Documentary Film Fest Slates Final Screenings

Foreign films show growth of festival worldwide

Site Staff Arts & Entertainment, Attractions

The second annual American Documentary Film Festival closes its doors today (April 8) after a five-day run with a cross-section of foreign films that reflect the festival’s growth worldwide.

Film screenings will be split between the Camelot Theatres in Palm Springs and Century Theatres at The River in Rancho Mirage.

Here is the April 8 schedule:

Time: 11 a.m.
Where: Camelot Theatre 2
Title: Ciclo (Mexico – 91 minutes)
Synopsis: Brothers Arturo and Gustavo Martinez leave their hometown of Pachuca in central Mexico in 1956 planning to cross the continent on two wheels. Eighty-two days later, they arrive in Toronto, not knowing this journey would change the entire route of their lives and their family tree.

Time: 11 a.m.
Where: Camelot Theatre 1
Title: The Will (Denmark – 90 minutes)
Synopsis: This revealing documentary examines the classic family conflict surrounding an assumed inheritance — millions that could potentially transform their existence. But can an inheritance also remove a family’s fateful trauma from a life lived in a perpetual hope of scooping the big prize from grandfather one day?

Time: 11 a.m.
Where: Century Theatres at The River
Title: Declaration of Immortality (Poland– 30 minutes)
Synopsis: Legendary Polish climber Piotr “Mad” Lorczak was among the first to consider climbing a sport, and ultimately participated in numerous contests and competitions. Older now, he considers in this film the impact of growing older. How does he deal with a passage of time? How does he perceive youth and growing older? An existential look at aging.

Time: 11 a.m.
Where: Century Theatres at The River
Title: Entangled (Poland – 51 minutes)
Synopsis: This film chronicles a child abused by his neighbor, who, as a teenager, tried to take revenge on his abuser. The roles are now reversed: the pedophile is afraid of the victim. For more than 10 years, they live in mutual emotional dependence, which the film presents with narratives of both men.

"Mundial"

Time: 1:30 p.m.
Where: Camelot Theatre 2
Title: El Acalde (Mexico – 90 minutes)
Synopsis: The murder of municipal mayors is common practice in northern Mexico as drug cartels fight to control territories. This documentary (The Mayor) tells the story of Mauricio Fernández Garza, mayor of the richest municipality in Latin America, who created the “grupos rudos” (The Tough group) to fight organized crime.

Time: 2 p.m.
Where: Camelot Theatre 1
Title: The Stripper (Sweden – 80 minutes)
Synopsis: Calista is a girl who dreams of a life as a dancer. When she is 16 years old, she is admitted to a dance school in New York. But the journey and her dance career are harshly interrupted. By chance she meets a girl who introduces her to stripping and this becomes her temporary salvation.

Time: 2 p.m.
Where: Century Theatres at The River
Title: Mundial: The Highest Stakes (Poland – 90 minutes)
Synopsis: A David and Goliath story of the Polish freedom movement told through the events of the football World Cup in Spain in 1982. This film presents experiences of the key players in the Polish football team, interlaced with accounts of jailed members of the Solidarity movement, following the games on TV.

Time: 2:30 p.m.
Where: Camelot Theatre 3
Title: The White Picket Fence Project (USA – 100 minutes)
Synopsis: A coming-of-age documentary following the lives of two young men striving for a brighter future.

"Nyosha"

Time: 4 p.m.
Where: Camelot Theatre 2
Title: Cuates de Australia (Mexico – 90 minutes)
Synopsis: The inhabitants of “Friends of Australia” face death every year, evading drought that lurks. While the com- munity is forced to make an exodus, the ejido is abandoned and gradually desert animals take over the place  as they expect the first drops of rain to return. In this film, you will learn about an area of the world little seen by us.

Time: 4:30 p.m.
Where: Camelot Theatre 1
Title: Village at the End of the World (USA – 76 minutes)
Synopsis: Shot over the course of a year in Niaqornat, a remote village in northern Greenland with more dogs than people, this film focuses on four townsfolk from the tiny population of 59: a teenager, a huntsman, an outsider, and an elder.

Time: 4:30 p.m.
Where: Century Theatres at The River
Title: Nyosha (Poland/Israel – 13 minutes)
Synopsis: A true story based on a testimony of Holocaust survivor, the late Nomi Kapel. Nyosha is a 10-year-old girl. She dreams of buying a pair of shoes during the reality of a pitiless war. A range of animation techniques brings together the dream and the reality and tells Nyosha’s story.

Time: 4:30 p.m.
Where: Century Theatres at The River
Title: Heaven (Poland – 13 minutes)
Synopsis: Thirty-eight-year-old Robert is happy because he is very ill. For him it’s a blessing. Finally he has time to do what he’s always wanted. Painting changed his life completely. Nothing else matters.

Time: 4:30 p.m.
Where: Century Theatres at The River
Title: Argentinian Lesson (Poland – 61 minutes)
Synopsis: Janek goes to a new, Argentinian school, where he is surrounded by a language he never heard before. Slowly, he befriends with an 11-year- old Marcia, who although a child herself, has to take care about her family existence. This friendship and the new environment change Janek.

"She Sings"

Time: 7 p.m.
Where: Camelot Theatre 1
Title: She Sings (Denmark – 46 minutes)
Synopsis: A poetic film with strong visual language that chronicles the life of a young girl alienated by her own culture. The first experimental documentary coming out of Bhutan, which was the last country in the world to allow television (in 1999).

Time: 7 p.m.
Where: Camelot Theatre 1
Title: Dance for Me (Denmark – 80 minutes)
Synopsis: Follow 15-year-old Russian Egor as he travels to Denmark to dance with 14-year-old Mie. Egor struggles adjusting to the different life in Denmark, but things suddenly change when Mie and Egor win the Danish championship and are selected to represent Denmark at the European Championship.

For tickets and more information, visit the American Documentary Film Festival website.