Alex Gibney named AFI’s 2014 Guggenheim honoree

Alex Gibney, the acclaimed documentary filmmaker who earned an Oscar for 2007’s “Taxi to the Dark Side” and an Emmy for 2012’s “Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God,” has been chosen by the American Film Institute as its 2014 AFI DOCS Charles Guggenheim honoree.

The 12th edition of the documentary film festival takes place June 18-22 in Washington, D.C., and Silver Spring, Md.

The AFI DOCS Charles Guggenheim honors “masters of nonfiction form who inspire audiences documenting and exploring the human experience.” The Guggenheim Symposium takes place June 20 at the National Archives and will feature a presentation of Gibney’s films, as well as a Q&A with the producer/director.

“Alex Gibney’s personal drive to find and expose truth in film makes him one of the most important documentarians of this and any generation,” said Christine O’Malley, interim director of AFI DOCS. “His films have etched a place in American history, both as compelling independent storytelling and journalism, so it is particularly fitting that AFI pay tribute to him in Washington at the National Archives.”

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The late Guggenheim was nominated for nine Oscars and won three Academy Awards for his documentaries shorts, including for 1968’s “Robert Kennedy Remembered” and 1989’s “Johnstown Flood.” His son Davis Guggenheim won the documentary feature Oscar for 2006’s “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Previous Guggenheim honorees include the filmmaker himself, Barbara Kopple, Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee and Errol Morris.

Gibney’s last film, 2013’s “The Armstrong Lie,” which chronicled Lance Armstrong’s rise and fall from grace, was nominated for a BAFTA for documentary and he’s currently working on a documentary on Frank Sinatra for HBO.

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