Merman in the desert: Palm Springs nurse André Chambers star of new short documentary

Not all superheroes wear capes. Sometimes they don navy-blue Betty Ford Center scrubs, or a $10 Aquaman costume.

By day, Palm Springs resident and registered nurse André Chambers helps people on the path to addiction recovery at the well-known Rancho Mirage treatment center. By night, Chambers is often showing off his muscles at leather competitions or embracing his Aquaman alter ego by putting on a superhero costume and making fun videos on social media.

With blue hair, a love for the water and tattoos of ocean waves and King Triton, Chambers can easily be a stand-in for Aquaman, especially the way he "saves the day" with colleagues at work.

"Someone said to me, 'Why Aquaman?' I love water, but ... if there was something going wrong, he would get his friends together and they would come out and help in whatever way they could," Chambers said about the comic book character he's had an affinity for since childhood. "He has this connection to get people to rally together for the greater good, and I kind of see myself as that person now."

However, Chambers didn't always feel like a hero. He's faced adversity and discrimination throughout his life, especially growing up as the only Black family in his Oxnard neighborhood, being a sexually active queer man at the height of the AIDS crisis and experiencing homelessness as an adult.

But like most of the spandex-wearing characters out there, he's able to pick himself up when times are tough, and he lays it all out in the short documentary film, "Merman," directed by Sterling Hampton. The 12-minute, multi-visual film had its world premiere last month at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York.

"To go to Tribeca was just ... oh my gosh. You think, 'If I could just tell my story, that would be great,'" Chambers, 59, said. "Who would have thought you'd be telling it on a big screen at a huge movie festival?"

Uncovering it all

It's not uncommon to see Chambers donning an Aquaman suit or a leotard on his social media, or holding a virtual Un”wine”d session with his followers. And that's exactly what caught director Hampton's eye.

"After surfing the explore page on Instagram for a few hours, I stumbled upon an image of what appeared to be some sort of superhero-looking figure. A muscular man in a leotard with a prodigious beard," Hampton wrote for the Los Angeles Times. "The image of André Chambers in the photograph made me think, 'I don’t know anything about this person, but I want to understand how such a man like this becomes who he is.'"

Chambers said he wasn't familiar with the filmmaker, but he decided to take a chance.

The short documentary, narrated by Chambers, features a mix of digital film, human-generated 2D and 3D animation and AI animation, and it chronicles the Merman's life through colorful and kaleidoscopic imagery. He shares a number of anecdotes, such as one about racist neighbors who wouldn't let him swim in their pool because they thought he would "leave a dirt ring." After the family moved to Oregon, where they were again the only Black family in their neighborhood, he withstood repeated bullying and racial slurs.

"I had grown up being taught that color didn't matter, and that worked for a period of time," Chambers said. "But when you have some of those things said to you, you put them off, you bury them deep down inside, but they just eat at you when you walk around thinking that you're dirty, that you're a less than, that no one wants to be around you."

Chambers also dives into struggles he has faced as a gay man, how the leather community practically saved his life when he was struggling with mental health, and how he found his passion through nursing.

Filming took about seven hours over the course of one day in Palm Springs, Chambers said. It was a bit "surreal" to have to share so much from his personal life, but he knew he had to go all in.

"I knew that this was an opportunity that I needed to jump on ... So I made a deal with myself that If I'm going to do this, (it's) 100%, unfiltered, no candy-coating anything," Chambers said.

It surprised him how much he revealed, like his experiences with homelessness and contemplating suicide, and it was an even bigger shock to his husband, who wasn't aware of many of the anecdotes. But as he reflected on his life, Chambers realized that's all led him to become the person he is today, and he "wouldn't change it for anything."

A real-life hero

After he returned to the Los Angeles area in the 1980s, Chambers worked a number of odd jobs that didn't fulfill him. One day, he got fed up and decided to pursue his lifelong passion of going into the medical field.

It interested him from a young age — he said he read a physicians' desk reference when he was in the second grade just because he was bored — but life's many twists and turns got in the way. He eventually became a paramedic and later a registered nurse, which he has been for 20 years. After he met his husband, Chambers moved to Palm Springs nine years ago and worked in the emergency room at Desert Regional Medical Center.

Using all that he's gone through, Chambers is able to connect with patients on a deeper level, especially when they might be experiencing the worst moments of their life.

"I ask a lot of questions. What got you here? How did this happen? The big thing I came across in the past is that people who do not fit into the mold get treated like a less than," Chambers said. "If I can offer someone some food ... the reaction is, 'I didn't expect this.' They'll say, 'You're the one that treated me like a regular person.'"

A few months ago, Palm Springs' local hero had to spring into action in the middle of a meal out when a man was experiencing an opioid overdose. One of Chambers' friends grabbed him by the arm and said he was needed, so when he ran to the man's side and was handed Narcan, Chambers administered the nasal spray that reverses an opioid overdose without a second thought.

For Chambers, it was just another day doing his job, but it was a heroic act that garnered the attention of a fellow nurse, who suggested he apply for a job at the Betty Ford Center.

"I thought it would just be that restaurant talk," Chambers said. But a few hours later, "I had a message from him saying, 'Here's a link to apply.' I thought, why not?"

He got the job a few weeks later. "It's been incredibly fulfilling. I feel like I'm doing what I should be doing," he said.

Dreaming big

Even before Chambers made it to the Tribeca Film Festival to watch "Merman," he was bursting into tears at the thought of all the excitement in his life. But things changed once the film premiered.

"My heart was pounding so loudly," he said of the moment he walked into the theater. After the screening, he participated in a question and answer session.

"I got mobbed by people saying, 'We loved your story,'" he recalled. "I had not expected to hear that from people. I didn't know that people would care. I didn't know that it would touch them."

"Merman" has played at other film festivals, such as Outfest and Dances with Films in Los Angeles, where the response has been even more meaningful. Old friends have also reached out to him to share their thoughts, he said.

"This is a subject people don't want to talk about. I've been told all my life these people don't like you, they want to bring you down," Chambers continued. "I had more conversations with people coming out of the (Dances with Films) theater, walking down the street, in restaurants, people saying they saw it and identified with it. It really crossed the entire spectrum."

The film is eyeing several other film festivals throughout the year, and Chambers and Hampton are hoping to qualify for the Academy Awards. If a nomination is secured, the Palm Springs resident would eagerly trade in his scrubs and Aquaman suit for a new outfit for the night.

Until then, Chambers has plenty of other plans. He's passionate about getting Narcan distributed throughout the community at bars and other establishments so that people are better prepared to save someone's life. Considering the region's rising overdose death rates each year, it's more important than ever.

He's also a big advocate for gay and trans rights, and can frequently be spotted at local rallies and other events around town. As a nurse, he said he's been able to connect with LGBTQ+ youth and better understand their current struggles.

Chambers has also thought about creating his own Merman clothing line, and he'd love to go on "The Drew Barrymore Show." The ultimate goal would be to have his own talk show or podcast where he could discuss a number of tough topics.

But after living through so many experiences in one lifetime, many of them unexpected, it's hard to plan for this next chapter in his life. For now, Chambers is taking it all in one day at a time.

"I'm being told to dream even bigger, but I don't know how (much) bigger it can get."

To learn more about Chambers and updates on the "Merman" short film, follow him on Instagram at @papa_bear_rn.

Ema Sasic covers entertainment and health in the Coachella Valley. Reach her at ema.sasic@desertsun.com or on Twitter @ema_sasic.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Palm Springs nurse André Chambers shares hero stories in 'Merman' doc