Film projectors were flicked on inside the Carolina Theatre in downtown Durham April 1 to April 4, while documentary fanatics rushed in.

The eighth annual Full Frame Documentary Film Festival had a successful attendance record with 12,000 in tickets sold and 1,520 passes issued.

Although considered small by the critics, the Full Frame festival is known as a “premiere venue for documentary films” according to the Durham Herald Sun and many working in the industry.

The event also brought opportunity to feature new upcoming reality series to be shown on the A&E Network and Discovery Channel.

One of the few African-American directors and at 22 years old, the youngest producer in attendance was Deseon L. Eggleston, co-director of the film “The Great Cheesesteak Debate.” Eggleston expressed how important authenticity is to a documentary.

“You want to keep it as real as possible. [In “The Great Cheesesteak Debate”] we let them be themselves,” said Eggleston.

“If you try to go in with a perfect shot in mind then it’s not a real documentary. It becomes a fiction piece.”

Michael Moore, producer of the politically and socially controversial narrative film “Bowling for Columbine” was present. And sharing a separate panel discussion were Harry Shearer, voice of “Mr. Burns” and various characters from the cartoon sitcom “The Simpsons,” and MTV veteran news and documentary correspondent, Kurt Loder.