DJ Ahmet has won the Grand Jury Award for Best Narrative Feature, and Mistress Dispeller wins for Best Documentary Feature at the 2025 Sonoma International Film Festival.
Sonoma International Film Festival
Sonoma International Film Festival takes place in the heart of Northern California’s Wine Country and features more than 90 hand-selected films including independent features, documentaries, world cinema, shorts and a showcase of Spanish language films.
Sonoma International Film Festival started in 1997 and takes place in Sonoma Valley, CA
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‘DJ Ahmet’ and ‘Mistress Dispeller’ Win Top Jury Awards at 2025 Sonoma International Film Festival
DJ Ahmet by Georgi M. Unkovski (courtesy SIFF)
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World Premiere of ‘Sweet Störy’ to Open 28th Sonoma International Film Festival Lineup
Sweet Störy by Sarah Justine Kerruish and Matt Maude (courtesy Sonoma International Film Festival) The 28th Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF) returns to wine country from March 19-23, 2025, featuring a lineup of 39 narrative features, 16 documentaries, and 38 short films from over 21 countries alongside an array of filmmakers, actors, and culinary icons.
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‘Goodbye Julia’, ‘Invisible Nation’ Win Jury Awards at 27th Sonoma International Film Festival
Goodbye Julia (courtesy Sonoma International Film Festival) Goodbye Julia directed by Mohamed Kordofani walked away with the Grand Jury Award, Best Narrative Feature at the 27th Sonoma International Film Festival. The film follows the story of Mona, a northern Sudanese retired singer in a tense marriage, who is wracked by guilt after covering up a murder.
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Widow Clicquot Starring Haley Bennett to Open 27th Sonoma International Film Festival Lineup
Widow Clicquot (courtesy: SIFF) The U.S. Premiere of Thomas Napper’s Widow Clicquot starring Haley Bennett will kick off the 27th annual Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF) taking place March 20-24, 2024, and featuring 43 narrative features, 16 documentary features, along with 48 short films representing more than 25 countries.
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Chef Susan Feniger Honored at Sonoma Film Festival and Premieres Susan Feniger. Forked
Susan Feniger. Forked James Beard Award-winning American chef, restaurateur, cookbook author, and media personality Susan Feniger will be honored at the upcoming Sonoma International Film Festival (March 20-24, 2024) with the festival’s Culinary Excellence Award along with the Bay Area Premiere screening of Susan Feniger. Forked, directed by her partner, filmmaker Liz Lachman, on Thursday, March 21 at 5 pm at Hanna Center in Sonoma.
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BURNING DAYS and A STAGE OF TWILIGHT Win Top Filmmaker Jury Prizes at Sonoma Film Festival 2023
Burning Days directed by Emin Alper Burning Days directed by Emin Alper won the Grand Jury Prize for Narrative Feature at the 26th annual Sonoma International Film Festival which ran March 22-26, 2023. The Grand Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature went to The Grab by Gabriela Cowperthwaite.
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CHASING CHILDHOOD, Documentary Explores the Changing Landscape of Childhood and Parenting
Chasing Childhood directed by Margaret Munzer Loeb and Eden Wurmfeld Following the world premiere at DOC NYC, the documentary Chasing Childhood will screen at upcoming film festivals across the country in March and April, including Portland International Film Festival (March 5-14) and Sonoma International Film Festival (March 24-28).
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Coronavirus Forces Film Festivals Cancellations and Postponements (LIST)
San Francisco International Film Festival The coronavirus, (COVID-19) pandemic is having a devastating impact on film festivals with many postponing or cancelling outright. Major festivals such as San Francisco International Film Festival and RiverRun International Film Festival have canceled, while others such as Richmond International Film Festival and Florida Film Festival have been postponed until the Summer or Fall.
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‘IN THE ORCHARD’ ‘SALYUT-7’ ‘THE NEED TO GROW’ Win at 21st Sonoma International Film Festival
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IN THE ORCHARD[/caption]
The 21st annual Sonoma International Film Festival came to a close over the weekend with the awards ceremony, and IN THE ORCHARD directed by Christopher Knoblock won the prize for Best American Independent Feature. In the film a grief-stricken woman befriends a Marine Veteran with PTSD, and the two begin a relationship which may lead them towards tragic consequences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lv3eTd7rEYU
Other winners include SALYUT-7 directed by Klim Shipenko snagging the prize for Best World Feature; and THE NEED TO GROW directed by Rob Herring & Ryan Wirick won for Best Documentary Feature.
