Gypsy Davy - True/False Film Fest

Gypsy Davy

Flamenco guitarist David Serva Jones left behind a clutch of wives, girlfriends, and children wherever he went — a group that includes Rachel Leah Jones, the director of this film
Director: Rachel Leah Jones
Runtime: 1:36
In-person: director Rachel Leah Jones
Fest Year: 2012
David Serva Jones was a damned good flamenco guitarist, especially for an American. He was also a serial heartbreaker who left wreckage in his wake, including a handful of children by various mothers. One of his estranged children, director Rachel Leah Jones, seeks to arrive at “Year Zero” with her dad after more than three decades by collecting emotional, unguarded testimonies from those who could feel him “strumming our pain with his fingers.” The wandering Mr. Jones makes for a powerful enigma: while mostly tight-lipped, he is an insightful man whose music is profoundly passionate, drawing on the guitar magic of his mentor, flamenco master Diego Del Gastor. Making clever use of shuffled chronologies, Gypsy Davy is an engrossing yarn, with director Jones’s deft, wry voice wrestling with one man’s hard-to-pin-down legacy. (PS)