June 20-23
Warner Bros. Theater
AFI Docs Presented by Audi (formerly Silverdocs) is an internationally recognized event that honors excellence in filmmaking, supports the diverse voices and free expression of independent storytellers and celebrates the power of documentary to improve our understanding of the world. Now in its 11th year, the festival is embarking on a transformational chapter in its history with an expansion into landmark Washington, DC venues and with the AFI Catalyst Sessions which serve as stimuli for national public discourse and an opportunity to engage our nations leaders with filmmakers striving to shine a light on the greatest issues of today. The festival historically has attracted over 27,000 documentary enthusiasts, policy-makers and thought leaders.
Tickets are required, and may be purchased through AFI.
Feature Descriptions
AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY: THE EVOLUTION OF GRACE LEE BOGGS
When Korean American filmmaker Grace Lee set out in search of other Asian American women bearing the same name in THE GRACE LEE PROJECT, little did she know that she would stumble upon a woman so extraordinary as to warrant a film all her own. Grace Lee Boggs is a 95-year-old Chinese American philosopher, activist and force of nature whose remarkable life and work traversed the major social movements of the last century.
BEST KEPT SECRET
Graduation is a bittersweet prospect for the special education students in Janet Mino’s high school classroom. Erik, Rahamid, Kareem, among others, have found an unexpected haven in a Newark, New Jersey public high school where a fiercely dedicated staff supports students with autism and learning disabilities. Looming over the students, however, is a ticking clock where at the age of 21 they will “age out” and be thrust into a world with little resources and support.
THE CRASH REEL
A mere two months before the 2010 Winter Olympics, game-changing pro snowboarder Kevin Pearce suffered a traumatic brain injury that derailed his life, career and a much-anticipated rivalry with competitor Shaun White. Oscar®-nominee Lucy Walker's engaging, intimate portrayal of Pearce's recuperation advances the dialogue on disability and explores the understated heroism of a recovering champion struggling to understand the new rules of the road with the support of extraordinary family and friends.
IF YOU BUILD IT
A David and Goliath story for the recession era, IF YOU BUILD IT documents a year in an experimental high school classroom of the architectural program “Studio H.” The film tracks the program’s pioneers, Emily Pilloton and Matt Miller, as they build the innovative studio from the ground up. Fighting overwhelming odds, they work tirelessly to give the teens of a crumbling rural town a chance to build a better future for themselves and their community.
I LEARN AMERICA
At the International High School at Lafayette, a public school in New York City dedicated to serving newly arrived immigrants, teen age students from more than 50 countries come together in a unique educational experience. I LEARN AMERICA follows four students over the course of a year as they strive to master English, adapt to families they haven't seen in years, confront adolescence and search for a future of their own.
INEQUALITY FOR ALL
Doing for the economy what AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH did for the environment, this riveting film takes an eye-opening look at the shocking and ever-widening gap in America’s income inequality and the dire threat it poses to the country’s future. Former Secretary of Labor and economic policy expert Robert Reich offers a passionate, often humorous and fully accessible perspective on just what happened to the vanishing American middle class and what might be done to fix it.
MUSCLE SHOALS
Rising out of the Deep South of 1960s America, a sound emerged that began to attract artists as diverse as Otis Redding, Paul Simon, Aretha Franklin and the Rolling Stones. That sound, and the people who helped create it, would go on to leave its mark on music history. The place was Muscle Shoals, Alabama, and this is the story of how it gave birth to some of the most memorable music of our time.
TEENAGE
Those magical and often difficult years between childhood and adulthood didn’t always have a label. In fact, the word “teenager” didn’t even exist until 1945. This fascinating documentary based on the Jon Savage book of the same name illuminates the period in which teenagers emerged to claim their unique place in history. Constructed from archival footage, creative re-enactments, diary readings and a lively musical soundtrack, TEENAGE is an innovative and fresh portrait of youth culture.
WHITE BLACK BOY
A fear of the sun’s cancerous effects on his skin is among the least of his worries for Shida, a boy with albinism in Tanzania. For some witchdoctors, the limbs of albinos are precious and poachers will hunt people with albinism for a high bounty. WHITE BLACK BOY looks at Shida’s first year enrolled in a boarding school, where he can be kept safe from harm but where personal and linguistic problems hold him back.
A WILL FOR THE WOODS
Psychiatrist, classical musician and folk dancer Clark Wang has been diagnosed with terminal lymphoma. Facing his own mortality, he opts for a "green" burial over what he believes are toxic, wasteful modern funeral arrangements engineered to preserve the body at the ecosystem's expense. In this touching story of a charismatic, ebullient advocate's final days, environmentalism takes on a deeply human intimacy as the film follows Clark's efforts to leave a loving, permanent legacy for family, friends and nature.