From April 4th to 8th, the desert will host more than 100 films during the second annual American Documentary Film Festival, presented by the Palm Springs Cultural Center. With an expansion to two venues (the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs and the Cinemark Century Theatres at The River in Rancho Mirage), this year’s festival is poised to become a major film event.

“We’ve expanded our program quite a bit this year,” says Festival Director Ted Grouya, who is also an independent filmmaker and president of the production company Cinema Arts Magic. “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!”

The American Documentary Film Festival is already the largest docs-only festival on the West Coast, with goals of becoming the largest in the U.S. Last year, Oliver Stone attended the festival and screened five of his own documentaries, and this year singer Dionne Warwick will be on hand to present a documentary about her famous family.



On the festival’s opening night at the Camelot Theatres on April 4th, a gala reception at Camelot Theatres will be followed by the documentary, Voices of Love: Whitney Houston and Her Family. The film gives an inside look at one of America's most musically influential families, the Drinkards, it’s filled with powerful musical performances by Cissy Houston, Whitney Houston, and Dionne Warwick, as well as exclusive interviews with Natalie Cole and Aretha Franklin. After the screening, legendary singer and Whitney’s aunt Dionne Warwick will conduct an on-stage Q&A.


In addition to the full calendar of documentaries, the festival includes a slew of practical seminars like “How to Market Your Film on the Internet and Beyond,” “Funding Sources For Your Documentary Film,” and “How Women Can Help Change the World Through Film.” All the seminars are free to the public on a first-come, first-serve basis. The festival also sponsors the American Documentary Film Fund, with a panel of industry professionals who review a select group of documentary filmmaker projects for funding consideration.

For moviegoers, the festival’s Flex Express Film Pass gets you in to all the screenings and costs $199 and can be purchased via the web site www.americandocumentaryfilmfestival.com. For more information on the event, call 760-322-3689.