The SILVERDOCS AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival was such a huge hit with film fans in its fifth year that it didn’t end until yesterday — a full day after its official closing. Festival organizers arranged to have several of the most popular films screen again on Monday to meet the high demand for tickets.

On opening day it was apparent that the festival had outgrown its format of showcasing a large number of films over a short period of time in a limited number of venues in Silver Spring. Most every evening screening was already sold out when we stopped by to check in with head publicist Jody Arlington, and she told us that they were already talking about adding more venues next year to increase the number of screenings each film was able to have. With so many films only screening once, and typically no more than twice, we sincerely hope they do just that.

On Sunday the festival awarded Please Vote for Me, a one-hour film about a 3rd grade class monitor election in China’s Wehun Province, its top prize, the Sterling Award. The film’s director, Weijun Chen, will receive $10,000 cash and $10,000 in-kind services from Video Labs and $5,000 in film stock from Kodak. It’s a deserving choice — not only is the film painfully funny, as it chronicles three 8 year-old candidates being weird in the way that all little kids are, but it provides an insightful look at how democracy works at its core, as practiced by individuals who have zero prior knowledge of free elections. Turns out, backroom deals and bribery might just be an unavoidable part of our chosen system of government.

Other award winners included a special jury mention for Eva Mulvad’s Enemies of Happiness, an Audience Award for Shahar Cohen and Halil Efrat’s Souvenirs, and an honorable mention for Diego Quemada-Díez’s I Want to Be a Pilot. Check out the full list of winners here.