The American Documentary Film Festival in Palm Springs opens Friday evening with a reception and screening featuring actor and LGBTQ activist George Takei.
The seventh annual festival, held from April 6-14 at theaters in Palm Springs, Palm Desert and Rancho Mirage, will open Friday evening at Palm Springs’ Camelot Theatres with “Allegiance to Broadway,” which chronicles the making of a Broadway musical based on Takei’s true-to-life experiences growing up in World War II Japanese internment camps.
Takei, who gained fame for his role as Lieutenant Sulu in the “Star Trek” television series and movies, will be presented with the festival’s Rozene Supple Humanitarian Award and will take part in a question-and-answer session with director Greg Vander Veer.
“At a time when the ugly echoes of fear and racial prejudice once again grow louder with each passing day, remembering our history becomes critical,” Takei said. “Pearl Harbor and WWII put our country to the test, and while we as a nation rose up to the challenge and fought our enemies abroad, sadly we also turned against our own at home and inflicted on our fellow citizens an injustice and should never be forgotten. How terrible it is to contemplate, once again, that division. That cannot happen again.”
More than 170 films will be featured at the festival, which will also feature industry panel sessions and the AmDocs Film Fund Pitch Competition, which awards up to $50,000 to independent filmmakers competing for financing for their projects or concepts.
Other notable films featured during the festival include the Saturday screening of “#TAKEMEANYWHERE,” the latest film by art collective Shia LaBeouf, Nastja Sade Ronkko and Luke Turner, which chronicles the trio’s 10,000 mile journey across North America, and “Poisoning Paradise,” the festival’s closing night film directed by former broadcast journalist Keely Shaye Brosnan, which examines environmental injustice in Hawaiian communities.
Opening night tickets at $55 are available at www.americandocumentaryfilmfestival.com/ticket-info .
Tickets for individual screenings are $11, while $200 Flex Express Film Passes grant viewers access to all films on the program throughout the festival, excluding the opening night screening.
Tickets can be purchased online or at the Camelot Theatres Box Office.