Discovery Communications Founder John Hendricks & CEO David Zaslav

Welcome to the Ninth Annual AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival. Since its inception, Silverdocs has been a celebration of independent filmmaking and storytelling, showcasing the best in documentary films and providing a forum for filmmakers and industry representatives to meet, network and view the latest documentaries from around the world. The best and brightest film enthusiasts and professionals attend Silverdocs, making the festival a premiere destination for excellence and innovation in filmmaking. Silverdocs' location, outside of the Nation's Capital, has provided extraordinary opportunities for filmmakers to showcase their work in front of key decision makers.

This year’s festival pushes the established Silverdocs tradition even further with an outstanding lineup of documentaries from first-time filmmakers and seasoned veterans alike, across a variety of genres. Discovery Communications' mission to satisfy curiosity and make difference with high quality content is embodied in so many of this year's films, and we are very excited for the conversations that will be sparked during this year's festival.

Discovery's long-standing commitment to promoting and celebrating the wonders of our world and its many stories of the human condition is illustrated not only through our support of Silverdocs, but also on the small screen with outstanding programming including Discovery Channel's HUMAN PLANET, OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network's new Documentary Film Club, documentary strands on both Investigation Discovery and Planet Green and the much anticipated special THE RISING, about the rebuilding of Ground Zero, which airs on Discovery Channel and Science Channel this Fall.

In this spirit, we are pleased to join our partners at the American Film Institute in honoring the best documentarians at this year’s Silverdocs. Our shared enthusiasm for high-quality content and great storytelling is what continues to make this festival so important.

Enjoy the show!

Sincerely,

John Hendricks                      David Zaslav
Founder and Chairman            President and CEO