In SALYUT-7, Astronauts are sent to the rescue of Salyut 7, an unresponsive Soviet space station in what will become one of the most complicated mission in the history of space navigation. The documentary THE NEED TO GROW follows the personal journeys of solution innovators as they fight to localize sustainable food systems and regenerate Earth’s dying soils.
The SIFF 2018 winners are:
SIFF JURIED AWARDS
Best American Independent Feature: IN THE ORCHARD / Directed by Christopher Knoblock Best World Feature: SALYUT-7 / Directed by Klim Shipenko Best Documentary Feature: THE NEED TO GROW / Directed by Rob Herring & Ryan Wirick Best Animated Short: TWO BALLOONS / Directed by Mark C. Smith Best Comedy Short: SAM DID IT / Directed by Dominic Burgess Best Dramatic Short: WOODMAN / Directed by Mike Jackson Best World Short: INTO THE BLUE / Directed by Antoneta Alamat KusijanovicSIFF AUDIENCE AWARDS
The A3 Audience Award: Best Documentary: THE PUSH / Directed by Grant Korgan & Brian Niles (co-directors Geoff Callan) The Stolman Audience Award for Best American Indie: FUNNY STORY / Directed by Michael Gallagher SIFF Award for Best World Cinema: TULIPANI / Directed by Mike van DiemAUDIENCE SHORTS AWARDS
Best Animated: THE DRIVER IS RED / Directed by Randall Christopher Best Comedy: GRAHAM’S MATE/ Directed by Andy Hill Best Dramatic: WOODMAN / Directed by Mike Jackson Best Documentary: EMPIRE ON MAIN STREET / Directed by Jessica Congdon Best World Cimena: CROSSING FENCES / Directed by Annika Pampel Best Delicious: SAFRON / Directed by Andreas Ewels
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THE PROMISE Starring Christian Bale to Open 20th Sonoma International Film Festival
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The Promise[/caption]
The Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF) highly anticipated 20th Anniversary celebration will open on Wednesday, March 29 with The Promise starring Christian Bale and Angela Sarafyan. Set during the last days of the Ottoman Empire, The Promise follows a love triangle between Michael, a brilliant medical student, the beautiful and sophisticated Ana, and Chris – a renowned American journalist based in Paris.
The five-day event takes place in the heart of Northern California’s Wine Country and will feature more than 130 hand-selected films including independent features, documentaries, world cinema and short films.
”We are excited and prepared for an unprecedented number of filmmakers and festival attendees to come to Sonoma and experience the very best in film, food, wine and spirits,” enthused Executive Director Kevin McNeely.
One of the festival highlights is the Student Showcases on Thursday, March 30 and again the following Sunday afternoon. Peter Hansen, the director of the Media Arts Program at Sonoma Valley High School has selected Owen Summers stop action claymation film Magic Beans to be accepted into the Sonoma International Film Festival. Owen is a senior at Sonoma Valley High School.
Kiara Ramirez will be awarded the inaugural SIFF Emerging Artist Award. This award has been selected for post-high school filmmakers who exemplify the spirit of independent filmmakers with career aspiration in the film arts. Kiara is a 2016 graduate from Mendocino High School. Her first film, which she has produced and directed, is “mini-doc” Behind the Wall.
Cook Up A Storm will close out the festival on Sunday, April 2. A Cantonese street cook and his chief rival, a French-trained Michelin-starred chef, discover they have a lot in common as they prepare for a world-famous culinary competition. An international culinary competition becomes a battleground between rival cooks, one famous for his Cantonese street food and the other a Michelin-starred chef trained in France. But their rivalry takes an unexpected turn when they discover a common foe and combine their skills in a fusion of East and West.
