White House Correspondents Insider

Behind the scenes of one of the most powerful clubs in America.

AFI DOCS Announce 2013 Slate, Washington Locations

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Among a name and sponsor change, AFI DOCS (formerly SILVERDOCS) announced their 2013 slate today. The local Washington-area documentary film festival, now held all across the Washington area, released the complete line-up for their ‘first’ (or tenth) festival line-up since changing their name in April.

In true Washington fashion, three of their high profile films tackle the GOP, Jackie O and immigration–an issue that came ahead after last night’s overhaul by the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Selections include the Opening Night Gala Premiere of “Letters to Jackie,” which examines Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis‘ life after JFK along with letters from the public now read by actors like Jessica Chastain,Zooey Deschanel, Anne Hathaway, Mark Ruffalo, Channing Tatum and Betty White; the East Coast Premiere of Acadamy Award winners Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine‘s “Life According to Sam” and “Documented,” from director Jose Antonio Vargas, a journalist who outed himself in 2011 as an undocumented immigrant in a New York Times Magazine piece. The Closing Night slot belongs to AJ Schnack‘s “Caucus,” which follows the 2012 Iowa cacus and brings us back to the glory days of last year’s campaign craziness.
From the press release:

“AFI DOCS presented by Audi (formerly Silverdocs) today announced the full schedule of films that will premiere in its 11th edition June 19-23, 2013 at iconic venues on the National Mall, the Penn Quarter and at the American Film Institute’s AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. The festival will present 53 films selected from 1,929 submissions representing 30 countries with 3 World, 2 North American, 1 U.S. and 6 East Coast premieres. The festival opens with the theatrical premiere of LETTERS TO JACKIE (DIR Bill Couturié) and celebrates with HERBLOCK: THE BLACK & THE WHITE (DIR Michael Stevens) along with the world premiere Centerpiece Screening of DOCUMENTED (DIR Jose Antonio Vargas). The festival closes with the U.S. premiere of CAUCUS (DIR AJ Schnack). Errol Morris will be honored at the festival’s Charles Guggenheim Symposium for his contributions to the documentary genre.

Other notable filmmakers presenting their work include Patrick Creadon (IF YOU BUILD IT), Sean and Andrea Nix Fine (LIFE ACCORDING TO SAM), Barbara Kopple (RUNNING FROM CRAZY) and Lucy Walker (THE CRASH REEL).

The festival’s new all-day forum for thought leaders, filmmakers and audience members, the AFI Catalyst Sessions: The Art of Moving Reality, will focus on immigration, education, intellectual property and humor in politics.

‘2013 is a year filled with dynamic changes: After ten years, the festival previously known as Silverdocs is now AFI DOCS presented by Audi’ said Sky Sitney, Festival Director. ‘AFI DOCS reflects that we have expanded to a new environment in downtown Washington, DC which will be easily accessible to audiences eager to discover this year’s most compelling documentaries. At the same time, we are continuing a full slate of programming at our longstanding venue, the AFI Silver Theatre & Cultural Center in Silver Spring, MD. At AFI DOCS, America’s premier showcase for documentary film, we present the most provocative, challenging and compelling investigations of reality that filmmakers from America and around the world have conjured over the last year.'”

AFI DOCS runs June 19-23 The rest of their line-up can be found here.

Washington Filmmakers Sean and Andrea Fine Win at Oscars

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The Oscars had a few D.C. surprises last night ranging from the White House to Best Documentary Short. Michelle Obama came in from a remote shot to announce the Best Picture winner, Ben Affleck‘s snubbed-yet-beloved Argo. Keeping the presidency in spirit, Daniel Day-Lewis took home Best Actor for his portrayal of Abraham Lincoln in Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln. The full list of Oscar winners can be found here, but the other local surprise comes from a prominent Washington famil with a long film tradition. Sean and Andrea Fine won for Inocente taking Best Documentary Short.

Sean is the son of famed documentarians Paul and Holly Fine whose award-winning work was on 60 Minutes, Nightline and 20/20 as well as WJLA-TV. Paul Fine’s father Nate was the Washington Redskins photographer.

2008 White House News Photographers Dinner with Andrea Nix Fine, Sean Fine, Holly and Paul Fine, Bryce Fine

Co-directed by Sean Fine and his wife Andrea Nix Fine, the short follows a young undocumented girl struggling to become an artist in Los Angeles. They sourced funding through Kickstarter, making this the first project from the crowdfunding service to win an Academy Award. Fine truly rocked out his D.C. pride thanks to his RG3 socks. Fine tweeted out the photo at RG3 post-win:

And in case you thought social media wasn’t relevant, there were 8.9 million related Oscar tweets. As for how FLOTUS even became an idea as a presenter, it all goes back to–who else in Hollywood–Harvey Weinstein according to Deadline:

“The idea of getting the First Lady on the show first came from Lily Weinstein, who mentioned it to her big Obama contributor dad Harvey, who suggested it to the Oscar producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and Academy president Hawk Koch. The group flew to DC a week and a half ago to put the logistics together with the White House. The Oscar producers told Deadline’s Pete Hammond earlier this week that they “were being like the CIA” about a couple of surprises on the show, keeping things top secret. In towns like Hollywood and DC where people love to talk, they pulled it off. There was no indication on the show’s rundown and most of the people on the Oscars had no idea who the secret guest would be. ‘I knew we could do it and we did it,’ Koch told Deadline tonight about keeping Obama’s name under wraps.”

This came after FLOTUS and POTUS were at the National Governors Association’s Ball, complete with Chris Christie still recovering from his “hugfest.”