American Documentary Film Festival

The American Documentary and Animation Film Festival (AmDocs). Founder Teddy Grouya desired to create a forum to celebrate and promote documentary film – and the independent filmmakers around the world who bring knowledge and awareness through their stories about real people and issues. Created in 2011, AmDocs takes place annually in Palm Springs, CA, just 90 minutes east of Hollywood and with a proven track record of viewing audiences that support independent film.

American Documentary Film Festival started in 2012 and takes place in Palm Springs, California, USA

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Jill Morley’s Documentary, Fight Like A Girl to World Premiere at 2013 American Documentary Film Festival

The World Premiere of Fight Like A Girl at the 2013 American Documentary Film Festival, will screen at 4:30pm on Fri. Apr 5, 2013, at the Cinemark Century Theatres at The River in Rancho Mirage, California. Jill Morley’s documentary, Fight Like A Girl, is a gritty, first person insider’s narrative shot over five years.

March 25, 2013, Palm Springs, CA – Boxers training for the Golden Gloves – the world’s most famous amateur boxing tournament – live in a world of sweaty leather gloves thudding against heavy bags, twirling jump ropes, and fierce competition. Many of these rising fighters must overcome obstacles of child abuse, depression, addiction and eating disorders to become champions on their own terms, facing their own mortality and demons within. The game changer: these fighters are women.

Jill Morley’s documentary, Fight Like A Girl, is a gritty, first person insider’s narrative shot over five years. Delving into the little-known world of female boxers, Jill discovers they all have a lot in common. Emotional traumas surface to reveal histories of battles with suicide, abuse, sexism, depression, racism and drugs.

While there has always been a fascination with women fighting, they were not allowed to compete in the New York Golden Gloves until 1995. 2012 saw the debut of female boxing in the Olympic games. From amateurs training for local tournaments to world champions, you meet the women who are passionate about fighting hard.

“When I decided to compete in the New York Golden Gloves, I was fascinated by this sisterhood of female boxers,” says Morley. “I realized how much more I had in common with these women than I originally thought. That inspired me to tell their stories. And gave me courage to tell my own.”

Taking us into the world of sweaty boxing gyms where women must fight for respect in an alpha male culture, Fight Like A Girl shows the real fight that happens within, and the struggle to emerge as champions inside and outside the ring. The World Premiere of Fight Like A Girl will screen at 4:30pm on Fri. Apr 5, 2013, at the Cinemark Century Theatres at The River in Rancho Mirage.

For Tickets and/or More Information,

visit http://americandocumentaryfilmfestival.com/

The American Documentary Film Festival
April 4-8, 2013

Camelot Theatres
2300 E Baristo Road
Palm Springs, CA 92262
760-325-6565

Cinemark Century Theatres at The River
71800 Hwy 111Suite A-137
Rancho Mirage, CA 92270
760-836-1940

via: The American Documentary Film Festival
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Whitney Houston Family Documentary to Open 2013 American Documentary Film Festival

The American Documentary Film Festival and Film Fund (AmDocs) returns for it’s second year with over one hundred documentary films from all over the world. The festival opens on Thursday, April 4th and runs through Sunday, April 8th, 2013.

“We’ve expanded our program quite a bit this year,” said Festival Director Ted Grouya. “We’ll be utilizing all three of the screens at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs, as well as one screen at the Cinemark Century Theatres at The River in Rancho Mirage. The fact that we’ve been able to expand so quickly is a testament to the success we had with last year’s festival. People love documentaries!”

Opening Night for The American Documentary Film Festival and Film Fund, AmDocs will screen documentary filmmaker and producer Gary Keys’ new documentary, VOICES OF LOVE: WHITNEY HOUSTON AND HER FAMILY.

VOICES OF LOVE provides an inside look at one of America’s most musically influential families – the Drinkards – whose popular gospel group, The Drinkard Singers, included Whitney Houston’s mother, Cissy Houston, and Lee Warwick, the mother of singer Dionne Warwick. The film traces the history of song in this talent-infused family and celebrates their spirit, their strength of family, and the power of gospel music to heal, to transcend, and to entertain.

While most of the Drinkard family stayed with their gospel roots, their musical tradition paved the way for singers Dionne Warwick, Cissy Houston, and Whitney Houston, and encouraged them to branch out into popular music. The film is filled with powerful musical performances by Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston and Dionne Warwick, never-before-seen footage, exclusive interviews with, and performances by, members of Whitney’s family, as well as interviews with Natalie Cole, and Aretha Franklin.

[caption id="attachment_3229" align="alignnone" width="550"]Dionne Warwick[/caption]

Singer Dionne Warwick will attend the event, and take the stage and participate in a brief Q&A after the screening.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdXjLnWj1vw
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First American Documentary Film Festival Set For Palm Springs, California, Opens on March 29

[caption id="attachment_2595" align="alignnone" width="550"]Oliver Stone’s controversial 2003 documentary Comandante to screen on opening night[/caption]

The first annual American Documentary Film Festival is set to open in Palm Springs, CA, on March 29, 2012. The event, which runs through April 5th at the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs, will include more than fifty screenings of documentary films, plus a variety of film seminars and filmmaker Q&As. Festivities begin Thursday evening, March 29th with a very special Opening Night Reception and Tribute, honoring legendary filmmaker Oliver Stone.

“Oliver will receive our highest honor – the ‘Filmmaker Who Makes A Difference Award’,” says Ted Grouya, Festival Director. “His grit and determination as an American film director, producer and screenwriter have resulted in films that have raised awareness and inspired change. Oliver has single handedly redefined the way we look at film.”

Following the reception and tribute, Stone’s controversial 2003 documentary, Comandante, will be screened. The documentary, which details Stone’s first journey to Cuba to interview Fidel Castro, was screened extensively in other countries, but was rarely screened in the United States because it was considered too ‘sympathetic’ to the Castro regime.

The American Documentary Film Festival, which is being presented by the Palm Springs Cultural Center, has long been a dream of Grouya’s. “As a filmmaker, and a fan of the documentary art form, I had been working to create a festival focusing on documentaries for a number of years. The opportunity to partner with Ric and Rozene Supple and their Palm Springs Cultural Center was the catalyst I needed to make the American Documentary Film Festival a reality.”

Screenings for the American Documentary Film Festival run daily, at 10am, 1pm, 4pm and 7pm. Most screenings feature multiple documentaries that have been packaged together, both because they focus on similar subject matter, and so that the overall run times are similar. Q&As with the filmmakers follow screenings and are included in ticket prices.

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