The American Documentary Film Festival continues through Wednesday, April 5th with full days of screenings at Camelot Theatres. “We’ve got some great films still to come,” said Teddy Grouya, AmDocs Festival Founder and Director. “The Opening Weekend was filled to the brim, but it was really just the beginning of what we’ve got in store for audiences this year.”
Indeed, Monday’s line-up for AmDocs includes the powerful film, AGAINST ALL ODDS – THE FIGHT FOR A BLACK MIDDLE CLASS WITH BOB HERBERT, 2014 AmDocs Film Fund Winner – THE SURROUNDING GAME, the California Premiere of AMERICAN VETERAN, (with a special tribute to Wounded Warriors) and DAVI’S WAY (which will include a live performance of actor Robert Davi singing Sinatra).
Tuesday’s schedule begins at 9:30am with a very special screening of THE FIRST AMERICAN – an exploration into the life and legacy of George Washington, created by Newt and Callista Gingrich, in collaboration with the Gingrich Foundation and Peace River Company. Screenings continue with a mid-century Modern collection of films including NEUTRA IN ROATAN, STAN BITTERS MODERN PRIMITIVE and WINDSHIELD. Later in the day, see REBELS ON POINTE, the first cinema verity film ever made about the notorious Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, the all male, drag ballet company founded in 1974 after the Stonewall riots, REQUIEM FOR MY MOTHER, and MAN IN THE CAMO JACKET, the story of Mike Peters (The Alarm), an iconic rock star and cancer survivor’s crusade to change the world one concert at a time. Mike Peters will be in attendance for the screening of this film, and will perform live, along with members of the Coachella Valley’s own AMP (Academy of Musical Performance).
Wednesday is the last day of AmDocs 2017, and includes a variety of screenings, including one devoted entirely to the NSDN partnership with DokuFest (the International Documentary and Short Film Festival in Prizren, Kosova). Later in the day, BATH OF LIFE explores the lives of characters who frequent a public bath in Mexico City, BATUSHA’S HOUSE introduces audiences to Kadri Batusha, who has been building a tremendous house in the outskirts of Prishtina in Kosovo for 15 years; without any plans, architects or building permits, and BEAN shares the story of Alana and Lori, two lesbian 20-somethings who discover a match that will bind them together forever when Lori provides Alana with a much needed kidney.
ELMYR THE FORGER (4pm), continues the powerful closing day line-up with the story of Elmyr de Hory, who painted and sold over 2,000 forgeries of works by famous painters like Picassos, Matisses and Derains, right up until the FBI showed up at his home on Ibiza. Next, THE NEW MAN, follows Stephania, a trans person born in Nicaragua, adopted and raised by Uruguayan leftist activists in the midst of the Sandinista revolution, and now on a journey to rediscover her home country, where she was once a son, a brother and a boy who taught literacy, and where she now wants to be accepted as the woman she is.
The closing night film for AmDocs 2017 is KAYA FROM JEOPARDY, the story of Kaya Blauvelt – a paraeducator, ribald outsider artist, trivia champion and fanatic about Jeopardy!, who, after a decade of low paying and often demeaning jobs, believes she can “change her life forever” by winning the game show she’s watched her entire life. It’s a stunning conclusion to this year’s American Documentary Film Festival, and will be accompanied by closing night festivities, announcements about 2017 Film Fund winners and more!