Vice President Al Gore
 * Academy Award-winning filmmakers:
 * Martin Scorsese
 * Jonathan Demme
 * Barbara Kopple
 * Alex Gibney