OPENING NIGHT - Sonoma International Film Festival Documentary Feature – Vamos al Cine Pachuca,...

PROGRAM GUIDE -17th SONOMA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

OPENING NIGHT

Dom Hemingway

Afer spending 12 years in prison for keeping his mouth shut, notorious safecracker Dom Hemingway (Jude Law) is back on the streets of London looking to collect what he's owed. Travelling with his best friend Dickie, Dom visits his crime boss (Demián Bichir) in the south of France to claim his reward. But Dom's drunk and drug-fueled ego decides what he’s lost can’t be replaced and his priority must be to reconnect with his long-lost daughter Evelyn.

USA | 93 min. | Dir. Richard Shepard

Wednesday, April 2 (7:45 pm) Sebastani Theater

Short: Le Sauvetage, see pg.

CLOSING NIGHT

Belle

This is based on a historical character, Dido Elizabeth Belle, the mixed–race daughter of a Britsh Naval ofcer and an African woman. Dido is taken to England by her father to be raised by her uncle, Lord Mansfeld, as an aristocratc Lady, as befts her blood line. Tom Wilkinson, Miranda Richardson and Emily Watson star.

United Kingdom | 105 min. | Dir. Amma Assante delete

Sunday, April 6 (6:00 pm) Sebastani Theater

FEATURE FILMS

Along the Roadside

This funny, philosophical road-trip comedy bounces from the screen as two vibrant characters take twisty turns in a world full of unexpected possibilites. This bent buddy-comedy with thrilling visual fourishes and a magical musical is fueled with a soundtrack perfectly in sync with the mood and setngs, including plenty of Bay Area spots. The result is an ofeat story flled with profound messages about love, longing and cross-cultural connectons.

USA | 108 min. | Dir. Zoran Lisinac (in atendance)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dido_Elizabeth_Belle

Friday, April 4 (5:30 pm) Burlingame Hall

Saturday, April 5 (6:00 pm) Murphy’s Irish Pub

Bella Vita

Documentary Feature

Can a region surrounded by land produce world class surfng waves? Internatonally acclaimed surfer-flmmaker Jason documents surfer, artst and environmentalist Chris Del Moro on a pilgrimage back to his Italian homeland on what most perceive as a 'Don Quixotan' quest but transforms into a modern discovery steeped in culture, traditon and passion.

USA | 86 min. | Dir. Jason Bafa (in atendance)

Thursday, April 3 (9:00 pm) Vintage House

Saturday, April 5 (12:30 pm) Andrews Hall @ Sonoma Community Center

Beside Stll Waters

Narratve Feature – American Indies

This contemporary version of the classic THE BIG CHILL is an ode to the consoling power of deep, abiding friendships. The flm cuts between melancholic wistulness and the sheer delight of living fully in the moment - drinking, dancing, scheming - with those people who know us best.

United States | 76 min. | Dir. Chris Lowell – Writer/Producer Mohit Narang (in atendance)

Wednesday, April 2 (8:15 pm) Andrews Hall @ Sonoma Community Center

Sponsored by: Greenleaf Investments

Saturday, April 5 (4:30 pm) Vintage House

Sponsored by: Pacifc Union

Short: Adrif. See pg.

Born in Chicago

Documentary Feature

In the 1960s icons of urban blues, including Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf, passed the musical torch to a coterie of unlikely next generaton admirers, among whom were Paul Buterfeld, Michael Bloomfeld, Barry Goldberg, Nick Gravenites, Harvey Mandel and Corky Siegel. These acolytes, in turn, spread the music most closely identfed with Chicago around the world and back again. Their journey from the suburbs and well-to-do neighborhoods into the gheto, seeking the blues at its source, truly launched thousands of bands over the years and kept the blues a vital musical force throughout the world into the current century. The flm includes performance and interview footage featuring the aforementoned artsts as well as Bob Dylan, Buddy Guy, B.B. King, SteveMiller, Hubert Sumlin, Jack White, Charlie Musselwhite, Eric Burdon, Sam Lay and Elvin Bishop. Special guests from the flm will be playing at the concert afer the flm.

USA | 87 min. | Dir. John Anderson. Producer John Beug (in atendance)

Friday, April 4 (8:00 pm) Sonoma Veterans Hall - concert following flm. See pg.


Brahmin Bulls


A heartelt and humorous exploraton of the ever-evolving relatonship between a father and a son. A disillusioned architect and his distant father come together afer many years, but when a woman from the past resurfaces, old wounds threaten to break their newfound relatonship. Starring Academy Award winner Mary Steenburgen and Academy Award nominee Michael Lerner

USA | 96 min. | Dir. Mahesh Pailoor. Co-writer Anu Pradhan (in atendance)


Sunday, April 6 (9:15 am) Vintage House

Bringing it Home

Documentary Feature

Hemp - it's not just for hippies anymore. Today they're making everything from salad dressings to buildings with it. Despite the inevitable jokes when hemp is mentoned, industrial hemp is actually a

non-psychoactve plant, grown in 31 other countries, but prohibited in the United States. A touching narratve extolling the many benefts of industrial hemp for the environment and human health, while illuminatng the obstacles to what could be a thriving industry for U.S. farmers to tap into.

