A spontaneous wedding hours before a couple showed their film at AMDOCS.
Two international female filmmakers visiting the desert got married Sunday with the help of the Palm Springs community. Same-sex marriages are illegal in their home country, Poland. Same-sex marriage has been legal in California since June 28, 2013.
Julia Pelka and Paulina Skibińska tied the knot in Palm Springs hours before they showed their film at the American Documentary and Animation Film Festival. "Wow... I don't know what to say. We just get married," says Pelka. The couple is from Poland, which is one of six EU nations that does not allow same-sex civil unions or marriage.
The couple visited Palm Springs to show their seven-minute documentary, Lonia & Bronia, at the film festival. They did not know they would be getting married in the Coachella Valley.
The Polish constitution identifies marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
While in Palm Springs, their festival hosts got everyone involved in making this couple's dream come true." We feel like we are home here because we feel here like we are accepted," says Pelka. Those at the ceremony were strangers at the start of Amdocs.
The newlyweds met another same-sex couple at the festival who had recently married.
Evan and Gabriel told the couple jokingly that they should make their union official while in town. "They were already thinking about it," says Gabriel. "But I think maybe just hearing us being so like, I mean, it's not crazy. You should actually get married; why not?"
The family hosting Pelka and Skibińska for the screening helped pull the community together to make the wedding happen. "I'm on the laptop," Andi, one of the family members hosting the filmmakers. "On the vibe neighborhood Facebook page. The officiant wanted Sunday at noon. Any takers half an hour later. Joe says I'm in. We then go down to palm desert. And we obtain their marriage license."
While their marriage is legal in the United States - it will not be recognized in Poland. "It's a fantastic day for us, says Skibińska. "Like it's changed our lives like, inside, emotionally."
