The Silverdocs documentary film festival was so popular this year that organizers decided it should last another day.
Silverdocs was extended to Monday, giving local residents the chance to catch some of the sold-out, award-winning films, festival director Patricia Finneran said.
She added that the extra day should add a few thousand more participants to an event that she said already drew more than the 20,000 who attended last year.
The festival focuses on documentary films, with many this year concerning the environment. Silverdocs showcased 100 films representing 42 countries.
About 650 festival passes were sold this year, 250 more than last year, Finneran said.
The festival passes mostly go to industry veterans outside the area.
This year’s highlights included live musical performances during “Pete Seeger: The Power of Song,” during which the audience was persuaded to sing along, Finneran said.
Festival attendees included five female senators who caught the screening of “14 Women,” which focuses on the lack of women in the Senate; and Malalai Joya, the first woman elected to Afghanistan’s parliament and a central focus of the film “Enemies of Happiness.”
Though Finneran didn’t have an estimate on how much tourism revenue the area received from Silverdocs, Silver Spring’s three hotels were booked during the festival’s entirety, and restaurants reportedly told her they had their busiest weeks of the year.
Finneran was pleasantly surprised that films like “Note by Note,” which deals with the creation of a grand piano, got as much attention as social issue documentaries.
“It shows that films about art and music and culture can be just as much of a draw,” she said.