USA | 52 min. | Dir. Linda Booker (in atendance)

Thursday, April 3 (11:45 am) Andrews Hall @ Sonoma Community Center

Friday, April 4 (11:30 am) Andrews Hall @ Sonoma Community Center

Short: Backyard. See pg.

Buterfy’s Dream

Narratve Feature - World Cinema

Two young Turkish poets in the 1940s make a bet on a prety girl. Whoever’s poem the girl likes will win. The poets however, have to deal with other problems like disease, poverty, compulsory work in the mines and WWII. As the story unravels, the poets travel through cites and events in search of happiness. Is the optmist or the pessimist the braver?

Turkey | 138 min. | Dir. Yilmaz Erdogan

Saturday, April 5 (3:15 pm) Burlingame Hall

Sunday, April 6 (10:00 am) Murphy’s Irish Pub

Chronic Love (Amor Crónico)

Narratve Feature – Vamos al Cine

This exhilaratng and energetc blend of fact and fcton follows famboyant Cuban-born/New York-based singer and Grammy nominee CuCu Diamantes on her frst tour of Cuba. This unique road flm interweaves footage of her cabaret-style performances with a fctonal love story. A love leter to Cuban cinema, to Cuban music and to its people.

Cuba | 83 min. | Dir. Jorge Perugorria (in atendance)

Friday, April 4 (8:00 pm) Sebastani Theater

Sponsored by: Union Bank

Saturday, April 5 (5:00 pm) La Luz Center

Ciclo

Documentary Feature – Vamos al Cine

Pachuca, 1956. Brothers Arturo and Gustavo Martnez leave their hometown in central Mexico with the desire to cross the contnent on bicycles. Eighty-two days and 5,600 km later, they arrive in Toronto, not knowing that this journey will change the entre route of their lives. Over half a century later, Arturo and Gustavo - now in their 70s - retrace that epic path, in an exploraton of memory, the cycles of life and the unavoidable passage of tme.

Mexico | 93 min. | Dir. Andrea Martnez Crowther

Thursday, April 3 (3:45 pm) Murphy’s Irish Pub

Saturday, April 5 (11:30 am) Vintage House

Sponsored by: Wine Country Cyclery

City Slacker

Narratve Feature – World Cinema

High- fying city executve Amanda fnds out the eggs she had frozen in her youthful prime have been accidentally defrosted. On the wrong side of forty and with her fertlity nose diving, she embarks on a frantc search to fnd a slacker happy to have a baby and stay at home to look afer it.

United Kingdom | 89 min. | Dir. James Larkin. Producer/Screenwriter Michael Mueller and Composer Geof Jackson (in atendance)

Friday, April 4 (7:45 pm) Andrews Hall @ Sonoma Community Center

Sunday, April 6 (3:00 pm) Burlingame Hall

Commencement


Christa Richmond graduates valedictorian from a prestgious university and in the next 36 hours of her life, Christa's real educaton begins. A funny, romantc and thought-provoking look at three generatons of a middle-class family caught in the wake of the current fscal crisis.

USA | 94 min. | Dir. Steve Albrezzi (in atendance)

Thursday, April 3 (8:45 pm) Burlingame Hall

Everything is Fine Here

Documentary Feature – World Cinema

On the verge of her marriage, Arghavan, 25, is gang-raped in a deserted area of Tehran. In a strict, conservatve society where young women are expected to be virgins before marriage, the crime is that of her assailants; the catastrophe is hers. Overwhelmed by rumors, her life begins turning into a nightmare.

Iran | 75 min. | Dir. Pourya Avarbaiyany (in atendance)


Friday, April 4 (9:30 pm) Murphy’s Irish Pub

Field of Amapolas (Jardín de Amapolas)


In Colombia cultvatng poppies (Amapolas) is a dangerous, but lucratve business. A farmer and his son are exiled from their village in the high planes. The boy befriends a girl who borrows a litle dog to play with, while the father is forced to work in the illegal Amapola (poppy) feld. The two stories intertwine when one day the boy follows his father to work.

Colombia | 87 min. | Dir. Juan Carlos Melo Guevara

Sunday, April 6 (11:00 am) La Luz Center

For Sale (Se Vende)


Black-humor comedy speaks of life using death as an excuse. A young lab worker decides to have her fnancial woes and hardships worked out by selling the tomb where her parents lie and, “piece by piece,” their remains. It’s all about surviving, and sacrifcing the dead to feed the living!

Cuba | 95 min. | Dir. Jorge Perugorria (in atendance)

Thursday, April 3 (6:15 pm) Muprhy’s Irish Pub

Saturday, April 5, (12 pm) La Luz Center

Going Atractons

Documentary Feature

Once a vibrant part of American culture, nearly 5000 drive-ins once doted the naton from big cites to small towns, but today less than 400 remain. In a naton that loves cars and movies, why haven’t they survived? By looking at the drive-in, we see the story of changing American culture and family over the last 60 years.

