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: ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by actor Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and composers from all over the world. At the core of the programs is the goal to introduce audiences to the artists' new work, aided by the institute's labs, granting and mentorship programs that take place throughout the year in the United States and internationally. The institute has offices in Park City, Los Angeles, and New York City, and provides creative and financial support to emerging and aspiring filmmakers, directors, producers, film composers, screenwriters, playwrights and theatre artists through a series of Labs and fellowships. The programs of Sundance Institute include the Sundance Film Festival, which is critically acclaimed. It promotes independent filmmakers, storytellers, and composers. History The Sundance Institute's foundin ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ted Leonsis
Theodore John Leonsis (born January 8, 1957) is an American businessman. He is a former senior executive with America Online (AOL) and the founder, chairman, and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the NHL's Washington Capitals, the NBA's Washington Wizards, the WNBA's Washington Mystics, and Monumental Sports Network. Leonsis graduated from Georgetown University in 1977. He has served on the board of directors at Georgetown University and also served a brief tenure as the mayor of Orchid, Florida. , he held a net worth of $2.8 billion. As CEO of Monumental Sports, he has used the threat of leaving Washington, D.C. to demand that District of Columbia taxpayers subsidize the operations of his D.C.-based teams. In 2023, Lenosis entered into an agreement with Virginia governor Glenn Youngkin to relocate the Washington Wizards and Capitals from the District of Columbia to Alexandria, Virginia at a proposed cost of $1.35 billion for Virginia taxpayers. However, Virg ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Emeritus
''Emeritus/Emerita'' () is an honorary title granted to someone who retires from a position of distinction, most commonly an academic faculty position, but is allowed to continue using the previous title, as in "professor emeritus". In some cases, the term is conferred automatically upon all persons who retire at a given rank, but in others, it remains a mark of distinguished performance (usually in the area of research) awarded selectively on retirement. It is also used when a person of distinction in a profession retires or hands over the position, enabling their former rank to be retained in their title. The term ''emeritus'' does not necessarily signify that a person has relinquished all the duties of their former position, and they may continue to exercise some of them. In descriptions of deceased professors emeriti listed at U.S. universities, the title ''emeritus'' is replaced by an indication of the years of their appointments, except in obituaries, where it may be us ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Frederick Wiseman
Frederick Wiseman (born January 1, 1930) is an American filmmaker, documentarian, and theater director. His work is primarily about exploring American institutions. In 2017, ''The New York Times'' called him "one of the most important and original filmmakers working today". Early life Wiseman was born to a Jewish family in Boston on January 1, 1930, the son of Gertrude Leah (née Kotzen) and Jacob Leo Wiseman. He earned a Bachelor of Arts from Williams College in 1951, and a Bachelor of Laws from Yale Law School in 1954. He spent 1954 to 1956 serving in the U.S. Army after being drafted. Wiseman spent the following two years in Paris, France before returning to the United States, where he took a job teaching law at the Boston University Institute of Law and Medicine. He then started documentary filmmaking, and has won numerous film awards as well as Guggenheim and MacArthur fellowships. Career The first feature-length film Wiseman produced was '' The Cool World'' (1963). Thi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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D A Pennebaker
Donn Alan Pennebaker (; July 15, 1925 – August 1, 2019) was an American documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of direct cinema. Performing arts and politics were his primary subjects. In 2013, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award. Pennebaker was called by ''The Independent'' as "arguably the pre-eminent chronicler of Sixties counterculture". He received an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature nomination for '' The War Room'' (1993). He is also known for directing documentaries such as ''Dont Look Back'' (1967), ''Monterey Pop'' (1968), '' Original Cast Album: Company'' (1971), '' Eat the Document'' (1972), '' Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars'' (1979), ''Jimi Plays Monterey'' (1986), '' Elaine Stritch: At Liberty'' (2004), and '' Kings of Pastry'' (2009). Early life and education Pennebaker (known as "Penny" to his friends) was born in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Lucille Levick (née ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Errol Morris
