Calendar – Past Event

The award-winning feature documentary Forgetting Dad, by Germany-based American filmmakers Rick Minnich and Matt Sweetwood, will celebrate its California premiere on Father's Day, June 19 at the USC Summer Film Series. The event will kick off the two-week Father's Day Film Tour of California and release of the deluxe-edition DVD.

Forgetting Dad tells the heart-wrenching story of Richard, a 45-year-old California husband and father of five, who wakes up with total amnesia one week after a seemingly harmless car accident. Richard no longer knows who he is, nor does he recognize anyone from his past. He soon reinvents himself as "New Richard," and embarks upon a completely new life, leaving behind him a trail of answered questions.

Sixteen years later, Richard's oldest son, Rick, returns to his native California with a film crew to investigate why his father's memory still hasn't returned, despite what doctors had predicted. As they speak with family members and examine the circumstances surrounding Richard's sudden memory loss, the filmmakers discover deep-rooted emotions that had never been dealt with and uncover startling facts that shed a very different light on Richard's amnesia. Was he really struck by a horrible affliction, or was he perhaps trying to escape from a life he could no longer lead?

Dr. David Spiegel, Director of the Center on Stress and Health at the Stanford University School of Medicine, calls the film: "a carefully crafted, thought-provoking family mystery story about memory...well worth watching...It reminds us that remembering can be even more painful than forgetting."

Each screening will be followed by a Q & A with director Rick Minnich and members of his family who appear in the film. 

The deluxe edition DVD will be available for purchase at all the screenings and online at www.forgettingdad.com beginning June 19, 2011. Pre-orders are being accepted immediately.

Confirmed dates and venues include:

Los Angeles, CA - June 19, 2011(Father's Day) - California Premiere at the USC Summer Film Series, 5 p.m. http://cinema.usc.edu/events/event.cfm?id=11794 

San Francisco, CA - June 23, 2011 - San Francisco premiere, Red Vic Movie House, 7:15 p.m. & 9:25 p.m. http://www.redvicmoviehouse.com/

Pacific Palisades, CA - June 28, 2011 - Villa Aurora, 8:00 p.m.

http://www.villa-aurora.org/index.php?page=event-calendar

South Pasadena, CA - June 30, 2011, S. Pasadena Public Library, 7:00 p.m.

http://www.ci.south-pasadena.ca.us/library/index.html