USA | 85 min. | Dir. April Wright (in atendance)

Thursday, April 3 (12:45 pm) Sebastani Theater


Gore Vidal: The United States of Amnesia

Documentary Feature

No twenteth-century fgure has had a more profound efect on the worlds of literature, flm, politcs, historical debate, and the culture wars than Gore Vidal. Anchored by intmate one-on-one interviews with the man himself, Nicholas Wrathall’s new documentary is a fascinatng and wholly entertaining portrait of the last lion of the age of American liberalism.

USA | 83 min. | Dir. Nicholas Wrathall

Friday, April 4 (9:15 am) Burlingame Hall

Sunday, April 6 (7:30 pm) Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

Green Card Warriors

Documentary Feature

Angel, an undocumented Latno teen coming of age in a rough Los Angeles neighborhood, struggles to fnd his identty in a world scarred by violence, as his family desperately tries to hold on to their American Dream. A son going into the Far East batlefeld in pursuit of legal status for his family.

USA | 90 min. | Dir. Miriam Kruishoop

Friday, April 4 (9:00 am) Vintage House


Half of a Yellow Sun


Epic chronicle of family tes and tribal violence during the establishment of an independent republic in Nigeria. Chiwetel Ejiofor (12 Years A Slave, Children of Men) and Thandie Newton (Crash, The Pursuit of Happyness).

Nigeria | 113 min. | Dir. Biye Bandele

Friday, April 4 (11:00 am) Murphy’s Irish Pub

Sunday, April 6 (2:30 pm) Vintage House

I’m Obsessed With You (but you’ve got to leave me alone)


When a magnetc movie star crashes their party, four collegiate comedians are forced to confront the group's friendship and future. On a rural Ivy League college campus, in New York City, andon the beaches of Long Island, the characters grapple with addicton, anxiety disorders, love, and feetng fame. This quirky, contemplatve flm asks, can you live life by the rules that govern your art?

USA | 99 min. Dir. Jasiek Goracy, Producer/Screenwriter/Actor Genevieve Adams (in atendance)

Friday, April 4 (11:45 am) Vintage House


In the Magic of the Green Mountains

Documentary Feature

Vermont herbalists Jef and Melanie Carpenter sold their natural products business to buy raw land and start an organic farm to grow medicinal herbs, rather than source them from halfway around the world. The farmers exemplify a relatonship of living sustainably with nature that requires giving as much as receiving. We see into their lives, the healing dimension, and their unwavering commitment.

USA | 74 min. | Dir. Director Scot Chamberlain Hoyt (in atendance)

Saturday, April 5, (7:15 pm) Vintage House

Sunday, April 6 (9:30 am) Burlingame Hall

Into the Mind

Documentary Feature

This is a story of rising to the ultmate challenge. Having the courage to risk fatal exposure and the perseverance demanded on the quest for achievement. These are not solely physical feats, they are mental conquests. We are immersed in the mind of an ordinary skier as he atempts to climb and ski the ultmate mountain. How do we balance risk versus reward?

USA | 82 min. | Dir. Eric Crosland and Dave Mossop

Friday, April 4, (2:45) Vintage House

Saturday, April 5, (9:00 am) Vintage House

Jadoo


Two brothers, both great chefs, who fall out so badly that they rip the family recipe book in half, one taking the starters and the other the main courses, and set up rival restaurants across the road from each other. Twenty years later, it takes a daughter to reunite them when she's determined to persuade them to cook her wedding banquet together.

United Kingdom | 86 min. | Dir. Amit Gupta


Sponsored by: Celebrity Cruises

Life’s a Breeze


A family struggling to stay afoat and remain together through hard tmes in Ireland. Unemployed slacker Colm, his aging mother Nan and his niece Emma must overcome their many diferences to lead their family in a race against tme to fnd a lost fortune. Features Fionnula Flanagan—also starring in Tastng Menu.

Ireland | 88 min | Dir. Lance Daly

Sunday, April 6 (3:30 pm) Sebastani Theater

Sponsored by: SIFF Board of Directors

Longwave (Les Grandes Ondes)


U.S. Premiere

April 1974. A Swiss radio crew is sent to Portugal to investgate Switzerland’s aid to poor countries during the workers’ revoluton. When democracy crosses your path, you must be ready to seize it no mater what, even if it means practcing a litle civil disobedience, considered a deadly sin by any good law-abiding Swiss.

France/Switzerland | 85 min. | Dir. Lionel Baier


Sponsored by: Swiss Consulate of San Francisco

Louis Cyr


Biopic of Louis Cyr, strongest man in the world at the end of the 19th Century.

Canada | 90 min. | Dir. Daniel Roby


Sunday, April 6 (12 pm) Andrews Hall @ Sonoma Community Center

Sponsored by: Quebec Trade

Love and Lemons


A romantc comedy about love, friendship and the courage it takes to follow your dreams. Agnes is a chef and she loves cooking. She has a good job and a boyfriend who loves her. When she is both fred from the luxurious restaurant and dumped by her boyfriend she is asked to be part owner in a new restaurant. At the same tme she manages to fall in love with the one person who cannot know who she really is.

