The story
Washington DC International Film Festival in Washington
Branded as Filmfest DC, the Washington, D.C. International Film Festival has run annually each spring since 1987, screening features and shorts from dozens of countries at venues across the city. The festival includes the long-running Arabian Sights sidebar dedicated to Arab cinema, along with juried awards, filmmaker discussions, and a broader mission of bringing international cinema to Washington audiences outside the commercial arthouse circuit.
When the festival now known as Filmfest DC first launched in 1987, Washington had no equivalent showcase for international cinema on a citywide scale, despite being a metro area with an unusually large population of diplomats, foreign correspondents, and international organization staff who might be expected to support such programming.