Palm Springs' annual American Documentary Film Festival (AM Docs), a festival praised by Movie Maker Magazine as one of the world’s “top 5 coolest film festivals,” concluded a five day run in the Coachella Valley with 130 films screened from throughout the world at local theaters.
Films were shows at the Camelot, Marquee, Helene Galen Performing Arts Center at Rancho Mirage High School, the Oliphant Auditorium and Indian Wells Theatre, both at the Palm Desert campus of California State University, San Bernardino.
Opening night at the Camelot Theatre celebrated the life and career of film director, actor, historian Peter Bogdanovich, who did a Q&A before the sold-out audience following the screening of One Day Since Yesterday: Peter Bogdanovich & The Lost American Film. The only documentaries made by Bogdanovich – Runnin Down A Dream, a four-hour film on rock star Tom Petty, and Directed by John Ford, were screened at the Camelot with the film on Ford also shown at the Oliphant Auditorium. Bogdanovich also received the 2015 Filmmaker Who Makes A Difference Award.
Many of the films dealt with world and local issues. Ted Grouya is founder and producer of the festival presented by the Palm Springs Cultural Center.
The following films won special awards: Pow Wow ($6,500, ) Personhood ($5,000), and The Trouble With Ray ($5,000). Cat Show, U.K/Australia, was named Best Foreign Feature Documentary ($1000) while Honey On Wounds, Romania, was named Best Foreign Short Documentary ($1000). Two Best Animated Shorts received $500 each, Death & The Maiden and The Lost Mariner.
The 2015 Best American Feature Documentary was America Recycled ($1000), while this year’s Best American Short Documentary was The Full Sounding ($1,000). The Rozene Supple Humanitarian Award was given to Ronni Sanlow, and The Spartans received the Robert Drew Verite Award.
