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The audience awards at this year's AFI Docs went to two films that cover vastly different subjects, yet, at the the same time share the same, core premise. Both "An Honest Liar" and "Beyond Recognition: The Incredible Story of a Face Transplant" -- this year's audience award winners for Best Feature and Best Short, respectively -- share a contemplative concern for notions of appearance. "An Honest Liar" follows a passionate illusionist names James "The Amazing" Randi. As a magician, Randi not only performs, but also has made it his life's mission to expose fraudulent healers and psychics who use magic tricks to con people out of money. "Beyond Recognition," on the other hand, chronicles the journey of a burn victim who elects to undergo experimental face transplant surgery. Co-directed by Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom, "An Honest Liar" premiered at Tribeca earlier this year. Sam Thonis' "Beyond...

Justin Weinstein and Tyler Measom’s film earned the festival’s audience award for best feature at the weekend.

The audience award for best short went To Beyond Recoginition: The Incredible Story Of A Face Transplant by Sam Thonis.

“Congratulations to An Honest Liar [pictured] and Beyond Recognition for winning over audiences with their remarkable stories,” said festival director Christine O’Malley. “We would like to thank all of the filmmakers who traveled from far and wide for making this year’s AFI Docs an extraordinary one.”

Several policymakers participated in festival events including Senate majority leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Senator Barbara Boxer of California, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts.

They were joined by South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool and Francois Rivasseau, deputy-head of the EU Delegation to the Us.

More than 100 filmmakers from 29 countries attended including Alex Gibney, Ross Kauffman, Joe Berlinger, Marshall Curry and Steve...

The 11th annual Coney Island Film Festival, running Sept. 23-25, offers an exquisite blend of freak show, burlesque and cinematic oddities, featuring movies about reformed gang members, unwitting superheroes, rock ‘n’ roll heaven and tons and tons of short films.

The fest opens with the portrait of a real-life Coney Island badass, Keith Suber, a reformed gang member who now teaches kids that violence isn’t the solution to their problems in the documentary The Last Immortal, directed by Charles Denson.

However, the highlight of the festival — in Bad Lit: The Journal of Underground Film’s opinion — is the headbangin’ documentary Heavy Metal Picnic by Jeff Krulik and John Heyn, which beautifully relives the glory days of ’80s era rock ‘n’ roll Maryland in all its raucous glory. Featuring footage from an outrageous backwoods farm concert and a reunion among its (slightly) more mature participants. Read the official Bad Lit documentary review here.