After two great premiere screenings in Chicago at the Gene Siskel Film Center (shout out to the staff at the Film Center, Jim Coudal and crew, plus late night diners John Lee, Jenny, and Malcolm), I headed to the Washington DC area for the AFI/Discovery Channel Silverdocs Festival.

I’d never been to Silver Spring before, but if you’re looking for Mexican karaoke bars, this is the spot for you. Our screening Saturday had sold out (the theater was only 200 seats) so they added an additional screening Sunday night in their 400-seat room and that one sold out too. I’m still so grateful for, and amazed at, the turnouts we’ve been getting. Thanks so much to the Silverdocs staff and to everyone who came out, I hope you enjoyed the film.

I was only there for two days, so I didn’t get to see that many other films. But I did get to catch part of my friends Lance and Sarah’s excellent new film Waking Aphrodite, a doc about Sarah’s mother, who’s a sex therapist. I also saw a little bit of Big Rig, the trucker documentary, which seemed well done if not a bit too “quick”… you only spend a few fast-cut minutes with each trucker before you’re onto the next one. But it looked great, and the Buck-65 soundtrack worked well, I thought. And congrats to AJ Schnack, who’s Kurt Cobian film won the Cinematic Vision award for cinematography. Good on ya, AJ!

Monday I started a sixteen-hour trip to Thessaloniki, Greece, via Munich. Will dispatch from Thessaloniki (Greece’s second largest city) soon…