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Yoruba Richen’s The New Black, a documentary about African-American attitudes toward gay marriage, has received the AFI Docs film festival’s audience award for best feature.
The five-day festival, which took place from June 19-23 in Washington, D.C., and Silver Spring, Md., gave its audience award for best short to Joshua Izenberg’s Slomo, about a doctor who traded his medical practice for Rollerblades and sandy beaches.
VIDEO: ‘The New Black’ Sneak Peek
Formerly known as Silverdocs, the festival screened 53 films from 30 countries and attracted 19,000 attendees, including 845 filmmakers, film subjects, journalists and industry members. The bold-faced names making the scene included Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer, director Bill Couturié, AFI trustee emerita Ina Ginsburg, Bipartisan Policy Center president Jason Grumet, Attorney General Eric Holder, White House staffer Fran Holuba, filmmaker Barbara Kopple, Sen. Robert Menendez, filmmaker Errol Morris, former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, producer George Stevens Jr. and Pulitzer Prize winner Jose Antonio Vargas.
“While this was a transformational year for the festival, with an expanded footprint into the heart of Washington, D.C., at our core remains a commitment to celebrating the best in the documentary form,” festival director Sky Sitney said. “The tremendous enthusiasm and response to the film program and its related panels surpassed even our highest expectations.”
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