Hello Indiewire community - it's been awhile - here I am back in Silver Spring. It has been eight months since I left SILVERDOCS but when I walked up on opening night, it felt like I had never left. The AFI Sliver Theatre will always be my home and the old historic theater my version of church. And the fact that I still get free popcorn doesn't hurt. The staff did a great job - Sky Sitney put together a stunning, heartbreaking, complex lineup of films, Adrian Spencer and Cindy Miller make the Festival run smooth and Jody Arlington as always makes sure the films get the press attention they deserve. The International Documentary Conference had its strongest year yet with Diana Ingraham at the helm. I had fun talking with my old boss Patricia Finneran at the Cinema Lounge and congratulating her on her fifth Silverdocs success. Funny how time flies. Since they added two days to the Festival, there's still more to come, but our industry friends from other towns have mostly left. It was a treat to be a guest at the Festival and be able to actually sit in the theater and watch documentaries the way they should be enjoyed. A few film highlights for me were Sascha Paladino's THROW DOWN YOUR HEART, with a post-screening performance by Bela Fleck and Malwian legend Cheick Hamala Diabate; Tia Lessin & Carl Deal's TROUBLE THE WATER - a heartbreaking and hopeful film about hurricane katrina. I also was lucky enough to catch the world premiere of HERB & DOROTHY by Megumi Sasaki - a film about legendary civilian art collectors Herb and Dorothy Vogel. I want to write more about this charming film later, but I must share the film's tagline: "You don't have to be a Rockefeller to collect art. He was apotal clerk. She was a librarian. With their modest means, the couple managed to build one of the most contemporary art collections in history."

There was an abundance of parties, with a more swanky, centrally located Cinema Lounge and the essential Moose Lodge and Quarry House late night gatherings. I also caught Peter Broderick's enlightening talk and took a 1/2 day workshop on social marketing and outreach.

I am a product of the power of documentary - the characters of films I have seen along the way have changed my life and made me want to be a better person. When I worked for SILVERDOCS, we would always wax poetic about the power of docs to inspire and call you to action. I ended up being a living example of this, as Oliver Hodge's 2007 film GARBAGE WARRIOR moved me so much that I decided to work on the biggest environmental issue of our time - building pollution. I landed at the U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit working for healthy buildings and communities within a generation. I haven't really left the film world, so I'll try to pop back in here from time to time and focus a bit on a cross-section of film and the environment. If you live in D.C. there is still time to catch the award-winning films through Tuesday eve.