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50 Years Later, AFI is Back at the White House:

Right now, AFI DOCS is in full swing showing some of the best documentaries in the heart of Washington, DC. It’s a unique and influential festival but this year’s entry is particularly meaningful. That’s because the 2015 festival marks the 50 year anniversary of the origin of AFI in the nation’s capital – right in the White House Rose Garden. AFI leaders, including President & CEO Bob Gazzale and AFI DOCS Director Michael Lumpkin, along with AFI DOCS 2015 filmmakers paid a visit to the White House during the festival.

From a White House blog post.

2015 is a momentous year for the American Film Institute.

It was 50 years ago – this very year – that President Lyndon Johnson stood in the White House Rose Garden and said, “We will create an American Film Institute,” to preserve the heritage of the motion picture, to honor the artists and their work and to educate the next generation of storytellers.

And so we have – and so we continue – to celebrate the past and to carry the torch for the art form into the future.

Read the rest of the blog post on the White House website.