AFI Docs turns in an exceptionally strong year, often at the expense of the U.S. government

Last year, when the decade-old, much beloved Silverdocs Documentary Festival became AFI Docs, moved most of its operations from Silver Spring, Md., to downtown Washington and did away with many of the filmmaker programs that had made the festival a valued destination for nonfiction filmmakers, many observers -- and not a few charter Silverdocs-goers -- were apprehensive.