Sweden | 94 min. | Dir. Teresa Fabik

Friday, April 4 (9:00 am) Sebastani Theater

Maidentrip

Documentary Feature

14-year-old, Dutch schoolgirl, Laura Dekker, sets out on a two-year voyage in pursuit of her dream to become the youngest person ever to sail around the world alone. A once-giddy youngster develops into a poised and determined woman over the course of 17 months as she charts her course not just on the water, but in life.

USA | 81 min. | Dir. Jillian Schlessinger

Thursday, April 3 (2:30 pm) Andrews Hall @ Sonoma Community Center

Sunday, April 6 (6:15 pm) Murphy’s Irish Pub

Short: Moped Diaries. See pg. 20

Man Up & Go

Documentary Feature

When Roger went to Ethiopia to get his adopted daughter, she was 6 months old, but only 7 pounds, and dying. Roger asked himself,” Is there a way out of this?” He called his dad and heard words that rocked his core: Roger, man up! If she dies, at least she will die in the arms of a father. Roger had to inspire men to be beter husbands and fathers, so he launched the Man Up movement.

USA | 90 min. | Dir. Randy Bacon and Shannon Bacon

Thursday, April 3 (3:00 pm) Burlingame Hall

Saturday, April 5 (7:15 pm) Sonoma Valley Museum of Art

McConkey

Documentary Feature

A heartelt examinaton of the legacy one athlete lef to the progression of his sports, and the path he paved to conquer his dreams. Shane McConkey is revered as a pioneer of freeskiing and ski-BASE jumping, and through his talent and ability to use his trademark irreverent humor, he inspired countless lives.

USA | 109 min. | Dir. David Zief

Thursday, April 3 (10:30 am) Murphy’s Irish Pub


Short: Tahoe Time. See pg. 20

Melaza


With the closure of the local sugar mill, the picturesque Cuban town of Melaza has become desolate and lifeless. School teacher Aldo and now-unemployed Monica eke out a meager living, going as far as rentng out their tny home to the local prosttute for extra cash. When they get in trouble with the authorites, resultng fnes lead to more desperate measures.

Cuba | 80 min. | Dir. Carlos Lechuga (in atendance)



My Straight Son (Azul Y No Tan Rosa)


Diego, a young and successful photographer living in the glamorous world of fashion, shallowness and excess has his world turned around by a tragic accident: his partner is now in a coma. Unexpectedly, and right at this terrible tme, Diego must take care of his son, Armando. Now both of them have to adapt to each other: Armando to the unknown, homosexual world of his father, and Diego to the closed attude of his teenage son.

Venezuela | 110 min. | Dir. Miguel Ferrari (in atendance)


Sunday, April 6 (6:45 pm) La Luz Center

Neon Sky


The story of a small traveling carnival struggling to keep their way of life alive as they make their way across the highways and back roads of Northern California. Faced with what lies ahead, Everet, the owner, is determined to keep his caravan of drifers together even though it may be the end of their road.

USA |81 min. | Dir. Jennifer Juelich. Exec. Producer Lloyd Silverman (in atendance)

Friday, April 4 (8:45 pm) Burlingame Hall

Saturday, April 5 (10:30 am) Murphy’s Irish Pub

Plastc Paradise

Documentary Feature

Angela Sun's journey of discovery to one of the most remote places on Earth, Midway Atoll, to uncover the truth behind the phenomenon of the Great Pacifc Garbage Patch. Along the way she encounters scientsts, industrialists, legislators and actvists who shed light on what our society's vast consumpton of disposable plastc is doing to our oceans, and what it may be doing to our health.

USA | 57 min. | Dir. Angela Sun (in atendance)


Sunday, April 6 (9:30 am) Andrews Hall @ Sonoma Community Center

Short: Floodplain. See pg. 20

Ponchao


A man who’s destned to be best baseball player that ever lived will do anything to fulfll his dream. The unexpected events he encounters, and the way he chooses to handle them just to play his beloved sport, land him in way more than a litle bit of trouble.

Dominican Republic | 85 min. | Dir. Josh Cook


Queens & Cowboys: A Straight Year on the Gay Rodeo

Documentary Feature

A chronicle of a complete season of the Internatonal Gay Rodeo Associaton. Roping and riding across North America for the past 30 years, the IGRA's courageous cowboys and cowgirls brave challenges both in and out of the arena on their quest to qualify for the World Finals at the end of the season. And along the way, they'll bust every stereotype in the book.

USA | 92 min. | Dir. Mat Livadary and Rodeo cowboy Wade Earp (in atendance)

Thursday, April 3 (9:30 am) Vintage House

Saturday, April 5 (3:30 pm) Sebastani Theater

Rio 2

Animated Feature

It's a jungle out there for Blu, Jewel and their three kids afer they're hurtled from Rio de Janeiro to the ilds of the Amazon. As Blu tries to ft in, he goes beak-to-beak with the vengeful Nigel and meets the most fearsome adversary of all: his father-in-law.

USA | 101 min. | Dir. Carlos Saldanha

Sunday, April 6 (10:00 am) Sebastani Theater

Roxie


Two 60-year-old best friends, who also share a marriage-and-family therapy practce, plan a trip to San Francisco to atend a therapists’ conference. What happens to them as they play out their litle fing with escort Roxie will reveal their secrets, confront their notons of love and test their friendship in ways they never imagined. There are some real and dire consequences.

USA | 85 min. | Dir. Nick Frangione and Actor/Producer David Usner (in atendance)

Friday, April 4 (8:30 pm) Vintage House


Siddarth


Afer sending away his 12-year-old son Siddharth for work, Mahendra (a chain-wallah who fxes broken zippers on the streets) is relieved his fnancial burdens will be alleviated. But when Siddharth fails to return home, Mahendra learns he may have been taken by child-trafckers. With litle resources and no connectons, he travels across India with the hope that whatever force arbitrarily took his child away will return him unharmed.

Canada | 96 min. | Dir. Richie Metha. Producer David Miller (in atendance)


Starfsh Throwers

Documentary Feature

A poignant and heartwarming exploraton of how three of the world’s most fercely compassionate individuals fght hunger and struggle to restore hope to the hopeless in unexpected and sometmes dangerous ways. Half a world apart, a fve-star chef, a retred schoolteacher and a sixth-grade master gardener fght for a seemingly lost cause untl they discover their impact may reach further than their own actons.

USA | 80 min. | Dir. Jesse Roesler (in atendance)


Sunday, April 6 (5:30 pm) Andrews Hall @ Sonoma Community Center

Take Me to the River

Documentary Feature

A celebraton of the inter-generatonal and inter-racial musical infuence of Memphis in the face of pervasive discriminaton and segregaton. Multple generatons of award-winning Memphis and Mississippi Delta musicians are followed through the creatve process of recording a historic new album, to re-imagine the utopia of racial, gender and generatonal collaboraton of Memphis in its heyday.

Featuring Terrence Howard, William Bell, Snoop Dog, Mavis Staples, Ots Clay, Lil P-Nut, Charlie Musselwhite, Bobby "Blue" Bland, The North Mississippi All-Stars and many more.

USA | 95 min. | Dir. Martn Shore


Sunday, April 6 (11:45 am) Vintage House

Sponsored by: Yelp

Taking My Parents to Burning Man

Documentary Feature

Burning Man is a controversial arts festval in the Nevada desert that is notorious for dust, destructon, and debauchery. Needless to say, it's not your average place for a family vacaton... That is, untl Bry decides to rip his parents from their day-to-day ofce jobs and throw them into the adventure of a lifetme.

Canada | 82 min. | Dir. Joel Ashton McCarthy (in atendance)

Saturday, April 5 (9:15 am) Burlingame Hall


Sponsored by: Wildfre Web

Tastng Menu


A couple makes a reservaton for the best restaurant in the world for a year later. When the day arrives, they're separated and it is the last night the restaurant will be open. Neither of them will miss the culinary event. Fionnula Flanagan and Steven Rea.

Spain | 85 min. | Dir. Roger Gual. Actor Claudia Bassols (in atendance)



The Chef (Comme un Chef)


Jacky, a self-trained cook with haute-cuisine ambitons, gets canned from a series of menial cooking jobs. His pregnant girlfriend Beatrice tries to halt their fnancial meltdown by arranging a handyman positon for him at an old-folks home, but he can't resist the siren call of the kitchen. Meanwhile, a veteran chef faces of against his restaurant group's new CEO, who wants the establishment to lose a star from its ratng in order to bring in a younger chef who specializes in molecular gastronomy.

France | 84 min. | Dir. Daniel Cohen

Thursday, April 3, (12:30 pm) Burlingame Hall

The Fourth Noble Truth


Afer being convicted of road rage, playboy movie star Aaron Redmond (Harry Hamlin) is sentenced to individual meditaton sessions with an enlightened Buddhist teacher named Rachel who frowns upon his bad boy lifestyle. In each of their encounters, Rachel teaches Aaron one essental truth, and avoids his paterned firtatons. But soon their mutual atracton forces both Aaron and Rachel to rethink their life choices, or risk losing love.

USA | 88 min. | Dir. Gary McDonald and actor Kirsten Kerr (in atendance)



Short: The Morning Afer. See pg. 20

The French Minister (Quai d’Orsay)


France's Minister of Foreign Afairs is a force to be reckoned with. He takes on American neo-cons, corrupt Russians and money-grabbing Chinese. Perhaps the world doesn’t deserve France’s magnanimousness, but his art would be wasted if just restricted to home turf. Enter the young Arthur Vlaminck, graduate of the elite Natonal School of Administraton, who is hired as head of “language” at the foreign ministry. In other words, he is to write the minister’s speeches. But he also has to learn to deal with the sensibilites of the boss and his entourage, and fnd his way between the private secretary

and the special advisors who stalk the corridors of the Quai d’Orsay – the ministry’s home – where stress, ambiton and dirty dealing are the daily currency.

France | 113 min. | Dir. Bertrand Tavernier


Sponsored by: TV5 Monde

The Golden Scallop


Every year since 1969 the best three fried fsh restaurants in the northeast have competed in the Golden Scallop Championship. The 43rd annual pits a food truck cook seeking redempton, an aging former champion, and a well-fnanced, novelty-friendly fsh house against each other in the truest test of short order cooking metle. Follow the excitement, hilarity, and chaos as these teams go from selecton tll the glory of victory or the agony of defeat.

USA | 83 min. | Dir. Joseph Laraja. Writer/Co-Producer Kevin Harrigan (in atendance)


The Great Beauty


Jep Gambardella has seduced his way through the lavish nightlife of Rome for decades, but afer his 65th birthday and a shock from the past, Jep looks past the nightclubs and partes to fnd a tmeless landscape of absurd, exquisite beauty. Winner Academy Award 2014 for Best Foreign Film.

Italy | 142 min. | Dir. Paolo Sorrentno


Sponsored by: Isttuto Italiano di Cultura in San Francisco

The Human Experiment

Documentary Feature

Narrated and executve-produced by Oscar-winner Sean Penn. The veil is lifed on the shocking reality that thousands of untested chemicals are in our products, our homes and in us. The result: Rising rates

of everything from cancer to autsm to infertlity. A band of unlikely actvists is fghtng back: ranging from a conservatve businessman to a teenage radical, they are staking their lives on this batle to protect our health.

USA | 91 min. | Dir. Donald Hardy (in atendance)


Sunday, April 6 (2:30 pm) Andrews hall @ Sonoma Community Center

The Kill Team

Documentary Feature

The rivetng story of Specialist Adam Winfeld, a 21-year-old infantryman in Afghanistan who atempted with the help of his father to alert the military to heinous war crimes his platoon was commitng. When his father's pleas for help went unheeded, Adam was lef to face his scornful platoon members, who threatened to silence him - permanently. A split-second decision changes his life forever.

USA | 79 min. | Dir. Dan Krauss (in atendance)

Friday, April 4 (5:30 pm) Vintage House

The Lightbulb Conspiracy

Documentary Feature

Investgatve research and rare archive footage trace the untold story of Planned Obsolescence, from its beginnings in the 1920s with a secret cartel, set up expressly to limit the life span of light bulbs, to present-day stories involving cutng edge electronics (such as the iPod) and the growing spirit of resistance amongst ordinary consumers. A business practce in France, Germany, Spain and the US which has become the basis of the modern economy. USA | 52 min. | Dir. Steve Michelson (in atendance)



The Organic Life

Documentary Feature

In 1945, the average age of the American farmer was 39; today, it is 55. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of farmers under the age of 45 dropped 14% between 2002 and 2007; thus, as fewer and fewer young men and women choose to return to the land, the EPA seem justfed in their concern about “the long-term health of family farms as an American insttuton.”

USA | 60 min. | Dir. Casey Beck (in atendance)



Short: Walking Walker Marshall. See pg. 20

Thrive

Documentary Feature

An unconventonal documentary lifs the veil on what's REALLY going on in our world by following the money upstream -- uncovering the global consolidaton of power in nearly every aspect of our lives. Weaving together breakthroughs in science, consciousness and actvism, Thrive ofers real solutons, empowering us with unprecedented and bold strategies for reclaiming our lives and our future.

USA | 132 min. | Dir. Steve Gagné, Kimberly Carter Gamble

Saturday, April 5 (9:00 am) Andrews Hall @ Sonoma Community Center

Sponsored by: Store-N-Lock, Santa Rosa

Viva Cuba


In a tale akin to "Romeo and Juliet," the friendship between two children is threatened by their parents' diferences. Malú is from an upper-class family and her single mother does not want her to play with Jorgito, of a lesser ‘class’. Jorgito's mother, a poor socialist proud of her family's social standing, places similar restrictons on her son. When the children learn that Malú's mother is planning to leave Cuba, they decide to travel to the other side of the island to fnd Malú's father and persuade him against signing the forms that would allow it.

Cuba | 92 min. | Dir. Juan Carlos Cremata (in atendance)


http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4683309/?ref_=tt_ov_dr

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0301076/?ref_=tt_ov_dr


Volcano


Alain is a driving instructor who raised his daughter alone afer his wife lef soon afer the baby was born. The two meet again on an Athens-bound plane just before Eyjafallajokull erupts. Both are forced to make alternate travel plans which inevitably result in being thrown together in a desperate race to reach their destnaton before their daughter tes the knot.

France | 92 min. | Dir. Alexandre Cofre


Short: Mr. Hublot. See pg. 20

Sponsored by: Sotheby’s Internatonal

We the Nobles


When a manipulator and powerful businessman realizes that his spoiled children are throwing their lives overboard, he decides to fake the collapse of his company to teach them a lesson, making them believe that all their propertes were seized and forcing them to do the unthinkable—work.