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Sonoma International Film Festival Announce 2014 Award Winners; “Brahmin Bulls” Starring Mary Steenburgen Wins Best American Independent Feature
Brahmin BullsThe Sonoma International Film Festival’s 17th edition which ran April 2 to 6, 2014, came to a close Sunday night and bestowed awards on the winning films and filmmakers. Brahmin Bulls directed by Mahesh Pailoor and starring Mary Steenburgen, Justin Bartha and Michael Lerner won the award for Best American Independent Feature. In the film, a disillusioned architect and his distant father come together after many years, but when a woman from the past resurfaces, old wounds threaten to break their new-found relationship.
FESTIVAL AWARD WINNERS:
Best American Independent Feature: Brahmin Bulls
Directed by Mahesh PailoorA disillusioned architect and his distant father come together after many years, but when a woman from the past resurfaces, old wounds threaten to break their new-found relationship. The film stars Mary Steenburgen, Justin Bartha and Michael Lerner.
Jury notes: Universal recognition of the father-son relationship told through the specificity of a cultural lens.
Best World Feature: Siddharth, directed by Richie Metha
After sending away his 12-year-old son Siddharth for work, Mahendra (a chain-wallah who fixes broken zippers on the streets) is relieved his financial burdens will be alleviated. But when Siddharth fails to return home, Mahendra learns he may have been taken by child-traffickers. With little resources and no connections, he travels across India with the hope that whatever force arbitrarily took his child away will return him unharmed.
Jury notes: Tremendous heart and humanity in a quickly changing time… classic storytelling with a fresh perspective.
Honorable Mention: Everything Is Fine Here, directed by Pourya Azarbayjani
An engaged girl is gang raped in a desert area of Teheran. In a strict conservative society the crime of the assailants is the catastrophe of the victim. Overwhelmed by rumors her life turns into a nightmare.
Jury notes: A courageous approach to narrative storytelling.
Best Documentary Feature: The Human Experiment, directed by Donald Hardy, Jr.
Narrated and executive-produced by Oscar winner Sean Penn, the film documents how thousands of untested chemicals are in our products, our homes and in us. The film follows a band of unlikely activists who are fighting back. Ranging from a conservative businessman to a teenage radical, they are staking their lives on this battle to protect our health. They go head-to-head with the powerful and well-funded chemical industry to uncover a system that’s been hidden from consumers, where science is for sale and million-dollar PR campaigns keep dangerous products on the shelves.
Jury notes: An important story that needed to be told, and equally entertaining.
Best Narrative Short: Door God, directed by Yulin Liu
On Chinese New Year, a little girl learns reality is not what it seems as she discovers how betrayal can be done out of love. A seven-year-old girl, Lingli, has been waiting two years for her mother to come home. When her family finally puts up the Door God on Chinese New Year, her mother finally returns, but brings irreversible change to Lingli and her family.
Jury notes: A moving tale of a small girl and her father learning to exist following the mother’s abandonment… a story of hope and stoicism.
Best Documentary Short: Happy Hands, directed by Honey Lauren
In 1975 Saigonm, actress Tippi Hedren gave her time and heart on the South China Sea, bravely helping Vietnamese refugees and eventually becoming a fixture in the camp known as Hope Village. There, Miss Hedren personally conceived and provided the means for twenty of the first refugees to establish themselves as manicurists. Together, they brought beauty to the masses, and established a new industry that became a Vietnamese American Dream for a people whose language has no word to describe it.
Jury notes: A revealing introduction of how South Vietnamese immigrants earned a living and gained a sense of self via an unlikely route — nail salons.
AUDIENCE FAVORITE WINNERS
The Stolman Audience Award of $1,000 for Best American Independent Feature:
The Fourth Noble Truth, directed by Gary T. McDonaldAfter being convicted of road rage, a playboy movie star is sentenced to individual mediation lessons with an enlightened Buddhist teacher.
A³ Audience Award of $1000 for Best Documentary: Taking My Parents to Burning Man, directed by Joel Ashton McCarthy and Bryant H. Boesen
Burning Man is a arts festival in the Nevada desert that is notorious for dust, destruction, and debauchery. Needless to say, it’s not your average place for a family vacation…that is until Bry decides to rip his parents from their day to day office jobs and throw them into an adventure of a lifetime.
Audience Award of $1000 for Best World Feature: Butterfly’s Dream, directed by Yilmaz Erdogan
In a small Turkish town, two young tuberculous poets try to survive while publishing their poems. As they both fall in love, their life would never be the same.
via sonomaportal