Errol Mark Morris (born February 5, 1948) is an American film director known for documentaries that interrogate the epistemology of their subjects, and the invention of the Interrotron. In 2003, his '' The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara'' won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. His film '' The Thin Blue Line'' placed fifth on a ''Sight & Sound'' poll of the greatest documentaries ever made. Morris is known for making films about unusual subjects; '' Fast, Cheap & Out of Control'' interweaves the stories of an animal trainer, a topiary gardener, a robot scientist, and a naked mole-rat specialist. Early life and education Morris was born on February 5, 1948, into a Jewish family in Hewlett, New York. His father died when he was two and he was raised by his mother, a piano teacher. He had one older brother, Noel, who was a computer programmer. After being treated for strabismus in childhood, Morris refused to wear an eye patch. As a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Albert Maysles
Albert Maysles (November 26, 1926 – March 5, 2015) and his brother David Maysles (January 10, 1931 – January 3, 1987; ) were an American documentary filmmaking team known for their work in the Direct Cinema style. Their best-known films include ''Salesman'' (1969), ''Gimme Shelter'' (1970) and '' Grey Gardens'' (1975). Biography Early lives The brothers were born in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston, living there until the family moved to Brookline, Massachusetts when Albert was 13. Albert and David's parents, both Jewish, were immigrants to the United States; their father, born in Ukraine, was employed as a postal clerk, while their mother, originally from Poland, was a schoolteacher. The family originally settled in Dorchester to be near relatives (the brothers' great-uncle Josef Maysles and his daughter and son-in-law, Becky and Joe Kandib) who had moved there earlier. Albert originally pursued a career as a psychology professor and researcher. After serving in t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee has won numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Peabody Awards. He has also been honored with an Honorary BAFTA Award in 2002, an Honorary César in 2003, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2015. His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut with '' She's Gotta Have It'' (1986). He has since written and directed such films as '' School Daze'' (1988), '' Do the Right Thing'' (1989), '' Mo' Better Blues'' (1990), ''Jungle Fever'' (1991), '' Malcolm X'' (1992), '' Crooklyn'' (1994), '' Clockers'' (1995), '' 25th Hour'' (2002 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Barbara Kopple
Barbara Kopple (born July 30, 1946) is an American film director known primarily for her documentary work. She is credited with pioneering a renaissance of cinema vérité, and bringing the historic French style to a modern American audience. She has won two Academy Awards, for '' Harlan County, USA'' (1977), about a Kentucky miners' strike, and for ''American Dream'''' (1991),'' the story of the 1985–86 Hormel strike in Austin, Minnesota, making her the first woman to win two Oscars in the Best Documentary category. Kopple gained acclaim for the film '' Bearing Witness'' (2005), a documentary about five women journalists stationed in combat zones during the Iraq War. She is also known for directing the documentary films '' Wild Man Blues'' (1997), '' A Conversation With Gregory Peck'' (1999), ''My Generation'' (2000), '' Running from Crazy'' (2013), '' Miss Sharon Jones!'' (2015), and '' Desert One'' (2019). She received a Primetime Emmy Award for ''Fallen Champ: The Untol ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog (; né Stipetić; born 5 September 1942) is a German filmmaker, actor, opera director, and author. Regarded as a pioneer of New German Cinema, his films often feature ambitious protagonists with impossible dreams, people with unusual talents in obscure fields, or individuals in conflict with nature. His style involves avoiding storyboards, emphasizing improvisation, and placing his cast and crew into real situations mirroring those in the film they are working on. In 1961, when Herzog was 19, he started work on his first film Herakles (film), ''Herakles''. He has since produced, written, and directed over 60 films and documentaries such as ''Aguirre, the Wrath of God'' (1972); ''The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser'' (1974); ''Heart of Glass (film), Heart of Glass'' (1976); ''Stroszek'' (1977); ''Nosferatu the Vampyre'' (1979); ''Fitzcarraldo'' (1982); ''Cobra Verde'' (1987); ''Lessons of Darkness'' (1992); ''Little Dieter Needs to Fly'' (1997); ''My Best Fiend'' (1999); Inv ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chris Hegedus
Chris Hegedus (born April 23, 1952) is an American documentary filmmaker. She and her husband, filmmaker D. A. Pennebaker, founded the company Pennebaker Hegedus Films. Hegedus was nominated for an Academy Award for '' The War Room'', a behind-the-scenes film about President Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign. The film also won the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures prize for Best Documentary. In 2001, she was awarded the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement for ''Startup.com''. The film is a boom-bust story of two young internet entrepreneurs, co-produced with Jehane Noujaim. Hegedus was also the recipient of CINE's Golden Eagle Award, an Emmy Award, and lifetime achievement awards from several organizations including the International Documentary Association. Her films include the 2010 feature release, '' Kings of Pastry'', about the legendary French pastry competition, the Meilleur Ouvrier de France. In 2011, Hegedus received the Athen ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |