Maude Apatow’s directorial debut, “Poetic License,” kicks off the 29th Sonoma Intl. Film Festival, with Steven Soderbergh’s “The Christophers,” starring Ian McKellen, set for a centerpiece screening.
The festival, which runs March 25-29 in the heart of California wine country, will also screen Julian Schnabel’s latest, “In the Hand of Dante.” Schnabel will also be on hand for a special evening and moderated talk about his career, visual art and cinema.
The festival’s 104-film lineup spans 37 countries, and closes with “Under the Lights,” which shot in Sonoma, and follows a teen with epilepsy who risks everything to attend prom.
Festival artistic director Carl Spence acknowledges that March is kind of a dead zone for film festivals — post Oscars and pre-Cannes/Venice/Toronto — but that’s a plus.
“The beauty of Sonoma is that it’s very freeing; we’re not a festival that requires premieres,” Spence says. “There’s so many films that quite get traction throughout the year — it’s more about finding really great films.”
Highlights of the schedule include “I Swear,” “Mile End Kicks,” “The Last One for the Road,” “Winter of the Crow” and a special screening of “Vertigo” in conjunction with the documentary “Kim Novak’s Vertigo.”
Spence notes that Schnabel’s “In the Hand of Dante,” which stars Oscar Isaac, was “divisive” in its Venice Film Festival debut.
“It’s an amazing cast, really driven by Oscar,” says Spence, who says Schnabel’s work goes beyond filmmaking, drawing from his disciplines as a painter and visual artist. “He films like a painter, and you just have to go with it. I went with it and I thought, it has texture, it transcends time and space, it’s a beautiful film.”
The fest sports a feature competition section, comprising “Ky Nam Inn,” from Leon Le, “Maspalomas,” from Jose Mari Goenaga and Aitor Arregi, “My Tennis Maestro” by Andrea di Stefano, “Orphan,” the latest from Oscar-winning helmer Lászlo Nemes, “Silent Rebellion,” from Marie-Elsa Sgualdo, “The Soundman, by Frank Van Passel, “Sundays,” from helmer Alauda Ruiz and “Vainilla,” by director Mayra Hermosillo.
Documentary competition features are “The Art of Adventure” (director: Alison Reid), “Barbara Forever” (director: Brydie O’Connor), “The Big Cheese” (director: Sara Joe Wolansky), “Fork in the Road” (directors: Jonathan Nastasi, Vivian Sorenson), “Jane Elliott Against the World” (director: Judd Ehrlich), “Kim Novak´s Vertigo” (director: Alexandre O. Philippe), “Newport and the Great Folk Dream” (director: Robert Gordon), “Raoul’s, A New York Story” (director: Greg Olliver, Karim Raoul) and “State of Firsts” (director: Chase Joynt).
“The overriding aim of the competition is to put the spotlight on exceptional films that have been overlooked or deserve a further look. None of them have distribution at the time that we select them for competition; they’re all films that are looking to somehow get traction here in the U.S.,” Spence says.
Sonoma also hosts SIFF After Dark, a genre-focused section that includes “Fuze,” from David Mackenzie, Ben Wheatley’s “Normal,” “The Last Viking” starring Mad Mikkelsen and Over Your Dead Body,” a Jorma Taccone horror-comedy with Jason Segel and Timothy Olyphant.
Panels with film experts also feature in the festival, including “The Art of Casting: The Craft Behind the New Oscar,” which explores the Academy’s newest category and the evolving role of casting in shaping performances and careers; “The Power of Storytelling,” a discussion with documentary filmmakers on impact-driven filmmaking and audience engagement; “Film Veterans Tell All”; and “Food, Film & the Future.”
And it would not be a film festival in California wine country without culinary-focused films and events, including the Moon and the Stars Dinner at renowned eatery Valley Bar + Bottle, which features wines from Moon Mountain AVA wineries alongside a spring menu celebrating the season’s best ingredients. There’s also the opening night party at the historic Sebastiani Vineyards & Winery, the Studio 54 Disco Party at HopMonk and the Centerpiece Dolce After Dark Party at Buena Vista Winery.
“We’re very fortunate to have members of community that support the festival, because it’s hard to make these things work, but there’s some great, important community members to help underwrite it and make it happen,” says Spence, noting that there will also be Pop-In tastings at the Bar at MacArthur Place, Williams Sonoma and the Sonoma Cheese Factory.
“I’m really proud of the lineup we put together,” says Spence. “It really celebrates cinema in many different ways.”
Winter of the Crow, with Lesley Manville
