Posted by Larry Gleeson
AMERICAN FILM INSTITUTE ANNOUNCES
AFI DOCS 2018 AUDIENCE AWARD WINNERS
Best Feature Goes to MR. SOUL!
Best Short Goes to EARTHRISE
Chaz Ebert, Steve James, Rory Kennedy, Barbara Kopple
and More Celebrate Documentary Film at the 16th Edition of AFI DOCS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — JUNE 19, 2018, WASHINGTON, DC — The American Film Institute has announced the AFI DOCS 2018 Audience Award winners, concluding the five-day festival supported by Presenting Sponsor AT&T in Washington, DC, and Silver Spring, MD. This year’s Audience Award for Best Feature went to MR. SOUL!, directed by Melissa Haizlip and Sam Pollard. This year’s Audience Award for Best Short went to EARTHRISE, directed by Emmanuel Vaughan-Lee.
With 92 films from 22 countries, this year’s AFI DOCS presented films and discussions on topics ranging from the environment and sports to politics and art, along with profiles of extraordinary individuals. Among the attendees were filmmakers and notables including House Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer (MD), Congressman Donald Beyer (VA), U.S. House of Representatives Chaplain Fr. Patrick J. Conroy S.J., Chaz Ebert, Steve James (AFI DOCS 2018 Charles Guggenheim Symposium honoree), Rory Kennedy, Barbara Kopple, photographer Joel-Peter Witkin and poet Nikki Giovanni.
This year’s festival included a number of panels featuring engaging discussions between filmmakers, film subjects and audience members — with conversation and examination of issues led by some of the nation’s top journalists: Chicago Tribune film critic Michael Phillips; NBC News’ Tom Costello, Ken Dilanian and Anne Thompson, and “Meet the Press” moderator and NBC News Political Director Chuck Todd; Variety’s Senior Editor Ted Johnson; and The Washington Post’s reporter Nicole Ellis, Chief Film Critic Ann Hornaday, Foreign Affairs reporter Ishaan Tharoor and National reporter Vanessa Williams.
The AFI DOCS Forum and VR Showcase explored unique topics with keynote presentations, conversations, panel discussions, VR demonstrations and micro-meetings. Programming for the Forum and VR Showcase was made possible by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and NBC News’ “Meet the Press.”
The fourth edition of the AFI DOCS Impact Lab provided participating filmmakers with professional development in preparation for advancing their causes and meetings with policy leaders and advocates.
Ten films with AFI Conservatory alumni credits were included in this year’s festival: ABOVE AND BEYOND: NASA’S JOURNEY TO TOMORROW; BATHTUBS OVER BROADWAY; DARK MONEY; HAL; HESBURGH; INVENTING TOMORROW; LOVE, GILDA; MATANGI/MAYA/M.I.A.; ON HER SHOULDERS; and PICK OF THE LITTER.
MORE ABOUT THE AUDIENCE AWARD-WINNING FILMS:
MR. SOUL!
An in-depth look at the late 1960s WNET public television series SOUL! and its producer Ellis Haizlip. The series was among the first to provide expanded images of African-Americans on television, shifting the gaze from inner-city poverty and violence to the vibrancy of the Black Arts Movement.
EARTHRISE
In 1968, the first image of Earth was captured from space. The world would never be the same.
AT&T is the Presenting Sponsor of AFI DOCS 2018. Official Sponsors include the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and VIZIO. Screen Sponsors are Audi, Discovery Communications, HBO, Netflix and Showtime Documentary Films. Official Media Sponsors include Deadline, Here TV, “Meet the Press,” Screen International, Variety, Washington City Paper and WHUT-TV. The DC Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment; IMDbPro; and Maryland Film Office returned this year as Major Sponsors, joined by CuriosityStream and 202Creates. The Contributing Sponsor is International Documentary Association. This year’s Supporting Sponsors are Downtown Silver Spring and the Greater Silver Spring Chamber of Commerce. Cultural and Community Sponsors are the Danish Film Institute, DC Filmmakers, Docs in Progress, Embassy of Australia, TIVA-DC, Producers Guild of America, The Video Consortium and Women in Film & Video.
About AFI DOCS
AFI DOCS is the American Film Institute’s annual documentary festival in Washington, DC. Presenting the year’s best documentaries, AFI DOCS is the only festival in the U.S. dedicated to screenings and events that connect audiences, filmmakers and policy leaders in the heart of our nation’s government. The AFI DOCS advisory board includes Ken Burns, Davis Guggenheim, Chris Hegedus, Werner Herzog, Rory Kennedy, Barbara Kopple, Spike Lee, Errol Morris, Stanley Nelson, D A Pennebaker, Agnès Varda and Frederick Wiseman. Now in its 16th year, the festival took place June 13–17, 2018, at distinguished Washington, DC, venues, the Landmark E Street Cinema and the historic AFI Silver Theatre in Silver Spring, MD. Visit AFI.com/AFIDOCS and connect on twitter.com/AFIDOCS, facebook.com/AFIDOCS, youtube.com/AFI and instagram.com/AmericanFilmInstitute.
About the American Film Institute
The American Film Institute was established by presidential proclamation in the White House Rose Garden, and launched its national mandate on June 5, 1967 — to preserve the heritage of the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work and to educate the next generation of storytellers. AFI’s founding Trustees included Chairman Gregory Peck, Vice Chairman Sidney Poitier, Francis Ford Coppola, Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Jack Valenti and George Stevens, Jr., as Director.
About AT&T
AT&T is proud to be the Presenting Sponsor of the 2018 AFI DOCS. We help people connect in ways that improve lives – every day. Through DIRECTV, DIRECTV NOW and AT&T U-verse, we deliver the kind of entertainment people love to talk about. And you can watch almost anytime, anywhere. For 10 years, we’ve supported AFI’s commitment to honor the heritage of film and the artists who make them. And through a variety of programs, we’re focused on giving amateur and underrepresented filmmakers the support they need to succeed.
*Featured photo: Mr. Soul! panel, led by Mr. Warrington Hudlin, far right. (Photo credit: Larry Gleeson/HollywoodGlee)
(Source: AFI Press Release)