Mexico | 108 min. | Dir. Gary Alazraki. Actor Gonzalo Vega (in atendance)



Wings of Life

Documentary

The stories of selected animal characters—a bat, a hummingbird, a buterfy, and a bee-- reveal the extraordinary importance of fowers and their pollinator partners. Using special cinematc techniques, we explore the mystcal intersecton of the animal and plant worlds where life regenerates itself over and over again.

USA | 80 min. | Dir. Louis Schwartzburg (in atendance)

Saturday, April 5 (12 pm) Sebastani Theater

Sponsored by: Faber Castell

FACT & FICTION SHORTS PROGRAM

Burlingame Hall Thursday, April 3 9:45 pm

Vintage House Saturday, April 5 2:00 pm

America 101

One man's life becomes the lesson of the day when he takes a frenetc ride through his own twisted version of the American experience.

9 min. | Dir. Richard Speight, Jr. (in atendance)

Happy Hands

Hollywood icon Tippi Hedren gave her tme and heart in Vietnam where she conceived the project and provided the means for twenty of the frst refugees to establish themselves as manicurists. Together, they founded a new industry that became a Vietnamese American Dream.

20 min. | Dir. Honey Lauren (in atendance)

The Art of Beer

Since prohibiton ended, there has been an upswing in the beer industry. The big domestc breweries did extremely well, and stll are thriving.

15 min. | Dir. Oscar Ussery (in atendance)

Great

A young Serbian projectonist decides to teach the German oppressors a lesson they won‘t forget. The beginning of a true and astonishing WorldWar II resistance story, where humor is used as a weapon.

23 min. | Dir. Andreas Henn

No One is Listening Anymore

She blames technology. He blames the plumber. And therapy has never been so revealing.

7 min. | Dir. Romi Trower

HUMOR & HEART SHORTS PROGRAM

Practce Makes Perfect

A nervous, twelve-year-old Clint is having trouble enjoying his frst date with Sally. For weeks, he has been practcing for his frst kiss and now, the moment is almost upon him. He must make the right move or live a life of regrets at a missed opportunity.

3 min. | Dir. Devon Avery (in atendance)

Brunch Bitch

A brunch waitress takes a paltry order from a Sunday guest, and proves herself to be deeply - perhaps psychotcally - commited to her craf.

9 min. | Dir. Hannah Cheeman (in atendance)

Bubble

The unique journey of a woman trying to make peace with her own hauntng memory. This adventure is heavy on special efects and cinematographic beauty.

6 min. | Dir. Jennifer West (in atendance)

Cash for Gold

When Grace visits a pawnshop, desperate for cash, she fnd herself at odds with the owner’s son, Ehsan. Neither of them will forget what happens next.

8 min. | Dir. Deborah Puete (in atendance)

Bar Talk

In a dusty Texas bar, a chaty stranger insists on striking up a conversaton with the man sitng next to him. The more this out-of-towner talks, the more obvious it is he's not from 'round here. Heck, he's not even from this planet!

9 min. | Dir. Lowell Northrop (in atendance)

G.P.S.

Grace plants a G.P.S. device in her husband’s car and begins to track him throughout their Napa community. As she learns his whereabouts, her emotons are stretched to the limits.

18 min. | Dir. Billy Higgins (in atendance)

Your Mother’s Maiden Name

Pete calls his bank and endures the hardship of customer service that we all know too well.

4 min. | Dir. Max Reisman (in atendance)

Check Please

Afer a relaxing evening out to dinner, two proud men batle over who gets to pay the check.

9 min. | Dir. Geofrey James (in atendance)

Buterfy Dreams

A nine- year-old girl in rural India, exploited by child labor, must fnd a way to pursue her dream - how to read and write. She has one last chance when an educated man comes to town.

23 min. | Dir. Venkat Krishnan (in atendance)

SPACE & TIME SHORTS PROGRAM

A House A Home

Based on the song of the same name, A House, A Home brings two imaginary characters together who were cared for by the humanitarian and physician Dr James C Hawthorne.

7 min. | Dir. Daniel Fickle

Into the Silent Sea

A lone cosmonaut, adrif in orbit around Earth, has lost communicatons and life-support systems are dwindling fast. A radio engineer working the night shif in Italy discovers an emergency transmission.

25 min. | Dir. Andrej Landin

Rose, Mary And Time

A magical story of love, second chances and Kismet.

38 min. | Dir. Hardeep Giani

Satellite Beach

The unique journey of the Endeavour space shutle as it travels through the streets of Los Angeles to the California Science Center, and the fnal move of the Atlants space shutle to the Kennedy Space Center.

38 min. | Dir. Andrew Wilson, Luke Wilson

VISUAL JOURNEYS & STORIES SHORTS PROGRAM

Door God

On Chinese New Year, a litle girl learns reality is not what it seems as she discovers how betrayal can be done out of love.

24 min. | Dir. Yulin Liu

Blue

In a world where balloons are alive, one fearful balloon must learn to put his fragile life in the hands of an unlikely friend.

9 min. | Dir. Rena Cheng (in atendance)

Fine Art of Cofee Portraiture

Meet Mike Breach, barista extraordinaire, who “paints” everything — and everyone — into his lates. "I’m an esspressionist," he proudly proclaims.

3 min. | Dir. Sky Dylan-Robbins

Los Retratos

At Sunday’s market Grandma Paulina unwillingly wins a Polaroid camera in a rafe. She proposes her husband take pictures of their lives in the country. But when the camera roll comes to an end, the hunger persists!

15 min. | Dir. Ivan Gaona

Dance of the Death

Music clip on Camille Saint–Saens’ 'Dance of Death' music. Whole life cycle of the person from birth tll death within three minutes.

3 min. | Dir. Yulia Novich

Chicken or the Egg

An ofeat romantc comedy about a pig who has an addicton to eatng eggs. But when he falls in love with the hotest chicken in town, he must choose what comes frst . . . the Chicken or the Egg.

4 min. | Dir. Christne Kim

Clockmakers

We travel inside a mysterious mechanism made up entrely of revolving gearwheels, triangles and lines. In this whirling, hypnotc world, dozens of tny gymnasts leap, somersault and twist through the air.

5 min. | Dir. Renaud Hallée

Glance

Have you ever caught a stranger's eye and wondered what if?

3 min. | Dir. Conkerco

Face

This flm documents the recent portraiture project of the prominent Bay Area painter Valentn Popov, flmed at his studio and exhibits. Film also features experts, critcs and colleagues talking about the artst's work.

17 min. | Dir. Celik Kayalar (in atendance)

SHORTS PRECEDING FEATURES

Adrif

A love leter to the fog of the San Francisco Bay Area. The magical interacton between the sof mist, the ridges of the California coast and the iconic Golden Gate Bridge.

4 min. | Dir. Simon Christen (in atendance)

Plays with Beside Stll Waters pg.

Wednesday, April 2 (8:15 pm) Andrews Hall @ Sonoma Community Center

Saturday, April 5 (4:30 pm) Vintage House

Backyard

Energy companies pursue increasingly difcult methods of fossil fuel extracton at increasing costs to the people and the environment. Four states presently in diferent stages of hydro-fracking development are examined.

28 min. | Dir. Deia Schlossberg

Plays with Bringing it Home pg.



Floodplain

Rafing across a foodplain in the Canadian Rockies, a small-town teen must learn to let go of his childhood sweetheart when she reveals she’s leaving for university. Starring Cameron Bright (Twilight,X-men) and Sarah Desjardin.

11 min. |Dir. Jeremy Luter (in atendance)

Fortssimo

An old, washed up vaudeville mime struggles for atenton untl he meets a young girl with a magical ability to produce sound with her every touch.

Dir. Noah Wagner (in atendance)

Plays with Children’s Program

Saturday, April 5 (9:00 am) Sebastani Theater

Le Sauvetage

Two stray dogs decide to setle down and rescue a human. Realizing how much work it is to keep a human entertained, they make the decision to rescue a second human.

6 min. | Dir. Peter McEvilley (in atendance)

Plays with Dom Hemingway pg. 1

Wednesday, April 2 (7:45 pm) Sebastani Theater

Plays with Children’s Program

Saturday, April 5 (9:00 am) Sebastani Theater

Moped Diaries

When a new bridge is built connectng his island to the mainland a boy must come to grips with the heartbreak and opportunites that come along with it.

11 min. | Tyler Nilson (in atendance)

Plays with Maidentrip pg. 8



Missing U

Upon discovering that she's missing her U, the leter I goes on a perilous adventure to fnd him.

3 min. | Dir. Brooke Wagstaf

Plays with Wings of Life pg. 20

Saturday, April 5 (12 pm) Sebastani Theater

Mr. Hublot

Mr Hublot, a withdrawn, idiosyncratc character with OCD, meets Robot Pet - who is about to change his neat and tdy world…11 min. Dir.Laurent Witz

Plays with Volcano pg. 15


Tahoe Time

25,000 photos, 10 months of hard work, incredible sunsets and sunrises, new equipment purchased and borrowed, 1 TB of storage. The beauty of Lake Tahoe!

5 min. | Dir. Justn Majeczky

Plays with McConkey pg. 8

Thursday, April 3 (10:30 am) Murphy’s Irish Pub


The Morning Afer

A woman wakes up naked in bed with a sexy stranger and no recollecton of the previous night's events. Sometmes you have to wake up to fnd the man of your dreams.

15 min. | Dir. David Renaud. Actor Steve West (in atendance)

Plays with The Fourth Noble Truth pg. 12



Walking Walker Marshall

An encounter with a stranger brings unsetling premonitons, sending Marshall on a desperate race through memory and tme to reunite with his estranged daughter and undo a fateful mistake.

15 min. | Dir. Giorgio Lit (in atendance)

Plays with The Organic Life pg. 14



OPENING NIGHT - Sonoma International Film Festival Documentary Feature – Vamos al Cine Pachuca,...

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