The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognizes AFI Fest as a qualifying festival for the Short Films category for the annual Academy Awards. The festival has paid tribute to numerous influential filmmakers and artists over the years, including Agnès Varda, Pedro Almodóvar and David Lynch as guest artistic directors, and has screened scores of films that have produced Oscar nominations and wins. AFI Docs Held annually in June, AFI Docs (formerly Silverdocs) is a documentary festival in Washington, D.C. The festival attracts over 27,000 documentary enthusiasts. AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center The AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center is a moving image exhibition, education and cultural center located in Silver Spring, Maryland. Anchored by the restoration of noted architect John Eberson's historic 1938 Silver Theatre, it features 32,000 square feet of new construction housing two stadium theatres, office and meeting space, and reception and exhibit areas. The AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center presents film and video programming, augmented by filmmaker interviews, panels, discussions, and musical performances. The AFI Directing Workshop for Women The Directing Workshop for Women is a training program committed to educating and mentoring participants in an effort to increase the number of women working professionally in screen directing. In this tuition-free program, each participant is required to complete a short film by the end of the year-long program. Alumnae of the program include Maya Angelou, Anne Bancroft, Dyan Cannon, Ellen Burstyn, Jennifer Getzinger, Lesli Linka Glatter, Lily Tomlin, Susan Oliver and Nancy Malone. AFI Directors Series AFI released a set of hour-long programs reviewing the career of acclaimed directors. The Directors Series content was copyrighted in 1997 by Media Entertainment Inc and The American Film Institute, and the VHS and DVDs were released between 1999 and 2001 on Winstar TV and Video. Directors featured included: John McTiernan (WHE73067) Ron Howard (WHE73068) Sydney Pollack (WHE73071) Norman Jewison (WHE73076) Lawrence Kasdan (WHE73088) Terry Gilliam (WHE73089) Spike Lee (WHE73090) Barry Levinson (WHE73093) Miloš Forman (WHE73094) Martin Scorsese (WHE73098) Barbra Streisand (WHE73099) David Cronenberg (WHE73101) Robert Zemeckis (WHE73131) Robert Altman John Frankenheimer Adrian Lyne Garry Marshall William Friedkin Clint Eastwood David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker Roger Corman Michael Mann James Cameron Rob Reiner Joel Schumacher Steven Spielberg Wes Craven See also British Film Institute, the British equivalent to AFI References External links AFI Los Angeles Film Festival – history and information Arts organizations based in