A celebrated weeklong film festival in northeast Iowa opens Saturday and will feature more than a hundred films this year, including the debut documentary from the son of a late Las Vegas entertainer.
Andrew Davies Gans says his father, Danny Gans, was “the most famous man you’ve -never- heard of,” who was considered a once-in-a-generation singer, comedian and impressionist who drew millions of fans and broke countless records for sold-out shows.
“Outside of Las Vegas, he wasn’t very well known, but inside of Las Vegas, he was the biggest star in town for 12 or 13 years,” Davies Gans says. “The highest honor you can receive in Las Vegas is Entertainer of the Year and he won that award 12 years in a row.”
One report says when he died in 2009 at age 52, Gans was grossing $18-million a year. Davies Gans says his documentary, “Voices: The Danny Gans Story,” will be screened twice during the Julien Dubuque International Film Festival.
“I want to take the audience on a ride. I want to take you almost like you’re seeing Danny Ganz for the first time, and you’re also learning about his life,” Davies Gans says. “You’re going to laugh, you’re going to cry, you’re going to learn something, you’re going to be inspired, and I hope that the audience leaves the theater feeling very moved and overall entertained.”
Davies Gans, who splits his time between Los Angeles and Atlanta, says he’s thrilled to be coming to Iowa for the festival in Dubuque.
“I want to be there to meet the people that come to see the film and talk about it with them and share my experiences with them,” Davies Gans says. “The festival experience is a really fun thing, and I’ve heard that this festival in particular is really supported by a lot of the local families, and the way that it’s run is just very top-notch.”
His documentary will screen April 20th and 21st and Davies Gans says he’ll be there for both events, doing meet-and-greets and Q&As afterwards.
The festival runs April 18th through the 25th with movie screenings in Dubuque, Iowa, and Galena, Illinois.
Hear Matt Kelley’s full interview with Andrew Davies Gans below: