SANTA ROSA FILM FESTIVAL - Santa Rosa International Film Festival

Santa RoSa 

InteRnatIonal 

FIlm FeStIval 

A 25th Anniversary Wine Country Film Festival Event 

September 14 - 20, 2011 

www.sriff.org

Arts in Film aim to deepen our understanding of various art forms. This year there are 32 

films that explore everything from iconic painters to the impact of hip-hop on world culture. 

US Cinema highlights emerging talent within the United States. 

Eco Cinema focuses on environmental issues. This year there are 16 films on effect of 

humans on our fragile planet. 

Cine Latino celebrates films that engage us in the Latino culture. 

Cinema of Conscience this year there are 15 films on war, disease, or challenges to humanity. 

World Cinema highlights films from around the world that create cultural understanding. 

This year there are scores of films from more than 20 countries. 

Food on Film arouse the senses through cuisine and wine, from the earth to the table. 

Index to Features By Genre 

Arts in Film 

Anna ..................................................57 

Child of Giants: ...............................55 

Furious Force of Rhymes, The 27, 39 

Heaven’s Mirror: ................12, 39, 46 

I, Don Giovanni .......................24, 63 

Kinshasa Symphony ......................57 

Music from the Big House ...........56 

My Afternoons with Margueritte ...... 

22, 61 

Never Stand Still .............................23 

Roots Music Americana ................63 

Streets of Flamenco ........................27 

Unfinished Spaces ...................57, 61 

Cine Latino 

City of Gardens ......................30, 62 

F*ck My Life ...................................64 

Mamitas ..........................................40 

Patagonia ........................................52 

Cinema of Conscience 

Age of Champions ........................25 

A Second Knock at the Door ...... 51 

Bicycle, Spoon, Apple ..................60 

Burma – A Human Tragedy ........64 

Only a Number ................13, 43, 53 

Reconciliation ..........................46, 54 

Salvador ..........................................52 

Tanzania: ........................................24 

Eco Cinema 

Amazon Forever ............................43 

Among Wolves ..............................65 

Dolphin Tale ................................... 51 

Enjoy Your Meal! ...........................28 

Flirting with Heights .....................30 

If a Tree Falls: .................................34 

On Coal River .................................49 

Patagonia Rising ............................45 

Priceless ..........................................38 

Slow the Flow .........................30, 56 

The Baja Wave Document ..........58 

Food on Film 

Barista: ..............................................32 

Delicious Peace .............................42 

Mediterranean Food ....................29 

Milk War ..........................................37 

DeDication 

Mother Vine ...................................25 

Sushi: The Global Catch ..............54 

US Cinema 

Currency .........................................50 

East Fifth Bliss .........................35, 53 

Entrance: .........................................42 

Jess + Moss .............................36, 45 

Scarface ...........................................52 

The Cosmic Joke ...........................59 

The Magnificent Seven ................23 

World Cinema 

40 ...................................................... 59 

Bardsongs ................................50, 60 

Eighteen Years Later .....................26 

Love in Another Language .........38 

Nuummioq .....................................44 

Robert Mitchum is Dead ............. 41 

Seven Samurai ..............................26 

Silent Sonata ............................41, 49 

Solemn Promise (Besa) ..............32 

The Athlete .....................................33 

The Jailmate ...................................28 

The Legend of Flying Cyprian ....40 

Touch ........................................ 29, 47 

Justine Ashton’s mother Margaret Vanston Ellis Warner passed on August 4. Mrs. Warner was 

surrounded by her 5 children and one granddaughter, Tara Ashton. Justine is dedicating the 1st 

annual SRIFF to her mother. She says “ I am the woman I am today because of my mum. She 

inspired all of us—family and friends—to work hard, to love the earth, to immerse ourselves in 

all aspects of the arts and above all to be of service to others” 

Welcome to The Festival 

Statement from the founDerS 

25th Anniversary Year 

“In Kino Veritas” 

A Festival Of The Senses 

We are all producers of this extraordinary event and IT IS AN HISTORICAL 

MOMENT! Thank you all for your contributions. You have given time and 

resources to bring meaningful cinema, the arts, music, delicious cuisine, 

and the bounty of this region to our communities and we are 

deeply grateful. 

The Santa Rosa International Film Festival (aka Wine Country Film Festival) 

is a cultural treasure! It is known through out the world and praised for 24 

years of outstanding programs of films and events. SRIFF/WCFF is the original 

film festival north of Marin County—it was and continues to be a catalyst 

to others to produce their own variations with common goals: to enrich our 

lives and communities through the power of the moving image, to broaden 

our understanding of other cultures, to learn about critical issues facing our 

world—here and in places we most likely will never get to live or visit, and 

to gather together for meaningful conversations (turn your cell phones off!) 

at intimate receptions, in theater lobbies, outside under the stars or in the 

Grand Room Cave, in downtown cafes, and upstairs at the Festival Hospitality 

Lounge (open to the general public). 

The films in this 25th anniversary program are simply terrific! We encourage 

you to see as many as possible and to see films in the different categories. 

The program you have before you will bring many hours of enjoyment and 

may in some way change your life. It is designed to entertain, to inspire and 

to encourage you to seek out your greatest possibilities! 

We believe that film is a “window on the world” and an opportunity to 

immerse one’s hands into the water of an unknown stream. By meeting 

the talented visiting filmmakers, producers and actors, you have the rare 

chance to wade deeper into their visions and to discover undercurrents 

which may not be on the surface of the screen. You may even discover 

along the way that film is a window to the soul! 

- Stephen and Justine Ashton 

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OFFICE OF THE GOVERNOR 

September 14, 2011 

Santa Rosa International Film Festival 

It is a pleasure to welcome those gathered for the Santa Rosa 

International Film Festival, presented by the 25th Wine Country Film 

Festival. 

I applaud your work to encourage cultural understanding and 

meaningful dialogue through cinema, the arts, cuisine and 

community. By showcasing a wide variety of films and hosting 

numerous special events, you raise awareness and keep the arts alive aliv 

in your communities. 

My congratulations go to everyone presenting in this festival, and I 

thank all those who made this event possible. On behalf of all 

Californians, I extend my best wis wishes hes for a fantastic event and every 

future success. 

Sincerely, 

EDMUND G. BROWN JR. 

GOVERNOR EDMUND G. BROWN JR. • SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 95814 • (916) 445-2841 445 

DOUBLE PLATINUM 

PLATINUM 

4 5 

GOLD 

SILVER 

Thank You to Our Sponsors 

CLONE, East West, Sheldon Winery, UPBEAT TIMES, Sonoma County Gazette, Ehret Winery, 

Korbel Champagne Cellars, Broadbent Selections, Inc., Old World Winery, Sky Saddle 

Winery, Sky Pine Vineyards, Ashton Vineyard, Accent Printers, Crestridge Partners

How To Festival 

Dates: September 14th - 20th, 2011 

Tickets: The best way to experience the Film Festival is with a Pass. (individual film tickets go on sale 

online September 7th and at the box office day of show). We have six passes on sale: 

• LOCAL PASS (Exclusively for SONOMA COUNTY residents): ..................................................................$100 

All screenings (80+ films) • Santa Rosa Opening Night Film and Party • Priority Entry • Access to 

the Festival’s Hospitality Lounge (all hours) 

• DAY PASS ........................................................................................................................... $50 / Early Bird $45 

Friday 9/16 Only, Sat 9/17 Only and/or Sunday 9/18 Only • Good for all Screenings • Priority Entry 

• DAY PASS PLUS ................................................................................................................. $65 / Early Bird $55 

All of the Above PLUS • one complementary wine flight at Cellars of Sonoma • Hospitality Lounge Happy 

Hour with guest 

• FESTIVAL PASS .............................................................................................................. $225 / Early Bird $200 

All of the Above PLUS • Santa Rosa Opening Night Film and Party • One complementary wine flight at 

Cellars of Sonoma • Access to the Hospitality Lounge (all hours) 

• FESTIVAL PASS PLUS .................................................................................................... $325 / Early Bird $300 

All of the Above PLUS • Santa Rosa Closing Night Film and Party • Priority Entry with a Reserved 

Seat in all theaters • Master Classes • One Free Day Pass for a Family Member or Friend 

• CONCIERGE PASS ....................................................................................................................................... $500 

Concierge Passholders enjoy personalized attention. A Concierge will assist you on your accommodation needs, 

offer insider tips on who is attending, provide up to date news, and offer guidance when you select your films 

• Invitation to a private reception • Choice of a reserved seat anywhere in all film festival venues. • Includes 

Master Classes, Opening and Closing Nights and Special Events. • Complimentary Wine Tickets 

Venues: 

3rd Street Cinemas, 

620 3rd Street, Santa Rosa 

Roxy Stadium 14, 

85 Santa Rosa Avenue, 

Santa Rosa 

Festival Hospitality Lounge, 

#1 Santa Rosa Avenue, 


Glaser Center, 

547 Mendocino Avenue, 


Summerfield Cinemas, 

551 Summerfield Road, 


Deerfield Ranch Winery, 

10200 Sonoma Highway 

(Hwy. 12) 

Kenwood, Sonoma Valley 

Parking: Public parking is convenient and inexpensive in downtown Santa Rosa. Parking is free at Summerfield 

Cinemas and Deerfield Ranch Winery. 


KenwooD opening night 

film & feStivitieS 

Wednesday, September 14, 2011 

Deerfield Ranch Winery 

My Afternoons with Margueritte 

Starring Gerard Depardieu & Gisele Casadesus 

Admission: $15 

(for film description, see page 22) 

Program: 

Gates open 6:30pm 

Short films in the Cave 7pm 

Music by DGIIN 7pm - 8pm 

On stage reading from Camus’ writings with 

Actress Sally Kirkland & Robert Rex 8pm 

Feature starts 8:15pm 

Food Truck Street Eatz 

offers movie goers a delicious menu. 

Deerfield wine sold by the glass or bottle! 

Please no outside food or drinks. 

Low lawn chairs welcome. 

Bring a flashlight & jacket/Nights get cool 

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Santa roSa opening night 

filmS & feStivitieS 

a reD carpet opening night! 

Thursday September 15, 2011 

Summerfield Cinemas 

The Magnificent Seven 

Admission: $15.00 per person includes the after party! 

Dan Tocchini’s favorite movie! This classic, a venerated, star-studded Western from 1960 

stars Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, Horst 

Bucholz and Eli Wallach. On the American Film Institute’s “100 Years… 100 Thrills” list. 

Preceded by Short: Living On Air 

Program: 

Join us for a Champagne Reception 5:30pm 

Short film Living On Air 6:00pm 

Feature Presentation 6:30pm 

Then join us at La Rosa Restaurant in downtown Santa Rosa 

between 9pm and midnight for a spectacular after party! 

Popular Sonoma County band John Pita entertains 9pm - 11pm 

NO HOST BAR 

Be sure to bring your movie ticket stub or pass. 


cloSing night filmS 

& party 

Tuesday September 20, 2011 

Roots Music Americana – Roxy 6pm 

The film explores today’s American roots musicians who take on 

their own legacy, the cult-like radio stations that play their 

music (local KRSH for one) and the community that listens. 

The documentary by local filmmaker David Reddix, features Jeff 

Mattison & Wayward Angels, Alabama Mike, Duke Robillard, 

Poor Man’s Whiskey, The Hellhounds, among others. With filmmaker David Reddix 

in person and a short riff by The Hellhounds in the theater lobby. 

Among Wolves – Deerfield Ranch Winery 7:45pm 

Written and directed by Gerardo Olivares 

WINNER SRIFF 2011 JACK LONDON SPIRIT AWARD 

Based on a true story, Among Wolves is set in a remote valley 

of Spain’s Sierra Morena Mountains. It is the story of Marcos 

Rodríguez Pantoja who is famous for being one of Spain’s highprofile 

feral children. At the age of seven his abusive father sold 

him to a goatherder whom Marcos soon won over by proving 

himself a quick study at herding, trapping and fishing. After the goatherder died, Marcos 

was left to fend for himself. He spent the next twelve years living in the wilderness 

with a pack of wolves, declaring himself “King of the Valley.” 

I, Don Giovanni (see page 62) – 

Summerfield Cinemas 6:40pm 

My Afternoons with Margueritte (see page 61) – 

Summerfield Cinemas 6:30pm 

SRIFF Closing Night Party / Tuesday September 20th, 9pm 

La Rosa Tequileria & Grille • 500 4th Street, Santa Rosa (Courthouse Square) 

Jeff Mattison & The Wayward Angels, The Hellhounds and Alabama Mike 

play at the The SRIFF Closing Night Party at La Rosa Tequileria & Grille 

Party free with film ticket (bring your ticket stub!) or FESTIVAL PASS holders. 

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art anD cinema: 

a Duet Dialogue 

Ongoing Exhibit, Festival Hospitality Lounge, 

#1 Santa Rosa Avenue, Santa Rosa 

Artists Reception - Friday, September 16, 2011, 5-8pm 

Through their unique ability to probe the artistic intentions of five different films 

that will screen at the SRIFF, five Sonoma County artists have created their own 

interpretive artistic reaction through their Art. Each Art piece will be displayed at its 

corresponding film screening and at the Festival Hospitality Lounge. 

Gerald Huth 

Connie Mygatt 

Don Ponte Official Art for the SRIFF 

The film Only A Number is about a Hungarian woman who 

survived the Holocaust. This film spoke to me very strongly, 

as my family was refugees from Nazi Germany, who came 

to America after 13 years without a home. In my work, I 

have tried to show the de-humanization of the concentration 

camps, the suffering imposed on a people for no real reason. 

I have included the image for the film itself, and the repetition 

of the numbers, which became that person’s identity. 

When I was a young girl I would sit by the sea staring at her 

vastness with wonder and longing. The sea seemed to hold 

the depths and wonder of what my young heart was seeking. 

I recalled those feeling while watching Heaven’s Mirror. Fado 

music embraces the longing one has for a profound passion. 

In my art I wanted to portray that longing. The girl fearlessly 

awaits her fate, not to be washed out to sea, but to hold fast 

to a custom that sings in her heart and fuels her own passion. 

Karina Nishi Marcus 

In my connected paintings “12 Bar Blues: Key of Hope,” I 

have sought to explore the atmosphere of transformation. 

Regardless of outward circumstance and situation, 

it is a human journey to hope in seeming hopelessness 

that is the inspiration. Because the film—Music From the 

Big House—is shot in black and white, I have limited my 

palette to the strong contrasts of blue and yellow. The 

two corresponding canvases represent the “call and response” song form of the Blues. 

Kathleen McCallum 

Jennifer Mygatt-Tatum 

Joào de Brito 

Touch is essential to our existence. 

We need it. We crave it. We seek it. 

When we have experienced it and it has been taken 

from us 

We feel pain. We are here to learn two essential 

lessons. 

To Love. To Forgive. The rest doesn’t matter. 

Mother earth floats in the poisoned river. Coal 

collects on her abdomen. Her fertile body depleted 

by toxins in the water is frail. Grasping on to one 

slim representative of what was once a vibrant 

forest she hopes to stay afloat. With what little 

strength her body holds, she hopes for the return 

to a harmonious, respectful relationship between 

man and nature. On Coal River. 

is a Portuguese born painter who is known for his bright 

colors and themes of nature. He incorporates his Portuguese 

roots and is compared to the Fauvists. He is deeply 

inspired, he says, by Fado music and we are privileged to 

have him with us showing his work at the Heaven’s 

Mirror screenings and in the Festival Hospitality Lounge. 

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Screening of 

heaven’S mirror: 

a portugueSe voyage 

Saturday, September 17, 2011 

Deerfield Ranch Cave, 6:15pm 

Paintings by world renowned Portuguese-American artist Joao de Brito will accompany the 

screenings, followed by a discussion of the intersection of film, art and music in Portguese- 

American culture during a special Panel Event. 

DIR: Joshua 

Mellars 

PROD: Joshua 

Mellars CAM: 

Joshua Mellars 

ED: Joshua Mellars 

MUS: Carlos 

Goncalves 

FEATURING: 

Joana 

Amendoeira, 

Mafalda Arnauth, 

Camané 

70 

Minutes, 2011, 

USA 

The evenings at Deerfield Ranch Winery on September 17 and 

Summerfield Cinemas in Santa Rosa on the 18th featuring 

presentations of film and art will be complemented by Live music 

by Conjunto de Fado Os Rouxinois and fadista Carmencita. The 

band, all in their early twenties, are an example of the rising 

resurgence of fado both in Portugal and the US. And in addition, 

authentic Portuguese food and fine wines will be served. 

Heaven’s Mirror: 

A Portuguese 

Voyage 

World Premiere 


Director Joshua Dylan 

Mellars’ love song to fado music, this documentary is a Chatwinesque travelogue of 

the filmmaker’s encounter with fado that goes deep into the spell of this hauntingly 

beautiful Portuguese folk music and its salient emotion--longing, or “saudade.” 

In telling fado’s story, Heaven’s Mirror travels from the Portuguese immigrant enclaves 

of California to New England’s former whaling ports, then to Lisbon’s candle-lit 

fado houses and Indian Goa’s steamy, pastel bungalows. 

New generation fadistas Ana Moura and Mafalda Arnauth are featured in Mellars’ 

documentary, bringing a fresh approach to fado: Moura, filmed singing in an intimate 

cabaret setting, has sung “No Expectations” on the big stage with the Rolling Stones; 

Arnauth is filmed at Sintra’s windswept Moorish castle and on the rugged coastline 

which inspires her own songs, and has recorded Astor Piazzolla’s Argentine tangos 

and Tom Jobim’s Brazilian bossa novas, as well as traditional fados. 

ALSO PLAYING: Sunday, Sept. 18, 4:00 pm, Summerfield Cinemas 2 


Screening of 

only a number 

Sunday, September 18, 2011 

Summerfield Cinemas 3, 1pm 

Community Partner: Sonoma County Jewish Film Festival 

Join in with Holocaust Survivor Lillian Judd and Director Steven Besserman 

as they discuss the film, and the process of Forgiveness, followed by debut of 

Liliian’s book From Nightmare To Freedom, and a book signing. 

DIR: Steven 

Besserman 

SCR: Steven 

Besserman, 

Aranka Mozes 

Besserman 

CAM: Gerardo 

Puglia 

ED: Iva Drufovka 

MUS: 

Allen Krantz 

FEATURING: 

M. Katrin Daria 

65 

Minutes, 2010, 

USA 

Only a Number 

West Coast Premiere 


Stephen Besserman’s 

parents, Aranka and 

Joseph, are survivors 

of the Holocaust. Both 

have numbers tattooed 

on the inside of their left 

arm: hers is A17855, his 

is 159337. 

To better understand his 

parents’ history, he travels to Europe and follows the same path his mother did. Starting 

in her home of Atkar, Hungary, he moves on to Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, the 

place where she began her descent into hell and where she became only a number 

to the Nazis. Then he moves to Waldlager in Muhldorf, Germany to the concentration 

camp where his parents met, fell in love and found the will to live. The journey 

continues to Troubing, Germany, where they married, and finally onto America to 

begin a new, free life. 

While a majority of the film is narrated by his mother’s words, the film’s interspersed 

dialogue beautifully depicts Besserman’s ambivalent feelings about the Holocaust because 

had such a horrific event not occurred, he may not have come to be. 

ALSO PLAYING: Monday, Sept. 19, 2:00 pm Summerfield Cinemas 2 

12 13


~ awarDS lunch ~ 

Saturday September 17th 1:30 pm - 3:30 pm 

LOCATION: 

Sizzling Tandoor Restaurant 

409 Mendocino Avenue 

Santa Rosa, CA 95401 

PRICE: Limited number of tickets $20. Not included with passes. 

Purchase at Festival Hospitality Lounge or wcfilmfest@aol.com 

Aung San Suu Kyi – Robert and Margrit Mondavi Peace & 

Cultural Understanding Award 

1991 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate from Burma will receive 

SRIFF’s 7th Robert and Margrit Mondavi Peace and Cultural 

Understanding Award. The award is to be accepted on behalf 

of Aung San Suu Kyi by Stephen Collins. 

Sally Kirkland – Career Achievement Award 

Sally is best known for Anna, which garnered her the 1987 

“Best Actress” Oscar nomination, and the wins for the “Best 

Actress” Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Awards. She 

started her career as the youngest member of The Actor’s 

Studio in the early ‘60s, training with Lee Strasberg. Sally 

played alongside Kevin Costner in Revenge and in JFK, with 

Cicely Tyson and Lisa Kudrow in Heat Wave, opposite 

Matthew McConaughey and Jenna Elfman in EdTV, and with Jim Carrey in Bruce 

Almighty. Sally teaches acting, produces and directs numerous projects. She is a 

painter (her paintings are exhibited in the FHL), a poet and a reverend for the 

Church of the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness. 

Stephen Collins – Cinema of Conscience Award 

Stephen Collins is a co-founder of Creative Coalition, a nonprofit, 

nonpartisan group made up of American entertainment 

industry members. The group educates leaders in the arts 

community on First Amendment rights, arts advocacy and 

public education. Collins starred in 7th Heaven, Star Wars, First 

Wives Club, Because I Said So, and more. He brings his first 

film Next of Kin to SRIFF. 

Veronica Diaz-Carranza – Rising Star Award 

We are thrilled to welcome to Veronica Diaz-Carranza to Santa Rosa, for 

the Northern California premiere of Mamitas, by award-winning filmmakers 

from Chapman University. Veronica is a rising star to watch. 

Michael Henry Wilson – SRIFF Modern Masters Award 

Michael has authored books on Martin Scorsese, Clint 

Eastwood, Jacques Tourneur, Raoul Walsh, and Borzage. 

His documentaries include A Personal Journey with Martin 

Scorsese Through American Movies, In Search of Kundun 

with Martin Scorsese (a 1998 WCFF award winner), and Clint 

Eastwood, le franc-tireur. Michael brings to SRIFF his most 

recent documentary Reconciliation: Mandela’s Miracle. 

Brad Rosier – Breakthrough Creative Achievement Award 

Originally planning to attend medical school, Brad realized 

that he wanted to work in the arts. He discovered several 

films made on zero-budgets and as a result he made the 

extraordinary Currency on a shoestring budget. Brad is a true 

SRIFF filmmaker discovery! 

Joshua Dylan Mellars – Distinguished Cinema Artist Award 

Joshua is a masterful filmmaker who blends music, imagery, poetry 

and narrative into his films. His unique style is captivating and will 

heighten one’s sense of self. He brings to SRIFF Heaven’s Mirror, 

completing his music documentary trilogy. Tango Illusions received 

the 2005 Wine Country Film Festival “Best CineLatino” Award. 

Michael Knowles (actor/writer/director, producer) – SRIFF Maverick 

Award 

“Using our experiences as guideposts we trust our instincts and 

imagination in our approach to making movies. Staying true to the 

script story, allowing it to direct us, and letting everyone involved 

influence the process, we enable ourselves to be creative in every 

step of making the film.” Michael brings his third feature film, East 

Fifth Bliss to SRIFF. 

14 15


wine eventS 

Spain & portugal 

Friday, September 16th 5:00pm 

Summerfield Cinemas Garden Court 

Mother Vine - Summerfield 3, 5:00 pm 

Traveling throughout Portugal, including the islands of the 

Azores, we’ve documented select historical wine regions 

under multiple threats. From the building of second home 

to European Union mandates; from financial hardship 

to the unwillingness of a younger generation to follow, 

Portugal is very close to losing forever important elements 

of it swine culture and history. Mother Vine is an effort to 

introduce European and American audiences to just what is at stake as Portugal encounters 

modernization. Through humor and pathos, Mother Vine follows the practices and dignified 

labor of winemakers in regions unknown to all but the most traveled. Can hundreds of years 

of wine culture be saved? Mother Vine ultimately says “yes.” 

Ken Payton, Film Director will be hosting a Wine Tasting after the screening of 

rare wines explored in the film 

Sunday, September 18th 4:30pm 

Roxy Cinemas 

In a Dreamland in 3D - Roxy 2, 2:00 pm 

Paula, a young and aggressive executive, travels to Rioja 

Alavesa to attend a conference. After a series of setbacks, 

she meets “Vinfo”, the elf of wine. By his side, she will discover 

the natural resources of Rioja Alavesa and will explore 

its villages and countrysides. She becomes immersed in a 

magical story that will forever change her life. 

Join the filmmakers for a TASTING OF FINE RIOJA ALAVESA WINES including: 

Bodegas Loli Casado • Lapuebla de Labarca • Rioja Alavesa 

Call 707-935-3456 for details and reservations. 


panel DiScuSSion 

A Festival of the Senses. 

Immerse Yourself in Films that Matter, Inspiring Connections, Epicurean Adventure, 

Music, the Arts and Cultural Diversity 

Festival Hospitality Lounge (FHL) 

Saturday 11am - 1:30pm 

Making Movies That Matter 

$5 Brown Bag Brunch 

Festival Hospitality Lounge (FHL) #1 Santa Rosa Avenue at 3rd Street, Santa Rosa, CA 

Filmmakers who have made a serious commitment to expressing their concern and 

vision for a better world will discuss the challenges of making movies that stand to 

make a difference to humanity. 

• Stephen Collins - Next of Kin • James Breen - Happy Birthday Michael Peck 

• Michael Wilson - Reconciliation • Chris Grimes - Second Knock on the Door 

• Nicole Kian-Sadighi - I Am Neda • Josh Litle - Furious Force of Rhymes 

• Elen Friedland - Delicious Peace Grows • Steve Besserman - Only A Number 

Sunday 11am-1:30pm 

Panel & Lunch 

Independents’ Day • Emerging Talent • Filmmakers to Watch 

Get the Inside Scoop on Indie Filmmaking Today 

$15. Includes Lunch 

Festival Hospitality Lounge (FHL) #1 Santa Rosa Avenue at 3rd Street, Santa Rosa, CA 

• Minh Duc Nguyen - Touch • Michael Knowles - East Street Bliss 

• Veronica Diaz - Mamitas • Brad Rosier - Currency 

• Trevor Adrian - The Cosmic Joke 

• “One To Watch”- Clay Jeter & Sarah Hagan - Jess + Moss 

• Monty Fisher & Camilo Vila - City of Gardens 

16 17


acting worKShopS 

with the proS 

Sally Kirkland Master Class: 

“Theatre Games” For Actors and Everyone Else 

$20. Sunday September 18, 2:00-5:00pm, 

Glaser Center 547 Mendocino Avenue 


180 Minutes 

I’ve been teaching acting to actors and non-actors since 1975. The Sally Kirkland 

Insight Acting Workshop combines what I call MONOLOGUE BLAST where people 

either bring in their own monologue or cold read one of mine (poetry works too). I 

work with monologues and “Emotional Recall”; “Personalizations”; “As If” exercises 

to bring more truth to the monologues. 

People bring in songs to do acting work with and I teach Theater Games where 

we work with New York, British, Texas, Southern, French, German, etc, accents and 

animals and all sorts of fun characters; 5 year-olds, 90 year-olds, Rock ‘n Roll Star, 

Mental Patients, Lisps, Deaf, Dumb and Blind, etc. We improvise games called 

“Freeze Frame” and the “Car Exercise”. People really love it! 

I help people with their projection and physical relaxation when in front of the public. 

I’ve worked with actors and non-actors in 16 U.S. cities and Australia and England. 

Graduates of my work include: Sandra Bullock, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Bill 

Paxton, Dwight Yokum, Kathy Griffin, and many more. I help people explore their 

freedom of expression and everybody has a lot of fun. 

-Sally Kirkland 

Sally Kirkland Master Class: 

Your Turn 

$10 Tue. Sep 20, 1:00-3:00pm 



120 Minutes 

Although this “sequel” to Sally Kirkland’s “Theatre Games For Actors and Everyone 

Else” on Sunday is the opportunity for participants to show the results of the work 

they’ve done on themselves, it will also be open to others who are interested in 

Ms. Kirkland’s acting methods. Please bring material of your own for this session: a 

poem, a monologue, or a short scene you can do with a partner. 

Don Gibble Improv Workshop: 

Give ‘Em Your Best. It’s What They Want! 

$15 Tue. Sep 20, 4:00-7:00pm, 



180 Minutes 

Hollywood Talent Manager Don Gibble will teach an Improvisation Class showing 

what casting directors look for at both commercial and theatrical auditions. 

18 19


Special eventS ScheDule 

Wednesday 

Kenwood Opening Night Film & Festivities - Deerfield Ranch Winery 

Gates Open 6:30pm • (see pg. 7) 

Thursday 

Santa Rosa Opening Night Films & Festivities - Summerfield Cinemas 

Reception Begins 5:30pm • (see pg. 8) 

Friday 

Artist Reception/Happy Hour – Festival Hospitality Lounge 

5pm-8pm • (see pg. 10) 

Summerfield Cinema Reception - Summerfield Garden Court 

With Portuguese wines • 6:30pm • (see pg. 16) 

Saturday 

Bird Walk - 8am Howarth Park - No Host 

Followed by 10am Screening of Flirting with Heights, Summerfield 

Cinemas • (see pg. 30) 

Making Movies That Matter - Festival Hospitality Lounge 

11am-1:30pm (see pg. 17) 

Awards Lunch - Sizzling Tandoor Restaurant 

2pm-3:30pm (see pg. 14) 

Reception with Filmmakers, Producers & Actors - 

Summerfield Garden Court 

6pm-7:30pm • $10 • Open to the Public 

Happy Hour - Festival Hospitality Lounge 

5pm-7pm • No Host Bar 

Party with Rising Stars - Veronica Diaz-Carranza (Mamitas), 

John Robinson (City of Gardens), Sarah Hagan (Jess+Moss) 

Festival Hospitality Lounge 

9:15pm • Tickets In Advance Online (www.sriff.org) or $10. at the door. 

Limited space. Book early. 

Sunday 

Independents’ Day - Emerging Talent, Filmmakers to Watch, Get the 

Inside Scoop on Indie Filmmaking Today - Festival Hospitality Lounge 

11am-1:30pm • (see pg.17) 

Sally Kirkland Master Class - “Theatre Games” For Actors and Everyone 

Else - Glaser Center 

2pm • (see pg. 18) 

Tea w/ Lillian Judd and Book Signing - Summerfield Garden Court 

1:00pm • Screening of Only a Number, followed by Tea 

Ticket and pass holders only • (see pg. 13) 

Happy Hour - Festival Hospitality Lounge 

5pm-7pm • No Host Bar 

Evening with John Savage - Summerfield Cinemas 

7:15pm • (see pg. 52) 

Monday 

Reception for Sally Kirkland Tribute - Summerfield Garden Court 

6pm-7pm 

Sally Kirkland Career Achievement Award - Summerfield Cinemas 

7:30pm-9:30pm • With screening of Anna • (see pg. 58) 

Tuesday 

Sally Kirkland Acting Workshop - Glaser Center 

1pm-3pm • (see pg. 19) 

Don Gibble Improv Workshop - Glaser Center 

4pm-7pm • (see pg. 19) 

Reception for Closing Night Films - Summerfield Cinemas 5:30pm 

Blues in the Roxy Theater Lobby - Hellhounds 

6pm-6:45pm • (see pg. 9) 

Closing Night Party - La Rosa Restaurant 

9pm • (see pg. 9) 

Friday, Sept. 23 - Special Screening of The Cove - Deerfield Ranch 

7pm • (see pg. 65) 

20 21

Deerfield Ranch Cave, 6:00 pm 

Total 

Running 

Time: 

86 

Minutes 

Opening Night in the Cave! 


Opening Night in the Grand Room Theatre 

is especially welcoming and whets 

your appetite for things to come. 

Lingo Vino 

DIR: Daniel Texter 

Luxembourg, 2010, 32 Minutes 

Two old wine producers, Leo and Jakob, 

have been bickering for 40 years over who 

produces the best wine until a letter coming 

from America upsets this ritual. 

DRW MMX 

DIR: Stephen Ashton 

USA, 2011, 15 Minutes 

DRW MMX is a visual flow of the challenging 

harvest of 2010 with Robert Rex, 

winemaker at Deerfield Ranch Winery. 

In a Dreamland 3D 

DIR: Ezequiel Degastaldi 

24 Minutes, Spain 

Paula, a young and aggressive executive 

travels to Rioja Alavesa to attend a conference. 

During her trip back home and after 

experiencing a series of setbacks due to 

stress, her life changes when she meets 

“Vinfo”, the elf of wine. By his side, she will 

learn the habits and natural resources of 

Rioja Alavesa and will discover its villages 

and countrysides. 

Venez Avec Moi 

DIR: Tylor Norwood 

15 Minutes 

A film about the power of love, and how 

walking away is sometimes the best way to 

show someone you care. 

Wednesday, September 14 

Thursday, September 15 

Deerfield Ranch Al Fresco, 8:00 pm Summerfield Cinemas 3, 4:15 pm 

DIR: Jean 

Becker 

PROD: 

Louis 

Becker, 

Gérard 

Depardieu 

ED: 

Jacques 

Witta 

MUS: 

Laurent 

Voulzy 

CAST: 

Gérard 

Depardieu, 

Gisèle 

Casadesus 

88 

Minutes, 

2010, 

France 

ALSO PLAYING: Tuesday, Sept. 15, 6:00 pm 

Summerfield Cinemas 2 

My Afternoons with 

Margueritte 

Using a dictionary is like 

traveling —from one word to the 

next. 


“Using a dictionary is like traveling—from 

one word to the next. You lose yourself as 

if in a labyrinth. You stop and you dream.” 

- Margueritte 

In a small town tucked away in rural Charente, 

France a chance meeting between 

handyman Germain (Gerard Depardieu) 

and the sharply intelligent 95-year-old Margueritte 

(Gisèle Casadesus) leads to a tender 

friendship. She introduces him to reading 

starting with philosopher Albert Camus. 

As her influence transforms his life and the 

lives of those around him, roles reverse 

when her sight begins to fails. . 

Winter Frog 

DIR: Slony Sow 

18 Minutes, 2011, France 

Benjamin, winemaker, sees his wife die in 

his arms following a long illness. Only one 

way for him: death. But a young Japanese 

woman, coming specially to taste his wine, 

will gently bring him to mourn the death 

of his wife by a series of symbols and exchanges 

between two cultures. 

Happening at Deerfield Ranch Wed.! 

Food Truck: STREET-EATZ 6:30 - 8:30pm 

BAND: DGIIN 7PM - 8pm 

DIR: Ron 

Honsa 

PROD: 

Nan 

Penman 

CAM: 

Jimmy 

O’Donnell, 

Etienne 

Sauret 

ED:Charles 

Yurik 

CAST: Paul 

Taylor, 

Mark 

Morris, 

Suzanne 

Farrell, 

Merce 

Cunningham, 

Judith 

Jamison, 

Bill Irwin, 

Frederic 

Franklin, 

Marge 

Champion, 

Gideon 

Obarzanek, 

Rasta 

Thomas, 

Nikolaj 

Hubbe, 

Joanna 

Haigood, 

Shantala 

Shivalingappa, 

Jomar 

Mesquita, 

Jens Rosen 

Never Stand Still 


This documentary explains how a different 

way of looking at dance evolved. During 

the depths of the depression, Ted Shawn, a 

choreographer, purchased an old farm. It 

was to become the heart of the experimental 

dance movement. Jacob’s Pillow Dance 

Festival is internationally known. 

One of Shawn’s main objectives was to 

make dance an acceptable profession for 

men and the other was to explore completely 

the beauty of movement. Jacob’s 

Pillow is known for innovation. All types 

of dance are fused and blended. Also included 

within the Center’s artistic umbrella 

are movements that are slightly off kilter 

and dancers who interact with the set. 

Pieces of performances are interspersed 

throughout. Interviews with noted dancers 

and choreographers as well as students 

string the narrative together. The film is a 

celebration of culture and provides an immersion 

in the art form and an exploration 

of the capabilities of the human body. 

-Diane McCurdy 

9 Variations On A Dance Theme 

DIR: Hilary Harris 


A a potent examination of both the human 

and film forms. Without resorting to any 

camera tricks, superimpositions or slow 

motion, the film explores how the aesthetics 

of editing and the camera can celebrate 

movement and the human body. 

22 23 

78 

Minutes, 

2011, USA 

Summerfield Cinemas 2, 6:00 pm 

DIR: John 

Sturges 

PROD: 

John 

Sturges 

SCR: 

William 

Roberts, 

Walter 

Newman, 

Walter 

Bernstein 

CAM: 

Charles 

Lang 

ED: 

Ferris 

Webster 

MUS: 

Elmer 

Bernstein 

CAST: Yul 

Brynner, 

Eli Wallach, 

Steve 

McQueen, 

Charles 

Bronson, 

Robert 

Vaughn, 

James 

Coburn, 

Brad Dexter, 

Horst 

Buchholz 

128 

Minutes, 

1960, 

USA 

The Magnificent Seven – 

Restored Version 

US Cinema 

The Santa Rosa Entertainment Group is 

proud to announce as its owners’ pick The 

Magnificent Seven, the venerated, star-studded 

Western from 1960 starring Yul Brynner, 

Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson, Robert 

Vaughn, Brad Dexter, Horst Bucholz and 

Eli Wallach. Inspired by master Japanese 

filmmaker Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film Seven 

Samurai (showing on Friday, September 

16 at 6:05 pm), it is a tale of seven American 

gunmen hired to protect a small farming 

community in Mexico from a gang of plunderers. 

This classic film is on the American 

Film Institute’s “100 Years… 100 Thrills” list. 

The film’s score, composed by Elmer Bernstein, 

was nominated for an Oscar for Best 

Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture. 

- James Conrad 

Living on Air 

DIR: David Macian 

Spain, 2011, 14 Minutes 

Who is the man behind the famous whistles 

heard in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti westerns? 

How did the destinies of world renowned 

composer Ennio Morricone and musician 

Alessandro Alessandroni converge? 

Join us for a Champagne Reception 

Before the film 5:30pm

Thursday, September 15 

Summerfield Cinemas 3, 7:00 pm Deerfield Ranch Al Fresco, 8:00 pm 


DIR: Sylvia 

Caminer 

PROD: 

Sylvia 

Caminer 

CAM: 

Douglas 

Bachman, 

Francisco 

Aliwalas 

ED: Avril 

Beukes, 

Rika 

Camizianos 

MUS: The 

Footnote 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

Venance 

Ndibalema, 

Kristen 

Kenney 

119 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 

Tanzania: A Friendship 

Journey 

Northern California Premiere 


Sylvia Caminer, “Ven” Ndibalema and 

Kristen “Kris” Kenney In Person 

Emmy Award winning director and producer 

Sylvia Caminer (alumna of the 2003 

WCFF) has created a masterpiece that 

puts viewers right in the middle of Africa’s 

ancient culture, its contemporary poverty, 

and the eternal spirituality and hope of its 

people. 

Sylvia will attend the screening—a Northern 

California Premiere—with Venance “Ven” 

Ndibalema and Kristen “Kris” Kenney who 

are featured in this stirring documentary 

about friendship and awakening. 

Ven takes his American college friend Kris 

to the impoverished African nation where 

his family lives. As he rediscovers his past 

by visiting old friends and family, Kris is 

transformed when she encounters a reality 

that thrusts her out of her comfort zone 

and into a culture where life is hard and 

every day is seen as a blessing. 

Best Documentary & Best World 

Showcase - 2011 SoHo International 

Film Festival 

DIR: 

Carlos 

Saura 

PROD: 

Andrés 

Vicente 

Gómez, 

Andrea 

Occhipinti, 

Igor 

Uboldi ED: 

Julia Juaniz 

MUS: 

Nicola 

Tescari 

CAST: 

Lorenzo 

Balducci, 

Lino 

Guanciale, 

Emilia 

Verginelli 

90 

Minutes, 

Italy 

ALSO PLAYING: Tuesday, Sept. 20, 6:40 pm 


I, Don Giovanni 

Priest, Poet, Lyricist, Libertine 


Master filmsmith Carlos Saura has been 

making films for more than 50 years. This 

time turns his sights to opera and collaborates 

with his long time cinematographer 

and master “painter with light,” Vittorio 

Storaro (Apocalypse Now) to provide the 

stage for a nexus of revelations about art, 

politics and lust. 

The film traces the remarkable life of Lorenzo 

Da Ponte, a Jewish-born poet and Catholic 

priest who introduced Dante to America 

(be sure to see Dante’s Inferno - Animated 

Sunday, 9/18, 4:30pm, at the Roxy!). It 

opens in 1763, when he finds himself exiled 

to Vienna. It is there where his friend Giacomo 

Casanova introduces him to Wolfgang 

Amadeus Mozart who hires the unknown 

libertine as his librettist. Da Ponte’s own 

nature and sentimental wanderings in Vienna 

nurture Mozart’s inspiration and lead 

to one of his boldest and most powerful 

compositions: Don Giovanni. 

Melody Caspari, 

Soprano 

Happening at Deerfield Ranch Thurs.! 

Food Truck: Rosso Pizzeria’s Fire To Go 

6:30pm - 8:30pm 

Live Performance: Opera with Melody 

Caspari, Soprano 7pm - 8pm 

Friday, September 16 

DIR: 

Christopher 

Rufo 

PROD: 

Keith 

Ochwat 

70 

Minutes, 

USA 

Age of Champions 



Producer Keith Ochwat and Athlete 

Doreen Finnegan In Person 

This documentary profiles a number of 

elderly athletes who partake in the United 

States Senior Games. 

Roger Gentilhomme, 100 years old, is an 

alert, active and adept tennis player who, 

despite having had to contend with both 

arthritis and cancer surgery, looks forward 

to every match and marvels at the fact that 

he inspires people young and old alike. The 

Tigerettes are a women’s basketball team 

who are all over the age of sixty-five and 

have won six gold medals. Bradford Tatum, 

eighty-eight, was recently diagnosed with 

cancer and undergoing chemotherapy, but 

decides to postpone his surgery until after 

the Senior Games where he hopes to win 

the gold medal. 

This is the kind of movie that moves us in 

special ways. It really isn’t about old age or 

winning metals at all. It is about perseverance, 

friendship and aging joyfully. 


Mother Vine 



Includes Tasting of Rare Portuguese 

Wines Hosted by Director Ken Payton 

Mother Vine takes us on magical voyage 

through Portugal, including the Azores, 

with renowned wine historian Virgilio Loureiro. 

Through humor and pathos, viewers 

follow the practices and dignified labor of 

winemakers in regions unknown to many, 

but the most traveled. Here we see vines 

with high overhead trellises on outrageously 

steep rocky terrain that are hand-tended by 

people who have been following unique traditions 

for centuries. 

It is these historic wine regions that are 

under multiple threats. From the building 

of second homes to European Union 

mandates, and from financial hardship to 

the unwillingness of a younger generation 

to follow, Portugal is very close to losing 

important elements of its wine culture and 

history forever. 

Mother Vine is an effort to introduce audiences 

to just what is at stake as Portugal 

encounters modernization. 

This is an opportunity to taste the wines and 

see what the world will be missing should 

these traditions perish. Special thanks to the 

producers of Mother Vine and the wine producers 

who have generously shared their 

bounty with us, and to Randall Graham for 

his kind assistance. 

24 25 

DIR: Ken 

Payton 

PROD: 

Liliana 

Mascate 

SCR: Ken 

Payton 

CAM: 

Nuno Sa 

Pessoa Sequeira 

ED: 

Nuno Sa 

Pessoa 

Sequeira 

78 

Minutes, 

2011, 

Portugal


DIR: 

Edoardo 

Leo PROD: 

Gianluca 

Bertogna, 

Marco 

Bertogna, 

Marco De 

Angelis, 

Nicola De 

Angelis 

ED: 

Roberto 

Siciliano 

CAST: 

Marco 

Bonini, 

Edoardo 

Leo and 

Sabrina 

Impacciatore 

100 

Minutes, 

2010, 

France 

Eighteen Years Later 

World Cinema 

This is a road movie, Italian style. Estranged 

brothers Mirko and Genziano embark on a 

fractious journey to honor the last wishes of 

their deceased father. His request is to have 

his ashes carried 300 miles from Rome to 

his hometown in Calabria in his antique 

Morgan automobile and be buried next to 

his wife’s grave. 

Mirko is a submissive peasant and Genziano 

is a high-powered businessman. As 

they bicker, it becomes evident that their 

antagonism centers on some dark family 

secret involving their mother, which is 

slowly revealed in flashbacks. 

Along the way the car, the Morgan, becomes 

a character itself as the brothers 

encounter all the typical road trip conventions. 

The drama is punctuated with 

bursts of comedy as they travel through 

an entire range of emotions set against 

the rugged Calabrian countryside and 

backed by an eccentric and charming score. 


Roxy 1, 6:05 pm 

DIR: 

Akira 

Kurasawa 

PROD: 

Sôjirô 

Motoki 

ED: 

Akira 

Kurosawa 

MUS: 

Fumio 

Hayasaka 

CAST: 

Toshirô 

Mifune, 

Takashi 

Shimura, 

Keiko 

Tsushima 

207 

Minutes, 

1954, 

Japan 

Friday, September 16 Friday, September 16 

Seven Samurai 

World Cinema 

Akira Kurosawa’s legendary masterpiece 

has left an indelible mark on the history of 

cinema, inspiring John Sturges’ classic 1960 

western The Magnificent Seven (showing 

Thursday, September 15 at 5:35 pm), three 

sequels, and the science fiction film Battle 

Beyond the Stars. It became Japan’s highest-grossing 

movie and is among the first 

films to use the now-common plot element 

of the recruitment and gathering of heroes, 

as in Ocean’s Eleven and The Dirty Dozen. 

In 2010, the film topped Empire Magazine’s 

list of the 100 Best Films of World Cinema. 

Set in 1587 during the warring states period 

of Japan, an agricultural community hires 

Kambei Shimada, a down-on-his luck samurai 

to protect their village. To their great 

joy he accepts, but insists on hiring six more 

ronin (unemployed samurai). The seven 

warriors teach the villagers how to defend 

themselves, and the villagers give each man 

three small meals a day in return as all prepare 

for an impending battle royale with a 

gang of forty bandits. 



DIR: 

Marisa 

Lioreda 

Saez 

PROD: 

Aaron 

Gross 

ED: Cyrus 

Aliakbari 

CAST: 

Maria 

Bermudez 

92 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA, 

Spain 

Streets of Flamenco 


In this documentary, Maria Bermudez, the 

daughter of Mexican immigrants, recounts 

her childhood in East Los Angeles with 

eight brothers and sisters and moving from 

barrio to barrio. Times are hard—her family 

encounters racism, she never stays in a 

neighborhood long enough to be accepted 

by her peers, and her parents’ marriage 

ultimately dissolves.“Through it all,” she 

recalls, “I had an underlying desire to do 

more, to be more.” 

Inspired by her older brother who meets a 

tragic end, Maria studies theater, music and 

dance, becoming consumed by the desire 

to focus exclusively on flamenco. 

Maria journeys across Spain—from Madrid 

to Valencia to Seville to Jerez—to learn 

from world-renowned dancers. Although 

the resentment she encounters affects her 

deeply, she perseveres and attains international 

recognition for her innovative approach 

to her craft that is inspired in part by 

her marriage to Pele de los Reyes, a singer 

who ventured to merge flamenco with rock 

and blues. 

Streets of Flamenco is a perfect film to be 

viewed by anyone who dares to dream. It 

calls on us to follow our hearts, to work 

hard and that sometimes we have to travel 

great distances emotionally as well as geographically.- 


Happening at Deerfield Ranch Fri.! 

Food Truck: Max Porter- Elliott’s Bistro 

Airstream 

Roxy 3, 6:30 pm 

DIR: 

Joshua 

Atesh Litle 

PROD: 

Serge 

Lalou, 

Steve 

Lawrence, 

Joshua 

Atesh 

Litle, David 

Piperni 

ED: Gloria 

Bremer, 

Jérôme 

Lefdup, 

Martha 

Skolnik 

MUS: Mathieu 

snax 

Gordon, 

Wendell 

Hanes 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

G-Town, 

Abass 

Abass and 

Alif 

The Furious Force of Rhymes 

Art + Politics = Certain Combustion 


Furious Force of Rhymes is a must-see documentary 

that explores hip-hop music as a 

form of protest. The focus of the film is the 

worldwide spread of hip-hop culture. The 

flashpoint for this spread is said to be when 

Afrika Bambaataa performed in Paris in 

1982. Since then France has been a hotbed 

of hip-hop culture, with African immigrants 

connecting with the American black street 

music. Now, hip-hop directly confronts the 

problems of France’s ghettoes. 

The artists profiled use their rhymes to 

speak out on behalf of the dispossessed. 

We see talents from all over the world, from 

Berlin’s Joe Rilla to System Ali, a crew from 

Israel consisting of Jewish and Palestinian 

rappers who rehearse in a bomb shelter. 

The film gives a lucid second look at the 

culture of hip-hop, not so much portraying 

it as a pop music fashion, but as a unifying 

sociological force that gives the youth of 

the world the courage and power to speak 

out in the face of strife and injustice. With 

director Joshua Atesh Litle In person. 


Simply Rob 

DIR: Tom Shrapnel 

United Kingdom, 2011, 15 Minutes 

A portrait of poet and activist Rob Vassilarakis, 

who was diagnosed in 1993 as HIV 

positive. This film follows Rob as he tells his 

turbulent life story through his poetry. 

26 27 

90 

Minutes, 

2010, 

France 

ALSO PLAYING: 

Sat., Sept. 17, 6:30 pm 

Roxy 3

Roxy 2, 7:00 pm 

DIR: 

Massimo 

Amici 

ED: 

Francesca 

Montana 

MUS: Mak 

Sfrenz 

CAST: 

Gianpiero 

Cognoli, 

Harriet 

MacMasters-Green 

65 

Minutes, 

USA 

The Jailmate 

World Cinema 

Director Massimo Amici is a SRIFF/WCFF 

alumnus. Massimo taught himself how 

to direct and produce movies by making 

shorts. He draws much of his inspiration 

from Italian neorealist films. 

John Vanzotti is a frustrated young man 

who has isolated himself from a cruel world 

that doesn’t understand him. He doesn’t 

know how to connect with others, especially 

Samantha the girl he tutors and is secretly 

in love with, and spends all his time alone 

trying to finish a sitcom for a second-rate 

writing contest. As he immerses himself in 

his writing, an arrogant alter ego appears 

in his TV set to challenge John’s withdrawn 

lifestyle. 

At times the audience is left in doubt as 

to who is the real personality, although 

the “other self” conceit runs throughout 

the ten episodes the film is divided 

into, each can be considered separately. 


Friday, September 16 

3rd Street Cinemas 1, 7:30 pm 

DIR: 

Walther 

Grotenhuis 

PROD: 

Wouter 

Snip 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

Narr. by 

Jos Van 

der Steen 

90 

Minutes, 

2010, 

Netherlands 

Enjoy Your Meal! 

How Food Changes the World 

Eco Cinema 

How often do we think about where food 

comes from, who is benefiting from our 

consumption and who and what are being 

harmed by what we eat? 

In this compelling and creative documentary, 

the preparation of a gourmet meal is 

juxtaposed with the harsh reality behind 

each major component of the meal. Accompanied 

by the soundtrack of Mozart’s Don 

Giovanni, the meal includes shrimp, the 

product of a farm which has destroyed hundreds 

of mangrove trees and taken property 

away from local farmers; a suckling 

pig who is fed soya beans harvested from 

South America where thousands of acres of 

land are burned to plant more beans; and 

sugar peas exported from Kenya where 

drought and dried-out rivers have resulted 

in a struggle over the water rights. 

The choice is ours to make: we must become 

conscious consumers who will clear 

a path through a minefield of moral choices 

and dilemmas. Are we up to this task? 

Luther Burbank and His 

Experimental Farm 

USA, 10 Minutes 

Director Lisa Edey Pierce In Person 

This film is an intimate look at famed plant 

breeder and local hero Luther Burbank and 

his farm in Sebastopol, CA. He developed 

many plants and today the farm is a living 

museum to his legacy 

Friday September 16 


DIR: 

Minh Duc 

Nguyen 

PROD: 

Mellissa 

Tong 

MUS: 

Marcell De 

Francisci 

CAST: Porter 

Lynn, 

John Ruby, 

Melinda 

Bennett, 

Tony 

LaThanh, 

Long 

Nguyen, 

Hiep Thi 

Le, Trisha 

Nguyen 

28 29 

109 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 

ALSO PLAYING: Sunday, Sept. 18 4:10 pm 

Roxy 1 

Touch 

World Cinema 

Porter Lynn makes her motion picture debut 

in this moving and romantic dramatic 

comedy about the tactile aspect of love. 

Lynn stars as Tam, an accomplished but 

painfully shy and isolated Vietnamese- 

American manicurist who takes a job at a 

salon in Los Angeles. Among her first customers 

is Brendan (John Ruby), a mechanic 

whose marriage to his corporate lawyer 

wife is suffering on account of his hands being 

smutted from his job. 

In a desperate move to keep his wife, he 

visits a nail salon every day for a manicure, 

preferring Tam’s personal touch as she and 

he brave the gossip of her colleagues. Before 

long, Brendan leans on Tam for further 

advice to bring himself and his wife closer 

together. But he and Tam find themselves 

caught up in an increasingly irresistible mutual 

attraction. 

Other aspects of the emotional impact of 

touch are explored in this heartwarming 

and thought-provoking film. It is sure to jar 

your synapses. With director Minh Duc 

Nguyen in person. 

Deerfield Ranch Al Fresco, 8:00 pm 

DIR: 

Joaquín 

Oristrell 

PROD: 

Marta 

Esteban, 

Sandra 

Hermida, 

Gerardo 

Herrero 

ED: 

Aixalà, 

Domi 

Parra 

MUS: 

Josep Mas, 

Salvador 

Niebla 

CAST: 

Olivia 

Molina, 

Paco León, 

Alfonso 

Bassave 

97 

Minutes, 

Spain 

Mediterranean Food 


One is reminded with fondness of how 

food is used as an allegory, a metaphor, a 

code and a symbol for all that is most fundamental 

to us in films previously screened 

at our Film Festival, including Eat, Drink, 

Man, Woman (WCFF 1994), Mostly Martha 

(WCFF 2001 ) and Catherine Zeta-Jones’ No 

Reservation (WCFF 2007). 

SRIFF’s director Stephen Ashton fell in love 

with Mediterranean Food several years ago. 

His perseverance in bringing it here finally 

paid off! The film is a romantic ménage à 

trois tale where the bedroom rather than 

the kitchen is at the center of the movie. It 

tells the story of Sofia (Olivia Molina), from 

her childhood at a small seaside cantina to 

becoming a famous chef, a journey she accomplishes 

not just through her passion for 

food, but also through her passion for the 

two men in her life: the steady Toni (Paco 

Leon) and the adventurous Frank (Alfonso 

Bassave). Both men appeal to different aspects 

of her personality and her ambition, 

and she is not really prepared to give up 

either of them. 

Director Joaquin Oristrell’s Unconscious, 

a humorous take on the world of psychoanalysis, 

won Best World Cinema Award at 

the 2004 WCFF. 

Happening at Deerfield Ranch Fri.! 

Food Truck: Max Porter- Elliott’s Bistro 

Airstream


DIR: 

Camilo 

Vila 

PROD: 

Monty 

Fisher, 

Rami Rivera 

Frankl, 

Francisco 

Hernández, 

Luis Llosa, 

Noreen 

Perez, 

Alicia Rivera 

Frank, 

Joseph 

Suarez, 

Camilo 

Vila 

SCR: 

Monty 

Fisher 

ED: Henry 

Vargas 

MUS: 

Roger 

Bellon 

CAST: 

John 

Robinson, 

Michael 

DeLorenzo, 

Alex Meraz 

101 

Minutes, 

2011, 

Peru, USA 

City of Gardens 


Cine Latino 

Fri., Sept. 16 

Monty Fisher, Camilo Vila and John 

Robinson in Person. 

US based Cuban filmmaker Camilo Vila’s 

City of Gardens is a film is inspired by the 

story of Monty Fisher, an American teaching 

English in Peru who was jailed on 

trumped up charges and spent the early 

1980s in the Andean nation’s worst prison. 

Fisher is the film’s producer and even 

wrote the original screenplay, which Vila 

later adapted, transforming the main character 

into a young American surfer falsely 

accused of drug trafficking. Vila says that 

when he makes a film he never thinks 

of conveying “a message” but rather of 

“making a quality movie that has a good 

screenplay, a production marked by work 

ethic and that has a moral.” Starring John 

Robinson and Alex Meraz, the film was shot 

last year in Peru. Vila left Cuba in 1961, and 

after living in Miami, New York, Europe and 

Puerto Rico, moved to Los Angeles in 1985. 

ALSO PLAYING: 

Tuesday, Sept. 20, 6:30 pm 

Roxy 2 

Summerfield Cinemas 3, 10:00 am 

DIR: Jean- 

Michel 

Bertrand 

SCR: 

Jean- 

Michel 

Bertrand, 

Dominique 

Marcel 

ED: 

Dominique 

Marcel, 

Sonia 

Bonvoisin, 

Henry Erisman 

MUS: Jakob 

Vinje 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

Voice : 

Charles 

Berling, 

Jean- 

Michel 

Bertrand 

75 

Minutes, 

2010, 

France 

DIR: Elizabeth 

Pepin 

Silva 

27 

Minutes, 

2010, 

USA, 

Saturday, September 17 

Flirting with Heights 

Filming the Unseen 

Eco Cinema 

Jean-Michel Bertrand takes us on a discovery 

adventure to the lair of the royal 

eagle. Bertrand began his quest, and the 

film about it, ten years ago. With him, we 

wander through Champsaur, a land not so 

far away but little known, an enchanting 

kingdom, bordered by the highest summits 

of the Alps. The intrepid Chamois, indolent 

Alpine Marmot, distinguished Stoat, black 

Grouse Gladiator, and multicolored birds 

accompany the filmmaker’s steps towards 

the heights. In an effort to not disturb these 

wild beasts, Bertrand shows how he makes 

himself forgotten to the point of invisibility. 

But he also shares his daily life: the interminable 

treks, the 50 kilos of film material that 

he must haul to the top, the lack of comfort, 

the solitude, the doubt, freezing nights, and 

the interminable waiting in a tent. 

Slow the Flow 

Eco Cinema 

A prime example of Eco Cinema from 

California, covering multiple water-related 

issues, including: urbanization’s effect on 

stormwater runoff, water-friendly landscaping, 

water conservation and pesticide use.A 

great documentary., 

Preceded by a Bird Walk in Howarth 

Park. Meet at 8am at Summerfield 

Cinema. Film at 10am. 


Roxy 3, 11:00 am 

Youth Shorts 

Reflections on our early years make for 

great storytelling. 

Dog Math 

DIR: Lori Stoll 


Seven year old Emily learns about grief, 

loss and acceptance when her beloved 

dog Alistair is put down. Beautiful and 

touching, it is a story that many know all 

too well. 

Immersion 

DIR: Richard Levien 


Immersion focuses on Moises, a young 

Mexican immigrant who doesn’t understand 

English, but knows that numbers are 

universal and hopes he can do well on his 

math test. Untrained actors from Bay Area 

public schools make this film a more real, 

visceral experience. 

Play by Play 

DIR: Carlos Baena 


Donn, a lonely 10-year-old, leads a vivid 

imaginary life as a big league ballplayer. 

When his schoolyard nemesis learns about 

it, Donn is thrust into an escalating struggle 

to avoid being humiliated in front of his 

class. 

The Red Curtains 

DIR: Alain Deymier 

Spain, 35 Minutes 

Jose and Pablo, 13, are forced to flee the 

city and are condemned to drift as Jose 

tries to solve the mystery of his identity. 

30 31 

Total 

Running 

Time: 

80 

Minutes 

Summerfield Cinemas 2, Noon 

Cycles Shorts 

In this series of shorts we see filmmakers dealing with 

the cycles of life. 

The Anchor 

DIR: Luke Daniels 


A story about Nigel, a light-hearted young man who 

stumbles into The Anchor, a pub, for a pint of beer. The 

people he meets there stay with him for years to come. 

The Convention of Dying 

DIR: Shana Sosin 


An 80 year old matriarch in her last hours of life 

discovers that as absurd as the four generations of 

Miller women can appear, their care and concern for 

her never shies from the truth. Tough Midwest women 

navigate a complex emotional map. 

The Sea is All I Know 

DIR: Jordan Bayne 


An estranged couple come to the aid of their dying 

daughter, but struggle their faith in God and each other. 

Academy Award winner Melissa Leo (The Fighter) brilliantly 

portrays a grieving mother trying to understand 

the hand she has been dealt in this heartbreaking short. 

Walter 

DIR: Jonathan Browning 


Paul Dooley (Insomnia) stars as a widower looking for 

company in this short short-film by Jonathan Browning. 

Winter Frog (see pgs 22 & 61 for description) 

Dir: Slony Sow 

France, 2011, 18 Minutes


DIR: Erik 

Sween 

ED: Don 

Poe, Diana 

Logreira 

MUS: Haik 

Naltchayan 

50 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 

Barista: Inside the Counter 

Culture 



Five baristas spill the beans on the daily 

grind—getting up at before dawn, caffeinating 

the masses, multi-tasking like maniacs. 

They serve up an eye-opening blend of 

espresso, sass, and subculture. Filmed in 

New York, Portland, Seattle, DC, and San 

Francisco, this film shows how your favorite 

cup is flavored as much by the cultures and 

history that created it, as it is by the coffee 

in your cup. 

Come meet the Ethiopian barista, the Italian 

joker, the aspiring national champion, 

the coffee historian, and the philosopher of 

cups. You’ll never look at your cup of coffee 

the same. 


DIR: 

Srdan 

Karanovic 

PROD: 

Srdan 

Golubovic, 

Jelena 

Mitrovic 

SCR: 

Srdan 

Karanovic 

CAM: 

Slobodan 

Trninic 

ED: 

Branka 

Ceperac, 

Mateja 

Rackov 

MUS: 

Zoran Simjanovic 

CAST: 

Miki 

Manojlovic, 

Iva 

Krajnc, 

Nebosja 

Dugalic, 

Radivoje 

Bukvic 

104 

Minutes, 

2010, 

Serbia, 

Albania 

Saturday, September 17 Saturday, September 17 

Solemn Promise (Besa) 

World Cinema 

Adapted from a true story, this is a subtle, 

clever and heartwarming movie about how 

even the bloodiest of human conflicts is no 

match for the power of friendship, loyalty, 

and love. Taking its title from the Albanian 

word for “faith,” the story takes place inside 

an unassuming schoolhouse in a small Serbian 

town during World War I. The principal, 

Filip, a native Serb, receives notification 

urgently requiring him to travel to Belgrade 

and assist in the war effort. While he is 

away, the school custodian Azem, offers his 

“besa”—a solemn promise to be kept even 

if it means certain death—to keep Filip’s 

wife Lea, safe. 

The arrangement is uneasy at first. Azem is 

an uneducated Albanian Muslim and Lea is 

a cultured, Christian woman from Slovenia 

who feels as though they have nothing in 

common. As time goes by and the fighting 

inches closer, Azem and Lea trade stories 

from their lives and discover they share a 

passion and talent for music while building 

a bond that transcends war, politics and any 

possible difference in race, class or religion. 



DIR: 

Davey 

Frankel, 

Rasselas 

Lakew 

PROD: 

Mesereta 

Argaw, 

Davey 

Frankel, 

Michael 

Frenschkowski, 

Lise Mette 

Jensen, 

Rasselas 

Lakew, 

Susannah 

Ludwig, 

Chris 

Ouwinga, 

Izabella 

Tzenkova, 

Darryn 

Welch 

ED: 

Davey 

Frankel, 

Matt 

Mayer 

MUS: 

Christian 

Meyer 

CAST: 

Rasselas 

Lakew, 

Dag Malmberg, 

Ruta 

Gedmintas 

The Athlete 

World Cinema 

The first Ethiopian film submitted for an 

Oscar Nomination for Best Foreign Film is 

based on a true story (with some amazing 

archival footage). It celebrates the life 

of Abebe Bikila, the first African to win an 

Olympic Gold Medal. Having earned comparisons 

to the classic Robert De Niro film 

Raging Bull, the poignant and moving story 

will impart the lesson that accepting defeat 

is truly optional. 

It seemed as though Bikila was destined 

for Olympic stardom, as his birth date, August 

7, 1932, coincided with the Olympic 

Marathon in Los Angeles, California. While 

serving in Ethiopia’s Imperial Bodyguard, 

he was discovered by Onni Niskanen, a 

Finnish-born Swede who was hired by the 

Ethiopian government to train potential 

athletes. 

In 1960, Bikila was added to the Ethiopian 

Olympic team at the last minute. Unable to 

acquire a pair of shoes that fit him comfortably, 

Bikila ran the marathon barefoot and 

finished first with a record time of 2:15:16.2. 

Four years later in Tokyo, Bikila won the 

marathon with a time of 2:12:11:2, setting 

a new world record and becoming the first 

athlete to win the Olympic Marathon twice 

in a row, cementing his reputation as the 

greatest long distance runner in the world. 

Then tragedy struck him down...or did it? 

-James Conrad 

32 33 

93 

Minutes, 

Ethiopia 

Roxy 3, 2:00 pm 

Total 

Running 

Time: 

85 

Minutes 

LMAO! Humor Shorts 

Laugh out loud... it’s cool 

A Sense of Humor 

DIR: Nathan Larkin-Connolly 


Laura was born with a disorder that makes 

it impossible for her to laugh. Starring 

Glee’s Heather Morris. 

California King 

DIR: Eli Akira Kaufman 


A womanizing mattress salesman falls 

for a skeptical insomniac who knows her 

science better than her heart. 

Life In Short 

DIR: Matthew Perkins 


A struggling dwarf actor produces a short 

film in an attempt to win the heart of his 

average sized best friend.. 

The Movie Critic 

DIR: Gary Corbett Davis 


My Friend Peter 

DIR: Steve Kopera 


An awkward waiter and his hand puppet 

strike up a conversation on the bus. 

Stanley Pickle 

DIR: Vicky Mather 


Stanley plays with his toys all day and 

every evening his mother kisses him goodnight. 

Thing is Stanley is twenty.

Roxy 2, 2:15 pm 

Total 

Running 

Time: 

68 

Minutes 

Music Arts In Film Shorts 


Band Art: An Orchestra in Search 

of Freedom 

DIR: Ivan Valdes 


Gordan Nikolic, a Serbian violinist, surprises 

us with a project that transcends music. 

Through a three concert tour around Spain 

we will unravel Band Art philosophy, and 

discover his innovative approach. 

Living On Air 

DIR: David Macian 

Spain, 2011, 14 Minute 

Who is the man behind the famous 

whistles heard in Sergio Leone’s spaghetti 

westerns? How did the destinies of world 

renowned composer Ennio Morricone 

and musician Alessandro Alessandroni 

converge? 

Winter 

DIR: Leyla Modirzadeh 


What happens when you make Franz 

Schubert’s song cycle ‘Winterreise’ into a 

series of music videos? You get the inner 

life of horses, dogs, and swans. You find 

out what fish dream about and you never 

look at crows the same way again. This 

not-to-miss short within a short film is the 

first installment of Leyla Modirzadeh’s 

haunting experimental trilogy. It’s all here: 

urban emptiness, mortality, loss, hope, 

dreams of spring and wasted youth. . 

Saturday, September 17 Saturday, September 17 


DIR: 

Marshall 

Curry and 

Sam Cullman 

PROD: 

Steve 

Bannatyne, 

Marcia 

Carver, 

Sam 

Cullman, 

Marshall 

Curry, 

Sally Jo 

Fifer, Nick 

Fraser, Bill 

Gallagher, 

Simon 

Kilmurry 

ED: 

Marshall 

Curry 

MUS: 

James 

Baxter 

85 

Minutes, 

USA 

If a Tree Falls: 

A Story of the Earth Liberation 

Front 

Eco Cinema 

This thought-provoking documentary examines 

the drastic lengths people will go 

when they care passionately about the environment. 

The story largely concerns Daniel 

McGowan, a young man who was arrested 

by Federal agents in 2005 in connection 

with a pair of arsons committed four years 

earlier in Oregon and Washington State 

by members of the Earth Liberation Front, 

a group of radical environmental activists 

whom many refer to as “eco-terrorists.” 

The film is as effective as it is insightful. It 

ponders the logistical, logical and moral 

issues of environmentalism. A logger explains 

that while cutting down trees is part 

of his job, he does not want to cut them all 

down. He points out that actions by certain 

environmentalists are not radical, but the 

logging industry’s act of cutting down 95% 

of the Silva in the US is. 

The film plants seeds of introspection in 

the mind of the viewer like acorns and pine 

cones being shed upon a forest floor. None 

of the acts of arson and vandalism by members 

of the Earth Liberation Front resulted 

in injury or loss of human life, but Daniel 

McGowan is in jail sentenced as a terrorist. 

Yet oil spills, logging and strip-mining 

wreak untold death and destruction upon 

our planet which begs the question—should 

companies be considered terrorists too? 


DIR: Iara 

Lee 

PROD: 

George 

Gund, 

Sergei 

Krasikov 

ED: 

Nathaniel 

Cunningham, 

Jeff 

Marcello, 

Collin 

Ruffino 

MUS: 

Mahdyar 

Aghajani 

72 

Minutes, 

USA 

Cultures of Resistance 


Does each gesture really make a difference? 

Can music and dance be weapons of peace? 

In 2003, on the eve of the Iraq war, director 

Iara Lee embarked on a journey to better 

understand a world increasingly embroiled 

in conflict and as she saw it, heading for 

self-destruction. After several years, travelling 

over five continents, Iara encountered 

a growing number of people who committed 

their lives to promoting change. This 

is their story. From Iran where graffiti and 

rap became tools in fighting government 

repression, to Burma where monks acting 

in the tradition of Gandhi take on a dictatorship, 

to Brazil where musicians reach out to 

slum kids and transform guns into guitars, 

and ending in Palestinian refugee camps 

in Lebanon where photography, music, 

and film have given a voice to those rarely 

heard, Cultures of Resistance explores how 

art and creativity can be ammunition in the 

battle for peace and justice. 


East Fifth Bliss 

34 35 

DIR: 

Michael 

Knowles 

PROD: 

Michael 

Knowles, 

Douglas 

Matejka, 

John Ramos, 

John 

Will 

MUS: 

Daniel 

Alcheh 

CAST: 

Michael C. 

Hall, Lucy 

Liu, Sarah 

Shahi. Peter 

Fonda, 

Rhea Perlman, 

Brie 

Larson 

97 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 

ALSO PLAYING: Sunday, Sept. 18, 8:30 pm 


US Cinema 

Adapted from an award-winning novel 

by Douglas Light and featuring such high 

profile names as Peter Fonda (Easy Rider), 

Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels) and Michael C. 

Hall (Dexter), East Fifth Bliss is the story of 

a man due for an unexpected and overdue 

awakening from his dreary life. 

Thirty-five-year-old Morris Bliss is trapped 

in an urban catch-22. He wants to travel, 

but has no money. He needs a job, but has 

no prospects. Adding to his woes, he shares 

an apartment on New York City’s Lower 

East Side with his widowed father and is 

still haunted by his mother’s premature 

death. But when Stephanie, the highly sexual 

eighteen-year-old daughter of a former 

high school classmate comes into his life, 

an awkward relationship ensues and suddenly 

Morris finds himself fighting to keep 

his life from spinning out of control. 

Moving, funny and full of thought-provoking 

social commentary, East Fifth Bliss 

is a film that will send audiences on a 

wild roller coaster ride close to the edge. 

-James Conrad


Total 

lRunning 

Time: 

77 

Minutes 

ALSO PLAYING: Monday, Sept. 19, 5:00 pm 

Roxy 2 

Cinema of Conscience Short 

Program 


Our series of films on social issues over the 

last 25 years reflects changes in the world. 

Directors James Breen, Nicole Kian- 

Sadighi and Stephen Collins in person 

Happy Birthday Michael Peck 

DIR: James Breen 


While the nation celebrates Labor Day, an 

unemployed autoworker named Michael 

Peck celebrates his birthday by giving an 

interview about his family’s experiences in 

the auto industry. Through the interview, it 

becomes obvious that this is a final chance 

for Michael to be heard before he commits 

a desperate act to protest how the auto industry 

has treated its workers. 

I Am Neda 

DIR: Nicole Kian-Sadighi 

21 Minutes, 2011, USA 

A courageous young woman who has 

become the face of the Iranian Green 

Movement. 

The Interview 

DIR: Michelle Steffes 


Next of Kin 

DIR: Stephen Collins USA 

A US Army corporal makes a tense official 

visit to the estranged father of a woman 

soldier just killed in Iraq. He learns that his 

daughter felt closer to him than he knew. 

Roxy 3, 4:30 pm 

DIR: 

Clay Jeter 

PROD: 

Jason 

Michael 

Berman 

ED: Isaac 

Hagy 

CAST: 

Sarah 

Hagan, 

Haley 

Strode, 

Austin 

Vickers 

82 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 


Roxy 1 


Jess + Moss 

US Cinema 

Winner of the 2011 Dallas International Film 

Festival and Nashville Film Festival, Jess + 

Moss is the story of two cousins during one 

summer. The ideas of growing up, abandonment, 

sexual awakening and fear of the 

future are explored and presented through 

a series of beautifully shot vignettes. Every 

scene is a moment in time, with the next 

moment being related to the last—as if the 

viewer is looking deep into Jess and Moss’ 

minds. As the accompanying bits of taperecorded 

conversations stop, rewind or 

move ahead, so do these captivating moments 

of childhood. The stunning cinematography 

by Will Basanta and director Clay 

Jeter paints vivid imagery that accents the 

bits of conversation between Jess and Moss 

which provide subtle, yet important details 

to the story. 

Followed by Q & A with Clay Jeter 

and Sarah Hagan In Person 

(Be sure to join Clay Jeter and other Emerging 

Filmmakers for Brunch on Sunday, 

Sept. 18. see p. 17) 


Roxy 2, 4:30 pm 


Milk War 

U.S. Premiere 


A Canadian David and Goliath story of an 

organic dairy farmer battling to legalize the 

sale of farm-fresh unpasteurized milk in 

Canada, this film is about Michael Schmidt 

has supplied his friends and neighbors with 

raw milk for over 20 years even though it’s 

against federal law for a farmer to distribute 

milk to the public. In 2006 Schmidt’s farm 

was raided by armed officers, his equipment 

was seized, all dairy products were 

destroyed and the farmer was charged with 

20 criminal offenses for distributing unpasteurized 

milk. 

Note: Closer to home, James Cecil Stewart, 

the owner of a Venice (CA) market, and two 

other people were arrested in August on 

charges stemming from the alleged illegal 

production and sale of unpasteurized goat 

milk, goat cheese and other products. Stewart, 

64, was charged with 13 counts, including 

conspiracy to commit a crime, processing 

milk without pasteurization, unlicensed 

business, food facility without a permit, 

improperly labeled food and removal of 

closure notice. 

36 37 

Total 

Running 

Time: 

71 

Minutes 

ALSO PLAYING: Sunday Sept. 18 4:30 pm Roxy Cinemas 3 

Arts In Film Shorts 


Arcimboldo: Nature and Fantasy 

DIR: Carroll Moore 


A short documentary, courtesy of the 

National Gallery of Art, about the heralded 

“father of surrealism” Guiseppe Arcimboldo. 

Narrated by actress Isabella Rossellini, 

the film examines his trademark style 

of fusing portraits with items of agriculture 

and nature. 

Gauguin: Maker of Myth 



An in-depth look at Paul Gauguin, the 

French painter who left a legacy of selfcreated 

myths about himself and exotic 

locations–including Brittany, Martinique 

and Tahiti. Narrated by actor Willem Dafoe, 

with the voice of Gauguin provided by 

actor Alfred Molina, this film is a production 

of the National Gallery of Art in 

Washington. 

Pass Through the Fire 

DIR: Deirdre Lee 


Pass Through the Fire portrays artist Jay 

Strommen and his wood-fire ceramic process. 

Through an experimental approach, 

Pass Through the Fire explores themes 

relating to the natural elements and human 

destiny. 

DIR: Kevin 

O’Keefe 

PROD: 

Declan 

O’Driscoll, 

Kevin 

O’Keefe 

SCR: Kevin 

O’Keefe 

CAM: 

Barry 

Cheong 

ED: 

Barry Silverthorn 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

Michael 

Schmidt 

47 

Minutes, 

2010, 

Canada


DIR: 

Steven 

Cowan 

PROD: 

Steven 

Cowan, 

Cameron 

Harrison 

ED: Steve 

Cowan, 

Cameron 

Harrison, 

Barry 

Schienberg 

MUS: 

Bruce Zimmerman 

FEATUR- 

ING: Bill 

Bradley, 

Mike 

Capuano, 

Mike 

Conaway, 

Mario 

Cuomo, 

Dick 

Durbin, 

Donna 

Edwards, 

Walter 

Jones, Dan 

Maffei 

57 

Minutes, 

2010, 

USA 

Priceless 


Eco Cinema 

Democracy is a priceless idea, but just 

how—and exactly where—do elected officials 

get their campaign money? This 

documentary from Habitat Media examines 

the impact of funding from special interest 

groups (specifically from the pesticide and 

oil/gas industries) and how resulting subsidies 

reveal the dishonesty of Congress and 

the people who are making our laws. 

Persuasion and “contributions” from lobbyists 

are resulting in inadequate support 

and funding for ideas and projects that are 

beneficial to the public. From 2002 to 2008, 

the fossil fuel industry contributed over $86 

million to members of Congress, as opposed 

to only $3 million from renewable 

energy industries. As a result, around $70 

billion in subsidies were given to the fossil 

fuel industry, while only $12 billion was given 

to renewable energy. Likewise, the over 

$25 million in 2008 campaign contributions 

from agribusiness ensures that only .5% of 

American farms are organic. 

More than just a muckraking film, it investigates 

possible solutions including some humorous 

insight from our nation’s children. 



DIR: Ilksen 

Basarir 

PROD: 

Cihat 

Bakir, N. 

Bunhan 

Bengi, Murat 

Senoy, 

Merthan 

Yalcin 

ED: Arzu 

Volkan 

MUS: 

Ugur Akyurek, 

Erdem 

Yoruk 

CAST: 

Timur 

Acar, 

Saadet 

Aksoy, 

Gizem 

Erden 

94 

Minutes, 

Turkey 

Love in Another Language 

World Cinema 

This film by Turkish director Ilksen Basarir 

tells a universal tale about the miscommunications 

in relationships that we all 

experience in a fast paced, high tech, social 

networking world, and about the power of 

love. 

Onur has been deaf since birth and although 

able to speak, he has chosen to stay 

silent. One evening at a friend’s engagement 

party, he meets Zeynep. Soon they 

fall in love, but the world they try to build 

begins to break down. Will they find a way 

to reconnect with the deepest of all human 

feelings with or without words? 

Paco 

DIR: Alvaro Ramos 

Spain, 2011, 20 Minutes 

This is the story of Paco Bernal, an unknown 

painter whose effort, sacrifice, 

dedication, love and talent, is at the center 

of this independent documentary for the 

whole of humanity. 



DIR: 

Joshua 

Mellars 

PROD: 

Joshua 

Mellars 

CAM: 

Joshua 

Mellars 

ED: Joshua 

Mellars 

MUS: 

Carlos 

Goncalves 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

Joana 

Amendoeira, 

Mafalda 

Arnauth, 

Camané 

Heaven’s Mirror: A Portuguese 

Voyage 


Double-Feature w/ Silent Sonata –2-for-1 

SPECIAL EVENT! 

(See Page 12 for details) 


Director Joshua Dylan Mellars’ love song 

to fado music, this documentary is a Chatwinesque 

travelogue of the filmmaker’s 

encounter with fado that goes deep into the 

spell of this hauntingly beautiful Portuguese 

folk music and its salient emotion--longing, 

or “saudade.” 

In telling fado’s story, Heaven’s Mirror travels 

from the Portuguese immigrant enclaves 

of California to New England’s former whaling 

ports, then to Lisbon’s candle-lit fado 

houses and Indian Goa’s steamy, pastel 

bungalows. 

New generation fadistas Ana Moura and 

Mafalda Arnauth are featured in Mellars’ 

documentary, bringing a fresh approach to 

fado: Moura, filmed singing in an intimate 

cabaret setting, has sung “No Expectations” 

on the big stage with the Rolling Stones; 

Arnauth is filmed at Sintra’s windswept 

Moorish castle and on the rugged coastline 

which inspires her own songs, and has recorded 

Astor Piazzolla’s Argentine tangos 

and Tom Jobim’s Brazilian bossa novas, as 

well as traditional fados. 

38 39 

70 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 



Happening at Deerfield Ranch Sat.! 

Food: Colin Watleys’ Fancy Pants Fresh 

Music Performances: Fado singers 

Roxy 3, 6:30 pm 

DIR: 

Joshua 

Atesh Litle 

PROD: 

Serge 

Lalou, 

Steve 

Lawrence, 

Joshua 

Atesh 

Litle, David 

Piperni 

ED: Gloria 

Bremer, 

Jérôme 

Lefdup, 

Martha 

Skolnik 

MUS: Mathieu 

snax 

Gordon, 

Wendell 

Hanes 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

G-Town, 

Abass 

Abass and 

Alif 

90 

Minutes, 

2010, 

France 

ALSO PLAYING: 

Fri., Sept. 16, 6:30 pm 

Roxy 3 

The Furious Force of Rhymes 

Art + Politics = Certain Combustion 


Furious Force of Rhymes is a must-see documentary 

that explores hip-hop music as a 

form of protest. The focus of the film is the 

worldwide spread of hip-hop culture. The 

flashpoint for this spread is said to be when 

Afrika Bambaataa performed in Paris in 

1982. Since then France has been a hotbed 

of hip-hop culture, with African immigrants 

connecting with the American black street 

music. Now, hip-hop directly confronts the 

problems of France’s ghettoes. 

The artists profiled use their rhymes to 

speak out on behalf of the dispossessed. 

We see talents from all over the world, from 

Berlin’s Joe Rilla to System Ali, a crew from 

Israel consisting of Jewish and Palestinian 

rappers who rehearse in a bomb shelter. 

The film gives a lucid second look at the 

culture of hip-hop, not so much portraying 

it as a pop music fashion, but as a unifying 

sociological force that gives the youth of 

the world the courage and power to speak 

out in the face of strife and injustice. With 

director Joshua Atesh Litle In person. 


Simply Rob 

DIR: Tom Shrapnel 


A portrait of poet and activist Rob Vassilarakis, 

who was diagnosed in 1993 as HIV 

positive. This film follows Rob as he tells his 

turbulent life story through his poetry.


DIR: 

Mariana 

Cengel- 

Solcanska 

PROD: 

Eduard 

Cengel, 

Andrzej 

Halinski, 

Jacek 

Lipski 

ED: Ondrej 

Azor 

MUS: 

Vladimir 

Martinka 

CAST: 

Lukcas 

Bicskey, 

Radoslav 

Brzobohat, 

Juliusz 

Chrzastowski 

108 

Minutes, 

2011, 

Slovakia 

The Legend of Flying Cyprian 

World Cinema 

Slovakian director Mariana Cengel-Solcanska’s 

first feature-length motion picture, The 

Legend of Flying Cyprian has been hailed 

as a visually impressive masterpiece with a 

glorious soundtrack. 

According to legend, in 18th century Europe, 

a man arrived very badly injured at 

the door of The Red Monastery, a Camaldolese 

monastery in the mountains. The 

monks, who live in total isolation, oblivious 

to the outside world, take him in, name him 

Cyprian, nursed him back to health, and 

discovered his profound skill at thousands 

of crafts and thousands of sciences. It is 

there that he built a flying machine adapted 

from Leonardo Da Vinci’s design and embarked 

on its maiden voyage to pay a visit 

to God himself. 

Mariana Cengel-Solcanska was born 

in Nitra in 1978. While studying Film at 

the Academy of Music and Dramatic 

Arts in Bratisla she directed several 

short student films and a made-for-TV 

movie produced in the Czech Republic. 

-James Conrad 

Roxy 1, 7:00 pm 

DIR: 

Nicholas 

Ozeki 

PROD: 

Adam 

Renehan 

SCR: 

Nicholas 

Ozeki 

CAM: 

Andrew M 

Davis 

ED: 

Melissa 

Brown 

MUS: 

Joseph Trapanese 

CAST: 

Jennifer 

Esposito, 

Joaquim 

de 

Almeida, 

Veronica 

Diaz- 

Carranza 

110 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 


Mamitas 

Cine Latino 

With STAR Veronica Diaz-Carranza in 

person! 

Jordin attends a school in East L.A. but he 

sees no point in it. He is cocky and charming; 

he insults his teacher who suspends 

him. 

In this coming of age story, the five days 

that Jordin is banished from class, we see 

the boy become a man. Jordin is not close 

to his cold and cranky father, but he is tender 

and loving with his aged grandfather 

who still fancies himself a bon vivant. He 

meets Felipa, a bookish girl and misfit who 

sees past Jordin’s macho swagger, and a 

tenuous friendship begins. Along the way 

some family secrets are revealed not only 

about Jordin, but about Felipa as well. 

The director’s cast mixes old pros like Pedro 

Armendariz as the beloved grandfather and 

proficient young newcomers such as Veronica 

Diaz-Carranza as Felipa who sparkles 

and is both sassy and soft in her portrayal. 

Veronica will attend the screening and will 

receive SRIFF’s “Rising Star Award”. 



DIR: Janez 

Burger 

PROD: 

Conor 

Barry, 

Morgan 

Bushe, 

Tomas 

Eskilsson, 

Macdara 

Kelleher, 

Petri Rossi, 

Jozko Rutar, 

Fredrik 

Zander 

SCR: 

Janez 

Burger 

CAM: Divis 

Marek 

ED: Milos 

Kalusek 

MUS: 

Drago 

Ivanusa 

CAST: 

Leon Lucev, 

Ravil 

Sultanov, 

Pauliina 

Räsänen, 

René Bazinet, 

Daniel 

Rovai 

73 

Minutes, 

2011, 

Slovenia 

Silent Sonata 

Double-Feature w/ Heaven’s Mirror 

–2-for-1 

World Cinema 

A SRIFF GEM - A MUST SEE! 

A recent UCLA study determined that 93% 

of human communication is nonverbal. 

Director Janez Burger takes this premise a 

step further with Silent Sonata, a poignant 

film that contains no dialogue whatsoever 

(which you will not miss). 

“When we think of how humanity has lived 

for the past few thousand years, we don’t get 

the impression that it lived in peace which 

was occasionally broken by wars,” Burger 

observes. “On the contrary, humans have 

lived in war with occasional cease fires.” 

The story is about a father and his children 

who live in a dilapidated house in the 

middle of a barren warzone. As they await 

the enemy’s next volley, they are paid a visit 

by Circus Fantasticus, a wandering caravan 

complete with acrobats, a fire-eater, a 

hobo clown skilled at both accordion and 

sleight-of-hand magic tricks, and a dying 

Ringmaster. 

In this visual stunner, the forces of 

good overcome those of evil. It is a 

film of feelings, atmosphere, sensibility, 

and surrealism. With Special Guests. 

-James Conrad 

ALSO PLAYING: Sunday, Sept. 18, 

6:15 pm 


Happening at Deerfield Ranch Sat.! 

Food: Colin Watleys’ Fancy Pants Fresh 


DIR: 

Olivier 

Babinet 

and Fred 

Kihn 

PROD: 

Laurent 

Herbecourt,André 

Logie, 

Joachim 

Lyng, 

Magnus 

Ramsdalen, 

Dawid 

Szurmiej, 

Igor 

Wojtowicz 

ED: Yann 

Dedet, 

Thomas 

Marchand 

MUS: 

Étienne 

Charry 

CAST: 

Olivier 

Gourmet, 

Pablo 

Nicomedes, 

Bakary 

Sangaré, 

Danuta 

Stenka 

91 

Minutes, 

2010, 

France, 

Poland, 

Belgium, 

Norway 

Robert Mitchum is Dead 

World Cinema 

This “melancomical” odyssey through 

Europe focuses on the unemployed actor 

Franky who spends his days smoking and 

dreaming of his career to get started. One 

day his manager Arsène puts him into a 

stolen car and heads off north claiming to 

have an appointment above the Arctic Circle 

with Franky’s idolized director. In search 

of his idol, Franky embarks on a bizarre trip 

through unfamiliar territories. 

40 41

Roxy 1, 9:00 pm 

DIR: 

Dallas 

Hallam, 

Patrick 

Horvath 

PROD: 

Suziey 

Block, 

Karen 

Gorham, 

Dallas 

Richard 

Hallam, 

Patrick 

Horvath, 

Michelle 

Margolis 

SCR: 

Michelle 

Margolis, 

Karen 

Gorham, 

Dallas 

Hallam 

and Patrick 

Horvath 

ED: Dallas 

Richard 

Hallam, 

Patrick 

Horvath 

CAST: 

Karen 

Baird, Suziey 

Block, 

Karen 

Gorham 

83 

Minutes, 

USA 

Sat., Sept. 17 

Entrance: 

The Scary Side of the City of 

Angels 

US Cinema 

Cast and Crew In Person 

Entrance is about the limits of our perception 

and how the things lurking on the periphery 

of our lives can lead to unexpected 

conclusions that was created by a group of 

young LA actors and film pros. 

An intentionally extended beginning and 

middle mostly follows Suziey, a barista 

that we follow through the minutia of her 

daily Silverlake life (dog feeding, walking to 

work, coffee making, chit-chatting, followed 

by dog feeding, walking). Every step takes 

Suziey further into alienation and closer to 

emotional breakdown. 

But then... ‘THUMP, THUMP THUMP!’ Is 

someone lurking in the house? The last act 

is not only the prize at the end of Suziey’s 

shaggy dog story, but a tense, white-knuckle, 

continuous 20-minute shot with only 

one invisible cut! 

Patience is required, but the style of this 

horror/slice (no pun intended) of life film 

predicts a fine future for its young filmmakers 

and cast. 

Sunday, September 18 

3rd Street Cinemas 1, Noon 

DIR: Curt 

Fissel 

PROD: 

Ellen 

Friedland 

ED: Curt 

Fissel 

FEATUR- 

ING: Ed 

O’Neill 

40 

Minutes, 

USA 

Delicious Peace Grows In A 

Ugandan Coffee Bean: 

Peace is Brewing In Africa 


Ellen Friedland In Person. 

This film tells the story of one man’s mission 

to strengthen peaceful relationships 

and promote economic development despite 

the lingering ramifications of the hatred 

created by the tyrant Idi Amin Dada. 

A group of Christian, Muslim and Jewish 

neighbors put aside their differences and 

organize to form a collective, which they 

call Mirembe Kawomera - Delicious Peace. 

Upon partnership with a Fair Trade distributor 

based in the United States, their dream 

flourishes as the farmers’ standard of living 

improves and many American coffee drinkers 

in the United States become receptive 

to their message of peace and fair wages. 

Narrated by actor Ed O’Neill (Married... 

With Children) this inspiring documentary 

imparts a message of hope and solidarity 

that will jolt the minds of viewers into 

epiphany faster than that first cup of coffee 

of the day and perhaps help to bring 

forth changes in the world’s society. 




DIR: 

Steven 

Besserman 

SCR: 

Steven 

Besserman, 

Aranka 

Mozes 

Besserman 

CAM: 

Gerardo 

Puglia 

ED: Iva 

Drufovka 

MUS: 

Allen 

Krantz 

FEATUR- 

ING: M. 

Katrin 

Daria 

Only a Number 



Stephen Besserman’s parents, Aranka and 

Joseph, are survivors of the Holocaust. Both 

have numbers tattooed on the inside of 

their left arm: hers is A17855, his is 159337. 

To better understand his parents’ history, 

he travels to Europe and follows the same 

path his mother did. Starting in her home of 

Atkar, Hungary, he moves on to Auschwitz- 

Birkenau in Poland, the place where she 

began her descent into hell and where she 

became only a number to the Nazis. Then 

he moves to Waldlager in Muhldorf, Germany 

to the concentration camp where his 

parents met, fell in love and found the will 

to live. The journey continues to Troubing, 

Germany, where they married, and finally 

onto America to begin a new, free life. 

While a majority of the film is narrated by 

his mother’s words, the film’s interspersed 

dialogue beautifully depicts Besserman’s 

ambivalent feelings about the Holocaust 

because had such a horrific event not occurred, 

he may not have come to be. 


DIR: 

Jean-Pierre 

Dutilleux 

PROD: 

François 

Enginger 

SCR: 

Jean-Pierre 

Dutilleux 

CAM: Lula 

Araujo, 

César 

Moraes, 

Bernard 

Malaisy 

MUS: 

Stewart 

Copeland, 

Jean- 

Michel 

Pinoteau 

CAST: Aurélien 

Wiik, 

Ayupu 

Kamaiura, 

Anna 

Carolina 

Vigo, José 

Steinbeck 

Amazon Forever 

Eco Cinema 

Based on a true story, Amazon Forever is 

the vivid account of one young man’s destiny 

being written in his dreams. 

As a boy growing up in the countryside 

of Luxembourg, Nicolas often fantasized 

about life as an Indian. As an adult, he 

becomes a filmmaker who travels to Brazilian 

rainforests along the Amazon River to 

make a film about the ritual ceremony, the 

Kuarup. 

As Nicolas films a ceremony in which the 

villagers honor their dead, he begins to develop 

a keener understanding of their way 

of life and is awed by the deep connection 

these people feel with the Earth. Six months 

later at home in Luxembourg, Nicolas 

learns that the deforestation has increased 

and goes back to the village where he and 

the Indians wage war on the men illegally 

cutting down the rainforest, driving them 

away from the village. When the bulldozers 

return, Nicolas decides to use his camera as 

a tool for drawing worldwide attention to 

this Amazon village’s plight. 

42 43 

65 

Minutes, 

2010, 

USA 



Tea & book-signing with Lillian Judd, 

Holocaust Survivor 

Ticket & pass holders only 

90 

Minutes, 

2009, 

France, 

Brazil


DIR: Otto 

Rosing, 

Torben 

Bech 

PROD: 

Claus 

Lauritzen, 

Mikisoq 

H. Lynge, 

Ruth Montgomery 

ED: Henrik 

Fleischer, 

Niels 

Ostenfeld 

MUS: Jan 

de Vroede 

CAST: Lars 

Rosing, Angunnguaq 

Larsen, 

Julie Berthelsen 

95 

Minutes, 

2009, 

Greenland, 

Denmark 

Nuummioq 

World Cinema 

This film is the first international feature 

from Greenland, a country with a population 

of about 56,000. It was written and 

directed by native Greenlanders with the 

more technical aspects handled by Danish 

professionals. 

“Nuummioq” literally means the man from 

Nuuk, the capital city of Greenland. Malik 

is a regular guy who is a carpenter and 

spends his time with the boys, drinking, 

hunting and whoring. When a friend lands 

in the hospital, Malik passes out and when 

he regains consciousness he is given a grim 

diagnosis. This pivotal incident which he 

keeps to himself becomes a catalyst for a 

re-evaluation of his life. He embarks on a 

long journey by boat with his Inuit cousin 

in which he learns about Inuit culture, his 

family secrets and the stark beauty that surrounds 

him. 

The story is told with minimalist intent 

and his evolution is set against the rugged 

landscape. The shadows, glaciers, the 

fjords all have their own severe grace. As 

Malik appreciates his heritage and his surroundings 

he becomes more sensitive, 

gentle, and comes to terms with his illness. 


Roxy 2, 2:00 pm 

Total 

Running 

Time: 

93 

Minutes 


Spanish Arts Shorts 


Includes Tasting of Rioja Alavesa 

Wines! Spain: the home of Goya, Catalunya’s 

Gaudi, the Prado, the Guggenheim 

in Bilboa and...a passion for art as seen in 

these short films. 

9th Day of Creation 

DIR: Angel Urbina 

44 Minutes, 2011, Spain 

On the site of an abandoned church, 

an artist’s visionary and surreal dream 

manifests itself in paintings that extend 

along the walls, seemingly growing both 

naturally and spontaneously out of the 

Earth’s entrails. 

figure 

DIR: Maxi Campo 

25 Minutes, 2010, Spain 

In a Dreamland 3D 


24 Minutes, Spain 

Paula, a young and aggressive executive 

travels to Rioja Alavesa to attend a 

conference. After experiencing a series of 

setbacks due to stress, she meets “Vinfo”, 

the elf of wine. By his side, she will learn 

the habits and natural resources of Rioja 

Alavesa and will discover its villages and 

countryside. A film that is intense and full 

of magic story that will forever change 

your way of being and facing life. 


Roxy 1, 2:00 pm 

DIR: 

Clay Jeter 

PROD: 

Jason 

Michael 

Berman 

ED: Isaac 

Hagy 

CAST: 

Sarah 

Hagan, 

Haley 

Strode, 

Austin 

Vickers 

82 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 

Jess + Moss 

44 45 

ALSO PLAYING: Saturday, Sept. 17, 4:30 pm 

Roxy 3 

US Cinema 

Director Clay Jeter In Person 

Winner of the 2011 Dallas International Film 

Festival and Nashville Film Festival, Jess + 

Moss is the story of two cousins during one 

summer. The ideas of growing up, abandonment, 

sexual awakening and fear of the 

future are explored and presented through 

a series of beautifully shot vignettes. Every 

scene is a moment in time, with the next 

moment being related to the last—as if the 

viewer is looking deep into Jess and Moss’ 

minds. As the accompanying bits of taperecorded 

conversations stop, rewind or 

move ahead, so do these captivating moments 

of childhood. The stunning cinematography 

by Will Basanta and director Clay 

Jeter paints vivid imagery that accents the 

bits of conversation between Jess and Moss 

which provide subtle, yet important details 

to the story. 


DIR: Brian 

Lilla 

PROD: 

Greg Miller 

CAM: 

Brian Lilla 

ED: Brian 

Lilla 

MUS: Axel 

Herrera 

FEATUR- 

ING: Lalo 

Romero 

87 

Minutes, 

2011, 

Chile 

Patagonia Rising 

Eco Cinema 

Throughout the past hundred years, over 

45,000 hydroelectric dams have been built 

across the world. Although they have been 

touted as a source of “clean” energy, these 

dams have forever altered the course of 

many of the world’s rivers in terms of their 

direction and the health of their ecosystems, 

with disastrous environmental effects. 

In the heart of stunning Patagonia, a remote 

and largely underdeveloped region that 

spreads across the southern portions of Argentina 

and Chile, flow two of the world’s 

purest rivers, Rio Baker and Rio Pascua. Fed 

by melting ice from glaciers in the Andes 

these rivers are the life force for the surrounding 

rainforests, estuaries and marine 

ecosystems and for hardy gauchos. 

The people of Patagonia are caught in a 

heated battle over the proposal to build 

five dams on these rivers. The viewpoints of 

gauchos, environmental activists, the prodam 

business sector and renewable energy 

experts are juxtaposed. 

The film calls much needed attention to the 

problem, while proposing viable solutions. 


Save Earth, Save Us 

DIR: Tatsuro Manno 

USA, 2010, 1 Minute 

A professor shows his students an experiment. 

He puts a frog in water, and boils 

it slowly. It dies unaware. Global warming 

similarly dries an old lady to death


DIR: 

Michael 

Henry 

Wilson 

PROD: 

Carole J. 

Wilson, 

Michael 

Henry 

Wilson 

ED: Rick 

Blue, Terry 

Kelley 

MUS: 

Thomas 

Take 

Wilson 

FEATUR- 

ING: Clint 

Eastwood, 

Desmond 

Tutu, FW 

de Klerk, 

Zindzi 

Mandela, 

Francois 

Pienaar, 

The 

Springboks 

88 

Minutes, 

2010, 

USA 

ALSO PLAYING: Monday, 

Sept. 19, 4:30 pm 


Reconciliation: 

Mandela’s Miracle 


With Michael Henry Wilson, In Person 

This moving documentary, directed by 

Michael Henry Wilson, SRIFF Cinema of 

Conscience Award winner, provides an insightful 

look at Nelson Mandela the leader, 

former President, Nobel Peace Prize winner 

and “father of democracy” for post-apartheid 

South Africa. 

A series of interviews with those closest 

to Mandela chronicle his anti-apartheid 

beginning as the leader of Umkhonto we 

Sizwe, a part of the African National Congress; 

his 27 year imprisonment on Robben 

Island; and his release and eventual election 

as President in South Africa’s first fully 

democratic election. Members of the 1995 

Springboks, South Africa’s national rugby 

team, look back on his support of the team 

and their World Cup win that reunited the 

country. 

Loaded with archival footage, Reconciliation 

not only informs, but provides a real 

glimpse of the dark and dangerous reactions 

to apartheid. Footage of Truth and 

Reconciliation Commission hearings are 

heart-breaking as loved ones of victims 

share their stories. Footage of Clint Eastwood’s 

2009 film Invictus, about Mandela 

and the 1995 Springbok team presents a 

modern-day interpretation of the democratic 

rebuilding. Winner of the 2011 Cannes 

Independent Film Festival, Reconciliation is 

a clear standout in a sea of films about a 

man who became the face of freedom and 

democracy. 

Sunday, September 18 Sunday, September 18 


DIR: 

Joshua 

Mellars 

PROD: 

Joshua 

Mellars 

CAM: 

Joshua 

Mellars 

ED: Joshua 

Mellars 

MUS: 

Carlos 

Goncalves 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

Joana 

Amendoeira, 

Mafalda 

Arnauth, 

Camané 

70 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 


Deerfield Ranch Cave 


Voyage 



Director Joshua Dylan Mellars’ love song 

to fado music, this documentary is a Chatwinesque 

travelogue of the filmmaker’s 

encounter with fado that goes deep into the 

spell of this hauntingly beautiful Portuguese 

folk music and its salient emotion--longing, 

or “saudade.” 

In telling fado’s story, Heaven’s Mirror travels 

from the Portuguese immigrant enclaves 

of California to New England’s former whaling 

ports, then to Lisbon’s candle-lit fado 

houses and Indian Goa’s steamy, pastel 

bungalows. 

New generation fadistas Ana Moura and 

Mafalda Arnauth are featured in Mellars’ 

documentary, bringing a fresh approach to 

fado: Moura, filmed singing in an intimate 

cabaret setting, has sung “No Expectations” 

on the big stage with the Rolling Stones; 

Arnauth is filmed at Sintra’s windswept 

Moorish castle and on the rugged coastline 

which inspires her own songs, and has recorded 

Astor Piazzolla’s Argentine tangos 

and Tom Jobim’s Brazilian bossa novas, as 

well as traditional fados. 

Roxy 1, 4:10 pm 

DIR: 

Minh Duc 

Nguyen 

PROD: 

Mellissa 

Tong 

MUS: 

Marcell De 

Francisci 

CAST: Porter 

Lynn, 

John Ruby, 

Melinda 

Bennett, 

Tony 

LaThanh, 

Long 

Nguyen, 

Hiep Thi 

Le, Trisha 

Nguyen 

Happening at Summerfield Sun.! 

Music Performances: Fado singers 

46 47 

109 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 

ALSO PLAYING: Friday, Sept. 16, 7:30 pm 


Touch 

World Cinema 

Porter Lynn makes her motion picture debut 

in this moving and romantic dramatic 

comedy about the tactile aspect of love. 

Lynn stars as Tam, an accomplished but 

painfully shy and isolated Vietnamese- 

American manicurist who takes a job at a 

salon in Los Angeles. Among her first customers 

is Brendan (John Ruby), a mechanic 

whose marriage to his corporate lawyer 

wife is suffering on account of his hands being 

smutted from his job. 

In a desperate move to keep his wife, he 

visits a nail salon every day for a manicure, 

preferring Tam’s personal touch as she and 

he brave the gossip of her colleagues. Before 

long, Brendan leans on Tam for further 

advice to bring himself and his wife closer 

together. But he and Tam find themselves 

caught up in an increasingly irresistible mutual 

attraction. 

Other aspects of the emotional impact of 

touch are explored in this heartwarming 

and thought-provoking film. It is sure to jar 

your synapses. With director Minh Duc 

Nguyen in person. 

Roxy 3, 4:30 pm 

Total 

Running 

Time: 

71 

Minutes 

ALSO PLAYING: Saturday Sept. 17 4:30 pm Roxy Cinemas 2 

Arts In Film Shorts 


Arcimboldo: Nature and Fantasy 



A short documentary, courtesy of the 

National Gallery of Art, about the heralded 

“father of surrealism” Guiseppe Arcimboldo. 

Narrated by actress Isabella Rossellini, 

the film examines his trademark style 

of fusing portraits with items of agriculture 

and nature. 

Gauguin: Maker of Myth 



An in-depth look at Paul Gauguin, the 

French painter who left a legacy of selfcreated 

myths about himself and exotic 

locations–including Brittany, Martinique 

and Tahiti. Narrated by actor Willem Dafoe, 

with the voice of Gauguin provided by 

actor Alfred Molina, this film is a production 

of the National Gallery of Art in 

Washington. 

Pass Through the Fire 

DIR: Deirdre Lee 


Pass Through the Fire portrays artist Jay 

Strommen and his wood-fire ceramic process. 

Through an experimental approach, 

Pass Through the Fire explores themes 

relating to the natural elements and human 

destiny.

Roxy 2, 4:30 pm Roxy 2, 4:30 pm 

Total 

Running 

Time: 

67 

Minutes 

Animated Shorts Program 


Our specially selected Animated Shorts 

Program ranges from pure visual beauty 

to a voyage into Dante’s Inferno. Special 

guest includes Hélène Cardona. 

Cockroach 

DIR: Luke Eve 14 Minutes, 2010, Australia 

It is a live action short with an animated 

CGI lead character.The film took a year to 

complete. 

Night Fishing with Cormorants 

DIR: Betsy Kopmar 5 Minutes, 2009, USA 

An abstract meditation, inspired in part by 

the 17th Century Japanese screen printing 

by Kano Tanyu “Night Fishing with Cormorants” 

and by the very stark and beautiful 

novel of Akira Yoshima, Shipwrecks. “I am 

not telling a natualistic story in one piece, 

but rather I have tried to make a work that 

will hold in equal reverence the spirit of 

the bird, the fish, and the fisherman.” 

Woman and Wind 

DIR: Aija Bley 11 Minutes, 2011, Latvia 

A short animated tale from Latvia about 

a woman from the West who falls in love 

with the Wind of the East. Bright, colorful 

and poetic, this story of love with no limits 

will capture your heart. 


Animated Shorts Program, cont. 

Dante’s Inferno - Animated 

A Masterpiece is 700! World Premiere 

DIR: Boris Acosta PROD: Boris Acosta 

CAST: Armand Mastroianni, 

Eric Roberts, Vincent Spano, Jeff 

Conaway, Hélène Cardona 


Poet & Actress Hélène Cardona 

(Chocolat) will discuss Dante 

and his influence on language 

and the arts. In Person. 

The SRIFF/WCFF 25th Anniversary celebration would not 

be complete without other great anniversaries... and in 

fact, 2011 is the 700th anniversary of Dante’s Inferno, the 

150th anniversary of Gustave Dorés lithographs of The 

Divine Comedy, the 100th anniversary of L’Inferno - the 

first Italian feature film ever and the 50th anniversary 

of Salvador Dali’s abstract 100 paintings of The Divine 

Comedy. 

Dante’s Inferno Animated, inspired by 14th century 

Italian poet Dante Alighieri’s masterpiece, The Divine 

Comedy, takes us on a astonishing and terrifying tour of 

the afterlife. Dante (voiced by Eric Roberts), on a quest 

to be reunited with Beatrice, his one true love, joins his 

mentor Virgil (Vincent Spano) on a journey through the 

descending circles of Hell in search of the point of entry 

into Purgatory. Hélène Cardona portrays the Lustful 

Francesca. 

Featuring animated paintings of artist-filmmaker Boris 

Acosta, Dante’s Inferno Animated is an accessible 

entertaining interpretation of the epic poem. The visually 

engaging and intellectually stimulating film is sure to stir 

interest in the “father of the Italian language” Dante in a 

new generation. Happy Anniversary All! 


DIR: 

Francine 

Cavanaugh; 

Adams 

Wood 

PROD: 

Jillian 

Elizabeth, 

Deann 

Borshay 

Liem, Dan 

Frishwasser, 

Eric 

Falkenstein, 

J. 

Robert 

Spencer 

ED: Mary 

Lampson 

MUS: 

Steven 

Gutheinz 

FEATUR- 

ING: Ed 

Wiley, Bo 

Webb, 

Judy 

Bonds, 

Maria 

Lambert 

81 

Minutes, 

USA 

On Coal River 

Eco Cinema 

In this documentary about a real-life David 

and Goliath battle, a bitter feud between 

the residents of Coal River Valley, in West 

Virginia, and coal company Massey Energy 

rages on over a five-year period. 

Former coal miner Ed Wiley is concerned 

about the toxic waste facility that he used 

to work for now threatening his granddaughter’s 

elementary school. Bo Webb 

retired from the Marines to live in his childhood 

home, except that the valley is being 

destroyed by a company practicing mountaintop 

removal, or blowing up mountains 

in order to extract coal. Judy Bonds left her 

family’s home when a mine opened next 

door and kept sending black water down 

the creek. Maria Lambert brings in scientists 

to confirm that Massey Energy has 

contaminated her entire neighborhood’s 

water supply. 

These four leaders, along with the community, 

fight against the local school board, 

state government and Massey Energy to 

protect their children and their home. When 

they feel ignored, Wiley raises money to 

build a new elementary school, and walks 

from West Virginia to Washington, D.C. to 

speak directly to Senator Robert Byrd. 

Every individual exhibits dedication, vivaciousness 

and the will to keep fighting, even 

when down. This dramatic film’s end will 

have you cheering and proves that, even 

against all odds, anything is possible. 


DIR: Janez 

Burger 

PROD: 

Conor 

Barry, 

Morgan 

Bushe, 

Tomas 

Eskilsson, 

Macdara 

Kelleher, 

Petri Rossi, 

Jozko Rutar, 

Fredrik 

Zander 

SCR: 

Janez 

Burger 

CAM: Divis 

Marek 

ED: Milos 

Kalusek 

MUS: 

Drago 

Ivanusa 

CAST: 

Leon Lucev, 

Ravil 

Sultanov, 

Pauliina 

Räsänen, 

René Bazinet, 

Daniel 

Rovai 

73 

Minutes, 

2011, 

Slovenia 

Silent Sonata 

World Cinema 

A SRIFF GEM - A MUST SEE! 

A recent UCLA study determined that 93% 

of human communication is nonverbal. 

Director Janez Burger takes this premise a 

step further with Silent Sonata, a poignant 

film that contains no dialogue whatsoever 

(which you will not miss). 

“When we think of how humanity has lived 

for the past few thousand years, we don’t get 

the impression that it lived in peace which 

was occasionally broken by wars,” Burger 

observes. “On the contrary, humans have 

lived in war with occasional cease fires.” 

The story is about a father and his children 

who live in a dilapidated house in the 

middle of a barren warzone. As they await 

the enemy’s next volley, they are paid a visit 

by Circus Fantasticus, a wandering caravan 

complete with acrobats, a fire-eater, a 

hobo clown skilled at both accordion and 

sleight-of-hand magic tricks, and a dying 

Ringmaster. 

In this visual stunner, the forces of good 

overcome those of evil. It is a film of 

feelings, atmosphere, sensibility, and 

surrealism. With Special Guests.. 

-James Conrad 

ALSO PLAYING: Saturday, Sept. 17, 

8:00 pm 

Deerfield Ranch Al Fresco 

48 49


DIR: 

Sander 

Francken 

PROD: 

Karin S. de 

Boer 

ED: Gys 

Zevenbergen 

MUS: Adi 

Bhasin, 

Afel 

Bocoum, 

Sakar 

Khan, 

Rainer 

Michel, 

Morup 

Namgyal 

CAST: 

Abba 

Bilancoro, 

Kolado 

Bocoum, 

Dhamender 

Singhi 

94 

Minutes, 

2010, 

Netherlands 

ALSO PLAYING: Monday, Sept. 

19, 8:35 pm 


Bardsongs 

World Cinema 

Filmed in India and Mali, Bardsongs, using 

three folk tales from Rajasthan, West Africa 

and Ladakh respectively, this film demonstrates 

that wisdom is universal, regardless 

of what an individual person’s beliefs are. 

Part One tells the story of Sahir, whose father 

never jumps to conclusions, no matter 

how much he is tempted. The second story 

is that of Bouba, a student of the Koran 

who embarks on a six-day quest in and 

around the city of Djenné in search of the 

greatest part of all knowledge. The third 

tale concerns Sonam, his travels with his 

daughter through the Himalaya to a village 

to sell a dzo (a crossbreed between a yak 

and a cow), and the advice he receives from 

people he meets along the way. 

“When it comes down to it we all seem to 

think alike about the essence of our existence, 

whether you are a Hindu or a Christian, 

Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish or anarchist, 

atheist or animist,” muses Francken. “The 

understanding that the old wisdom of any 

given people is of universal importance, 

was a great starting point for me, especially 

in an age in which we more and more are at 

each other’s throats on account of cultural 

differences. ” 

Indeed, this beautiful, deep and poetic film, 

brimming with astute observations on human 

nature, seeks to bridge these gaps. 

-James Conrad 

Happening at Deerfield Ranch Sun.! 

Food: The Yeti 6:30Ppm - 8:30pm 

Roxy 1, 7:00 pm 

DIR: Brad 

Rosier 

PROD: 

Brad 

Rosier 

SCR: Brad 

Rosier 

CAM: Brad 

Rosier 

ED: Brad 

Rosier 

CAST: Damon 

Davis, 

Nora 

Batteast, 

Rachel 

Cottom, 

Jamie 

Grant, Brittany 

Fried, 

Kevin 

Joiner, 

Nathan 

DeSelm, 

Dennis 

Fox, Rick 

Sunderland 

85 

Minutes, 

2010, USA 


Currency 

US Cinema 

A SRIFF MAJOR DISCOVERY! 

WEST COAST PREMIERE 

With director Brad Rosier in person— 

SRIFF Emerging Talent Award 2011 

When the credits roll in a film and planets 

and apples are all drifting in space, it becomes 

obvious that existential questions 

will be posed. Currency has been variously 

described as a drama, mystery, thriller and 

neo-noir. It is all these and more, a labor of 

love for Brad Rosier who not only directed, 

wrote, shot, edited, and produced it, but 

also served as production designer and 

make-up artist. He has a highly artistic approach 

in the framing of his work. 

Currency spans 80 years and follows four 

scenarios that are loosely connected by a 

mysterious antique coin that supposedly 

was Christopher Columbus’ lucky charm. 

The value that our society places on money 

and the price people place on their values 

are constant themes. 

A child mourns the death of her mother 

and asks why we die. A mobster ruminates 

as to whether life has any meaning and an 

old woman broods on why we are alone. 

Each position is presented with dialog and 

an over voiced philosophical explanation. 

Everything is strung together with a painter’s 

sensibility and the ever present coin. 


Counterfeit 

DIR: Geoff Bailey 

20 minutes, 2010, USA 

Roxy 3, 7:00 pm 

DIR: 

Charles 

Martin 

Smith 

PROD: 

Yolanda T. 

Cochran, 

Robert 

Engelman, 

Richard 

Ingber, 

Broderick 

Johnson, 

Andrew A. 

Kosove, 

Keith 

Melton, 

Carl Rogers, 

Steven 

P. Wegner, 

David 

Yates 

ED: 

Harvey 

Rosenstock 

MUS: 

Mark 

Isham 

CAST: 

Morgan 

Freeman, 

Ashley 

Judd, 

Harry 

Connick 

Jr., Kris 

Kristofferson, 

Nathan 

Gamble 

Dolphin Tale 

Eco Cinema 

A remarkable story of recovery and rehabilitation 

starring Harry Connick Jr., Ashley 

Judd and Morgan Freeman, Dolphin Tale is 

based on the true story of Winter, a bottlenose 

dolphin at Florida’s Clearwater Marine 

Aquarium, widely known for her prosthetic 

tail. 

A young boy named Sawyer befriends 

Winter, who was rescued from the Florida 

coast having lost her tail in a crab trap when 

she was three months old. Despite a grim 

prognosis for Winter, Sawyer rallies to her 

support, crusading for a prosthetic limb 

constructed from silicone and plastic to be 

affixed to her stump with a gel-like sleeve 

being used to prevent skin irritation. 

It should be noted that in real life, the innovations 

that improved Winter’s life have 

informed the prosthetics industry. A similar 

approach was used to create artificial appendages 

for US Air Force Senior Airman 

Brian Kolfage, who lost both legs and his 

right hand in a 2004 mortar attack on Iraq. 

This story of devotion and innovation will 

without a doubt leave an indelible mark upon 

the hearts and minds of all viewers, whether 

or not they have to cope with disabilities. 

-James Conrad 

50 51 

100 

Minutes, 

USA 

Roxy 2, 7:15 pm 

DIR: Christopher 

E. 

Grimes 

PROD: 

Christopher 

E. 

Grimes, 

Bethany 

Leonard, 

Joe Reno, 

Jessica 

King, Travis 

Edwards 

SCR: 

Christopher 

E. 

Grimes, 

Jessica 

King 

CAM: 

Travis 

Edwards 

ED: Travis 

Edwards 

MUS: 

Beth 

Moore, 

Shelby 

Cinca, Jim 

Cooper 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

Paul 

Binder 

(narrator) 

60 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 

A Second Knock at the Door 



With Christopher Grimes In Person 

This documentary offers a rare glimpse into 

the lives of military families dealing with the 

loss of loved ones to friendly fire. Through 

interviews and investigative reports obtained 

through the Freedom of Information 

Act, this documentary explores several key 

incidents in which the families of the fallen 

were forced to embark on a quest for the 

truth after the Army attempted to bury the 

true cause of death within the “fog of war.”. 

Trout Fishing In Afghanistan 

DIR: Eric Gilliom 


Eric Gilliom In Person 

During the height of the US-Taliban conflict, 

a retired US Navy Seal disguises himself 

and sets off for a trout fishing expedition in 

Afghanistan. George is put into harm’s way 

when he stumbles across the country’s largest 

opium harvest and films it. This short 

gives us a glimpse into what is just another 

day, and way of life, for the Afghan people. 

Next of Kin 

DIR: Stephen Collins 

USA 


visit to the father of a woman soldier killed 

in Iraq with whom he had little contact. 

While he and the corporal spar over the US 

presence in Iraq, the father learns that his 

daughter felt closer to him than he knew.


DIR: 

Oliver 

Stone 

122 

Minutes, 

1986, 

USA 

Roxy 3, 9:00 pm 

DIR: Brian 

de Palma 

170 

Minutes, 

1983, 

USA 

Salvador - 25th Anniversary: 

Evening with John Savage 


The 25th Anniversary of Salvador is a perfect 

celebration for the SRIFF, as it is our 

25th Anniversary as Wine Country Film 

Festival. We had the film 25 years ago and 

were privileged to have Co-Writer Richard 

Boyle on our Cinema of Conscience panel. 

He is the real life character James Woods 

portrays in the film. 

Set in El Salvador, the film traces a war photographer’s 

steps into a moment in history. 

This year we are honored to have John Savage 

with us to give particular insight into 

the making of the film, as well as the rest 

of his career. 

Scarface 

US Cinema 

This ground-breaking 1983 film was written 

by Oliver Stone. Nearly thirty years on, 

Scarface’s legacy remains confirmed and 

its “the higher they fly, the harder they fall” 

message will eternally ring true. 

Sunday, September 18 Sunday, September 18 Mon., Sept 19 


DIR: Marc 

Evans 

PROD: 

Rebekah 

Gilbertson, 

Flora 

Fernandez- 

Marengo 

ED: Mali 

Evans 

MUS: 

Joseph 

LoDuca 

CAST: 

Matthew 

Rhys, 

Marta 

Lubos, 

Nahuel 

Pérez Biscayart, 

Nia 

Roberts, 

Matthew 

Gravelle 

120 

Minutes, 

2010, 

Argentina, 

UK 

Patagonia 

Quests for Roots at the End of 

the World 

Cine Latino 

In May 1865, 163 Welsh men, women and 

children set sail to flee the poverty of their 

hill farms and to find a promised land 

where they could prosper. Two months later, 

the Welsh came ashore in Patagonia, Argentina. 

Years later, two on-the-road stories 

of love and identity prove that the dream of 

Patagonia is still alive today. 

Cerys, an old diabetic woman (Marta Lubos), 

tricks her neighbor’s misanthropic 

son, Alejandro (Nahuel Perez Biscayart), 

into traveling with her to Wales, to find the 

farm her immigrant mother grew up on, 

and ends up broadening his horizons far 

beyond anything could have imagined. 

Gwen (Nia Roberts) and Rhys (Matthew 

Gravelle), a young couple, take a trip to Patagonia. 

Their journey takes an unexpected 

twist and turns into a love triangle with the 

entrance of their tour guide (Matthew Rhys) 

that puts their relationship to the test. 

The cast brings the characters’ wants and 

dreams to life. With beautiful backdrops 

and breathtaking cinematography, Patagonia 

explores cultural identity across multiple 

generations and is, itself, a beautiful 

example of the festival’s phrase “terroir of 

cinema”—the attributes, tastes and cultural 

distinctions that reflect the roots of the filmmakers 

and subjects they focus on. 


Food: The Yeti 6:30Ppm - 8:30pm 


East Fifth Bliss 

52 53 

DIR: 

Michael 

Knowles 

PROD: 

Michael 

Knowles, 

Douglas 

Matejka, 

John Ramos, 

John 

Will 

MUS: 

Daniel 

Alcheh 

CAST: 

Michael C. 

Hall, Lucy 

Liu, Sarah 

Shahi. Peter 

Fonda, 

Rhea Perlman, 

Brie 

Larson 

97 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 

ALSO PLAYING: Saturday, Sept. 17, 4 pm 


US Cinema 

Adapted from an award-winning novel 

by Douglas Light and featuring such high 

profile names as Peter Fonda (Easy Rider), 

Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels) and Michael C. 

Hall (Dexter), East Fifth Bliss is the story of 

a man due for an unexpected and overdue 

awakening from his dreary life. 

Thirty-five-year-old Morris Bliss is trapped 

in an urban catch-22. He wants to travel, 

but has no money. He needs a job, but has 

no prospects. Adding to his woes, he shares 

an apartment on New York City’s Lower 

East Side with his widowed father and is 

still haunted by his mother’s premature 

death. But when Stephanie, the highly sexual 

eighteen-year-old daughter of a former 

high school classmate comes into his life, 

an awkward relationship ensues and suddenly 

Morris finds himself fighting to keep 

his life from spinning out of control. 

Moving, funny and full of thought-provoking 

social commentary, East Fifth Bliss 

is a film that will send audiences on a 

wild roller coaster ride close to the edge. 

-James Conrad 


DIR: 

Steven 

Besserman 

SCR: 

Steven 

Besserman, 

Aranka 

Mozes 

Besserman 

CAM: 

Gerardo 

Puglia 

ED: Ivan- 

Drufovka 

MUS: 

Allen 

Krantz 

FEATUR- 

ING: M. 

Katrin 

Daria 

65 

Minutes, 

2010, 

USA 



Only a Number 



Stephen Besserman’s parents, Aranka and 

Joseph, are survivors of the Holocaust. Both 

have numbers tattooed on the inside of 

their left arm: hers is A17855, his is 159337. 

To better understand his parents’ history, 

he travels to Europe and follows the same 

path his mother did. Starting in her home of 

Atkar, Hungary, he moves on to Auschwitz- 

Birkenau in Poland, the place where she 

began her descent into hell and where she 

became only a number to the Nazis. Then 

he moves to Waldlager in Muhldorf, Germany 

to the concentration camp where his 

parents met, fell in love and found the will 

to live. The journey continues to Troubing, 

Germany, where they married, and finally 

onto America to begin a new, free life. 

While a majority of the film is narrated by 

his mother’s words, the film’s interspersed 

dialogue beautifully depicts Besserman’s 

ambivalent feelings about the Holocaust 

because had such a horrific event not occurred, 

he may not have come to be.


DIR: 

Michael 

Henry 

Wilson 

PROD: 

Carole J. 

Wilson, 

Michael 

Henry 

Wilson 

ED: Rick 

Blue, Terry 

Kelley 

MUS: 

Thomas 

Take 

Wilson 

FEATUR- 

ING: Clint 

Eastwood, 

Desmond 

Tutu, FW 

de Klerk, 

Zindzi 

Mandela, 

Francois 

Pienaar, 

The 

Springboks 

88 

Minutes, 

2010, 

USA 

ALSO PLAYING: Sunday, 

Sept. 18, 3:30 pm 


Reconciliation: 

Mandela’s Miracle 


With Michael Henry Wilson, In Person 

This moving documentary, directed by 

Michael Henry Wilson, SRIFF Cinema of 

Conscience Award winner, provides an insightful 

look at Nelson Mandela the leader, 

former President, Nobel Peace Prize winner 

and “father of democracy” for post-apartheid 

South Africa. 

A series of interviews with those closest 

to Mandela chronicle his anti-apartheid 

beginning as the leader of Umkhonto we 

Sizwe, a part of the African National Congress; 

his 27 year imprisonment on Robben 

Island; and his release and eventual election 

as President in South Africa’s first fully 

democratic election. Members of the 1995 

Springboks, South Africa’s national rugby 

team, look back on his support of the team 

and their World Cup win that reunited the 

country. 

Loaded with archival footage, Reconciliation 

not only informs, but provides a real 

glimpse of the dark and dangerous reactions 

to apartheid. Footage of Truth and 

Reconciliation Commission hearings are 

heart-breaking as loved ones of victims 

share their stories. Footage of Clint Eastwood’s 

2009 film Invictus, about Mandela 

and the 1995 Springbok team presents a 

modern-day interpretation of the democratic 

rebuilding. Winner of the 2011 Cannes 

Independent Film Festival, Reconciliation is 

a clear standout in a sea of films about a 

man who became the face of freedom and 

democracy. 

Monday, September 19 Monday, September 19 

Third Street Cinema 1, 4:00 pm 

PROD: 

Mark Hall 

ED: Sandra 

Adair, 

Catie Cacci 

MUS: 

Brian Satterwhite 

CAST: 

Casson 

Trenor, 

Mamoru 

Sugiyama 

75 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 

Sushi: The Global Catch 


The Japanese pride themselves on their 

perfectionism, so it’s no surprise that seven 

years of apprenticeship are required for 

certification as a sushi chef. Preparing sushi 

is a meticulous process, beginning with 

the catching of the tuna, which is given a 

thorough quality inspection before it leaves 

the warehouse for the marketplace. Perhaps 

this is one reason why the popularity 

of this cuisine has exploded worldwide. For 

example, in Austin, Texas, a landlocked city, 

sushi is sold at high school football games.! 

However, the high demand for quality sushi 

has worrisome ramifications. We are experiencing 

such a steep worldwide decline in 

the bluefin tuna population that Barbara 

Block, a professor of marine studies at 

Stanford University, is actively seeking endangered 

status for the species. 

Some chefs and restaurant customers are 

also expressing worry. According to Michelin-starred 

chef Mamoru Sugiyama, “We 

will run out of tuna sooner than we will run 

out of oil.” Meanwhile, Casson Trenor, an 

environmental activist who is advancing 

the cause of sustainable sushi maintains, 

“People taking a paycheck from the oceans 

must be responsible for their actions.” With 

that in mind, some fishermen have taken to 

farm-raising fish in an endeavor to ensure 

both a plentiful supply and a quality product. 

But will such an effort be successful, or 

will exacting consumer demand irrevocably 

destroy aquatic ecosystems? 

Roxy 2, 5:00 pm 

Cinema of Conscience Short 

Program 


Our series of films on social issues over the 

last 25 years reflects changes in the world. 

Directors James Breen, Nicole Kian- 

Sadighi and Stephen Collins in person 


DIR: James Breen 


While the nation celebrates Labor Day, an 

unemployed autoworker named Michael 

Peck celebrates his birthday by giving an 

interview about his family’s experiences in 

the auto industry. Through the interview, it 

becomes obvious that this is a final chance 

for Michael to be heard before he commits 

a desperate act to protest how the auto industry 

has treated its workers. 

I Am Neda 

DIR: Nicole Kian-Sadighi 


A courageous young woman who has 

become the face of the Iranian Green 

Movement. 

The Interview 

DIR: Michelle Steffes 


Next of Kin 

DIR: Stephen Collins USA 


visit to the estranged father of a woman 

soldier just killed in Iraq. He learns that his 

daughter felt closer to him than he knew. 


DIR: Tom 

Ropelewski 

PROD: 

Tom 

Ropelewski, 

George 

Paul 

Csicsery 

CAM: Skip 

Sweeney 

ED: Paul 

Dixon, 

Martina 

Nagel, Piri 

Miller 

MUS: 

Richard 

Chon 

CAST: 

Daniel 

Dixon, 

Dorothea 

Lange, 

Maynard 

Dixon 

Child of Giants: 

My Journey with Maynard Dixon 

and Dorothea Lange 


Living in the shadow of extraordinary genius 

can never be easy for a young child. 

Now multiply that by two and you can only 

being to imagine what growing up held 

for Daniel Dixon, eldest son of legendary 

photographer Dorothea Lange and gifted 

painter Maynard Dixon. 

Tom Ropelewski’s skillfully constructed 

documentary, using archival materials and 

interviews, examines the tight-rope balance 

of the creative mind against the role of the 

parent and how sometimes one can fall a 

bit short. Spending long periods of time in 

foster homes during the Depression with 

no idea when a parent would return, Daniel 

and his younger brothers had to come to 

terms with their parents’ idiosyncrasies. The 

film offers the chronicle of a disjoined childhood 

full of art and beauty and the impact 

that creative genius can have on the life of 

a child. 

54 55 

Total 

lRunning 

Time: 

77 

Minutes 



97 

Minutes, 

2010, 

USA


DIR: Elizabeth 

Pepin 

Silva 

27 

Minutes, 

2010, 

USA, 

Slow the Flow 

Eco Cinema 

A prime example of Eco Cinema from California, 

which covers multiple water-related 

issues, including: urbanization’s effect on 

stormwater runoff, water-friendly landscaping, 

water conservation and pesticide use. 

Featuring smart, beautiful landscaping and 

statistics, this documentary from the Water 

Board Training Academy is entertaining, informative 

and to-the-point. 

Roxy 1, 6:00 pm 

DIR: Bruce 

McDonald 

PROD: 

Erin Faith 

Young, 

Jennifer St. 

John 

ED: 

Eamonn 

O’Connor 

MUS: Rita 

Chiarelli, 

Christopher 

Guglick, 

John Hazen, 

Léah 

Lazonick 

FEATUR- 

ING: Rita 

Chiarelli 

87 

Minutes, 

2010, 

Canada 


Music from the Big House 


Angola Prison in Louisiana has had a colorful 

history since its establishment in the 

early days of Reconstruction. 

Canadian-born singer-songwriter Rita Chiarelli 

opens the door to Angola Prison in 

Music From The Big House. She discovered 

Angola Prison while on a pilgrimage down 

Highway 61 in search of the birthplace of 

the blues and encountered whole new 

generations of musicians confined behind 

those four walls and songs that were raw, 

real and moving in their truthfulness. Initially, 

Chiarelli had planned to perform a 

concert at Angola, but after jamming with 

several of the inmates, she realized that 

they, too, should perform. 

We learn about some of the legendary 

musical inmates of Angola Prison, such as 

Robert P. Williams, Hogman Maxie, Freddie 

Fender and Huddie “Leadbelly” Ledbetter, 

who earned a gubernatorial pardon with 

his music. There were talented female inmates, 

too, like Odea Matthews. 

Music is the main focus of this documentary, 

and as we see Chiarelli jamming with 

some very talented convicted felons, little 

about the specific reasons for their incarceration 

is given or necessary, especially 

since it is pointed out that many of them 

will spend the rest of their natural lives 

behind bars. Instead, these musicians talk 

about their heroes, and how music has 

given them something to keep themselves 

going. 


DIR: Alysa 

Nahmias 

& Ben 

Murray 

PROD: 

Benjamin 

Murray, 

Alysa 

Nahmias 

ED: Alex 

Minnick, 

Kristen 

Nutile 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

Vittorio 

Garatti, 

Roberto 

Gottardi, 

Ricardo 

Porro 

86 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 

Unfinished Spaces 


In 1961, shortly after the revolution, Fidel 

Castro embarked on turning a country club 

outside of Havana into, “...the most beautiful 

academy of art in the world.” We learn 

what went wrong in this documentary. 

Three visionary architects were commissioned 

and given freedom to create. Roberto 

Gottardi, Ricardo Porro and Vittorio 

Garatti (all in the film) produced a surreal 

plan; a complex of buildings, some with 

subterranean paths, some resembling gigantic 

domed breasts, one with a fountain 

resembling a vagina. 

Because of the U.S. embargo on steel and 

other materials, the compound was constructed 

mostly using native terra cotta 

and the Catalonian arch. The structures 

were organic, undulating, breathtaking 

and represented more than just brick and 

mortar. They embodied the freedom, and 

exuberance of the new order. Before they 

were completed however, Soviet ideology 

forced a wedge between artistic freedom 

and functionality. The National Art Schools 

fell into disrepair, overgrown and neglected… 

nonetheless they continued as viable 

schools for all the arts which launched Cuban 

arts into world renown. 

The fate of the buildings even today, make 

for a dynamic real-life drama that offers 

surprises. 

Co-Director Alysa Nahmias In Person for 

Q & A. 

56 57 

ALSO PLAYING: Tuesday, Sept. 20 4:30 pm 


Happening at Deerfield Ranch Mon.! 

Food: Doce Lunas 6:30pm - 8pm 


DIR: Claus 

Wischmann, 

Martin 

Baer 

PROD: 

Stefan 

Pannen, 

Holger 

Preuße 

ED: 

Peter Klum 

MUS: Jan 

Tilman 

Schade 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

Joseph 

Masunda 

Lutete, 

Albert 

Nlanzu 

Matubanza, 

Nathalie 

Angwanguilo 

Bahati 

98 

Minutes, 

2010, 

Germany 

Kinshasa Symphony 



A Perfect “Arts In Film,” “Cinema of Conscience” 

and “World Cinema” Nexus. 

Kinshasa Symphony shows how people living 

in one of the most chaotic cities in the 

world have managed to forge one of the 

most complex systems of human cooperation 

ever invented: a symphony orchestra. 

It is a film about the Congo, about the people 

of Kinshasa and about music. 

Claus Wischmann and Martin Baer have 

fashioned one of those very special films 

that take you into worlds unknown–inspiring 

in the face of completely unexpected 

beauty and at the same time ravaged by 

war and poverty. 

Kinshasa Symphony sings the praises for 

L’Orchestre Symphonique Kimbangusite 

and the indomitable resilience of its conductor 

and members—two hundred strong. 

In spite of the Congo’s atrocious war, 10 

years of bloodshed and displacement (the 

most devastating since WWII with over 5 

million deaths) Armand Diangienda, the 

conductor and founder has managed to 

create a viable orchestra. Overcoming enormous 

obstacles, the symphony has continued 

for fifteen years, providing classical 

music for audiences in the Congo that have 

almost no awareness that such music exists. 

This film exemplifies the power of art to 

heal and transform.


DIR: Yurek 

Bogayevicz 

PROD: 

Yurek Bogayevicz, 

Gábor 

Dettre, 

Zanne 

Devine, 

Deirdre 

Gainor, 

Julianne 

Gilliam 

ED: Julie 

Sloane 

MUS: Greg 

Hawkes 

CAST: 

Sally 

Kirkland, 

Paulina 

Porizkova, 

Robert 

Fields 

90 

Minutes, 

1986, 

USA 

Anna 


A 25th Anniversary Celebration: 

Career Achievement Award Honoree 

SALLY KIRKLAND, In Person. 

Yurek Bogayevicz’s classic film Anna is 

based on the true story of Polish actress 

Elezabieta Czyewska, who was blacklisted 

in Poland on account of her erstwhile 

husband David Halberstam’s criticism of 

Poland’s communist regime. Sally Kirkland, 

a SRIFF guest of honor, was nominated 

Best Actress for her stunning performance 

as Anna, an aging and exiled Czech actress 

trying to hit the big time in New York City 

and struggling after her divorce from a wellconnected 

intellectual. 

During a humiliating audition, she makes 

the acquaintanceship of Krystyna, a beautiful 

off-the-boat young actress from Czechoslovakia 

who idolizes her. Anna takes 

the young girl under her wing, helps her 

learn to speak English and introduces her 

to several well-connected friends. Sadly, 

As Krystyna’s career ignites and takes off, 

Anna continues to tread a hard road. 

The film makes astute commentary about 

the motion picture industry—particularly to 

the effect that in show business, beauty is often 

held to a higher value than actual talent. 

-James Conrad 



DIR: Chris 

Figler 

PROD: 

Chris Figler, 

Serge 

Dedina, 

Fay Crevoshay, 

Chris 

Grizey ED: 

Chris Figler 

MUS: 

Gabrieal 

Tenorio 

(Featuring 

The YO YO 

Mob) 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

Serge 

Dedina 

33 

Minutes, 

2010, 

USA 

The Baja Wave Document 

Eco Cinema 

Veteran Hollywood film editor Chris Figler’s 

(Dexter, Big Love) documentary film showcases 

Baja’s most iconic locations and the 

campaign to save them, the last of the untouched 

coastlines of the peninsula. 

Through the unlikely alliance of WILD- 

COAST activists, fishermen, and surfers 

came the immense effort to preserve the 

beauty of Baja against some of the most 

powerful developers in Mexico and eventual 

victory. 

Roxy 2, 7:30 pm 

The Cosmic Joke 



58 59 

DIR: 

Trevor 

Adrian 

PROD: 

Trevor 

Adrian, 

Jesse 

Cummings, 

Avram 

Walden 

SCR: 

Trevor 

Adrian 

CAM: 

Trevor 

Adrian 

ED: Trevor 

Adrian, 

Nathan 

Carver 

MUS: 

Jesse 

Cummings 

CAST: 

Avram 

Walden, 

Jessica 

Sapick, 

Brian 

Hutton, 

Patrick 

Englar, 

Linda 

Wang, 

Lauren 

O’Neil 

60 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 

US Cinema 

With Director Trevor Adrian in person 

In this modern day coming of age story, 

Evan (Avram Walden), is a Computer Science 

student who yearns to be a world 

class video game designer. After taking 

advice from Leo (Brian Hutton), his friend 

and mentor, he drops out of college and 

finds himself working for Leo’s rival game 

design firm, in San Francisco. There he 

meets Shannon (Jessica Sapick), an attractive 

young designer who shares his ambitions. 

As part of a generation that invented 

the quarter-life crisis, Evan and Shannon let 

the desire for achieving their personal goals 

override their lives. Will their romantic entanglements 

and emotional baggage get in 

the way, or can they have success in their 

careers as well as in love? 

DIR: Emre 

Sahin 

PROD: 

Emrah 

Yucel 

SCR: Emre 

Sahin 

ED: Emre 

Sahin 

MUS: 

Nnamdi 

Moweta 

CAST: Ali 

Atay (Metin), 

Deniz 

Cakir 

(Sevda), 

Ntare 

Guma 

Mbaho 

Mwine 

(Godwill) 

99 

Minutes, 

Turkey 

40 

World Cinema 

40 is the story of a city and how it influences 

the lives of three strangers as their worlds 

weave, waltz and collide on its chaotic 

streets. Shot entirely on location in Istanbul, 

40 combines intense dramatic story telling 

with documentary-style cinematography...a 

synchronistic journey dealing with faith, 

love, luck, destiny, human trafficking…and 

a bag full of money that falls from the sky. 

Metin is a young man who, having fled a 

harrowing home life to strike it rich in the 

big city, has jumped from the frying pan 

into the fire, using his job as a taxi driver 

as a front so that he can deliver drugs to 

wealthy citizens of Istanbul. 

Godwill is a naïve but resourceful illegal immigrant 

from Nigeria, who dreams of going 

to Paris to be in the arms of his One True 

Love. Sevda, an Istanbullite nurse born to 

bi-cultural parents, is spiritually conflicted, 

having tried her hand at Buddhism, Christianity 

and Islam, she is now using numerology 

to find the way to a better life for herself 

and her young daughter. Action is set 

during a turbulent week when each of the 

three characters finds and loses the treasured 

bag of bills. Amid themes of urban 

dislocation and dispossession, 40 questions 

the notion of fate and destiny. Do things 

happen for a reason or are they random? 

40 and Currency share a common spirit in 

our Festival this year, and without a doubt 

should be seen as a pair. 

Happening at Deerfield Ranch Mon.! 

Food: Doce Lunas 6:30pm - 8pm


DIR: 

Sander 

Francken 

PROD: 

Karin S. de 

Boer 

ED: Gys 

Zevenbergen 

MUS: Adi 

Bhasin, 

Afel 

Bocoum, 

Sakar 

Khan, 

Rainer 

Michel, 

Morup 

Namgyal 

CAST: 

Abba 

Bilancoro, 

Kolado 

Bocoum, 

Dhamender 

Singhi 

94 

Minutes, 

2010, 

Netherlands 

ALSO PLAYING: Sunday, Sept. 

18, 6:15 pm 


Bardsongs 

World Cinema 

Mon., Sept. 19 Tuesday, September 20 Tuesday, September 20 

Filmed in India and Mali, Bardsongs, using 

three folk tales from Rajasthan, West Africa 

and Ladakh respectively, this film demonstrates 

that wisdom is universal, regardless 

of what an individual person’s beliefs are. 

Part One tells the story of Sahir, whose father 

never jumps to conclusions, no matter 

how much he is tempted. The second story 

is that of Bouba, a student of the Koran 

who embarks on a six-day quest in and 

around the city of Djenné in search of the 

greatest part of all knowledge. The third 

tale concerns Sonam, his travels with his 

daughter through the Himalaya to a village 

to sell a dzo (a crossbreed between a yak 

and a cow), and the advice he receives from 

people he meets along the way. 

“When it comes down to it we all seem to 

think alike about the essence of our existence, 

whether you are a Hindu or a Christian, 

Muslim, Buddhist, Jewish or anarchist, 

atheist or animist,” muses Francken. “The 

understanding that the old wisdom of any 

given people is of universal importance, 

was a great starting point for me, especially 

in an age in which we more and more are at 

each other’s throats on account of cultural 

differences. ” 

Indeed, this beautiful, deep and poetic film, 

brimming with astute observations on human 

nature, seeks to bridge these gaps. 

-James Conrad 


DIR: 

Charles 

Bosch 

PROD: 

Oriol 

Ivern, Tono 

Folguera, 

Toni Marin, 

Joan 

Salvat, 

Muntsa 

Tarres, 

Andres 

Luque, 

Pere 

Gibert 

ED: Ernest 

Blasi, Carlos 

Prieto 

MUS: 

Josep 

Sanou 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

Pasqual 

Maragall 

107 

Minutes, 

2010, 

Spain 

Bicycle, Spoon, Apple 


This film is a moving, comical and optimistic 

documentary directed by investigative TV 

journalist Charles Bosch. It takes its name 

from a test used to diagnose Alzheimer’s. 

The film brings the story of Pasqual Maragall, 

the immensely popular former mayor 

of Barcelona and later President of Catalonia 

to life as Bosch follows the progress of 

Maragall’s illness over two years. 

As the disease causes him to slowly fade, 

his good humor and sense of irony remain 

largely intact as he celebrates President 

Barack Obama’s 2008 election by bringing 

a life-size cutout back from New York and 

promoting the Pasqual Maragall Foundation 

for Alzheimer’s Research. 

Throughout the film, doctors from India and 

the United States briefly interject to discuss 

new drugs and other innovative forms of 

treatment to combat the growing number 

of Alzheimer’s cases worldwide—currently 

at twenty-four million and counting. 

Lauded by Variety Magazine for “cleverly 

balancing the personal with the medical,” 

the film gives a powerful and lucid insight 

into the fight against Alzheimer’s and 

demonstrates who the real heroes are. 

-James Conrad 


DIR: Alysa 

Nahmias 

& Ben 

Murray 

PROD: 

Benjamin 

Murray, 

Alysa 

Nahmias 

ED: Alex 

Minnick, 

Kristen 

Nutile 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

Vittorio 

Garatti, 

Roberto 

Gottardi, 

Ricardo 

Porro 

86 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 

Unfinished Spaces 


In 1961, shortly after the revolution, Fidel 

Castro embarked on turning a country club 

outside of Havana into, “...the most beautiful 

academy of art in the world.” We learn 

what went wrong in this documentary. 

Three visionary architects were commissioned 

and given freedom to create. Roberto 

Gottardi, Ricardo Porro and Vittorio 

Garatti (all in the film) produced a surreal 

plan; a complex of buildings, some with 

subterranean paths, some resembling gigantic 

domed breasts, one with a fountain 

resembling a vagina. 

Because of the U.S. embargo on steel and 

other materials, the compound was constructed 

mostly using native terra cotta 

and the Catalonian arch. The structures 

were organic, undulating, breathtaking 

and represented more than just brick and 

mortar. They embodied the freedom, and 

exuberance of the new order. Before they 

were completed however, Soviet ideology 

forced a wedge between artistic freedom 

and functionality. The National Art Schools 

fell into disrepair, overgrown and neglected… 

nonetheless they continued as viable 

schools for all the arts which launched Cuban 

arts into world renown. 

Unfinished Spaces is a mixture of many 

things, art, architecture, revolution and 

the spirit of a nation. The fate of the 

buildings even today, make for a dynamic 

real-life drama that offers surprises. 


60 61 




DIR: Jean 

Becker 

PROD: 

Louis 

Becker, 

Gérard 

Depardieu 

ED: 

Jacques 

Witta 

MUS: 

Laurent 

Voulzy 

CAST: 

Gérard 

Depardieu, 

Gisèle 

Casadesus 

88 

Minutes, 

2010, 

France 

ALSO PLAYING: Wednesday, Sept. 13, 8 pm 


My Afternoons with 

Margueritte 

Using a dictionary is like 

traveling —from one word to the 

next. 


“Using a dictionary is like traveling—from 

one word to the next. You lose yourself as 

if in a labyrinth. You stop and you dream.” 

- Margueritte 

In a small town tucked away in rural Charente, 

France a chance meeting between 

handyman Germain (Gerard Depardieu) 

and the sharply intelligent 95-year-old Margueritte 

(Gisèle Casadesus) leads to a tender 

friendship. She introduces him to reading 

starting with philosopher Albert Camus. 

As her influence transforms his life and the 

lives of those around him, roles reverse 

when her sight begins to fails. . 

Winter Frog 

DIR: Slony Sow 

18 Minutes, 2011, France 

Benjamin, winemaker, sees his wife die in 

his arms following a long illness. Only one 

way for him: death. But a young Japanese 

woman, coming specially to taste his wine, 

will gently bring him to mourn the death 

of his wife by a series of symbols and exchanges 

between two cultures.

Roxy 2, 6:30 pm Deerfield Cave, 6:30 pm 

DIR: 

Camilo 

Vila 

PROD: 

Monty 

Fisher, 

Rami Rivera 

Frankl, 

Francisco 

Hernández, 

Luis Llosa, 

Noreen 

Perez, 

Alicia Rivera 

Frank, 

Joseph 

Suarez, 

Camilo 

Vila 

SCR: 

Monty 

Fisher 

ED: Henry 

Vargas 

MUS: 

Roger 

Bellon 

CAST: 

John 

Robinson, 

Michael 

DeLorenzo, 

Alex Meraz 

101 

Minutes, 

2011, 

Peru, USA 

City of Gardens 


Cine Latino 

Monty Fisher In Person, Camila Vila in 

Person. 

US based Cuban filmmaker Camilo Vila’s 

City of Gardens is a film is inspired by the 

story of Monty Fisher, an American teaching 

English in Peru who was jailed on 

trumped up charges and spent the early 

1980s in the Andean nation’s worst prison. 

Fisher is the film’s producer and even 

wrote the original screenplay, which Vila 

later adapted, transforming the main character 

into a young American surfer falsely 

accused of drug trafficking. Vila says that 

when he makes a film he never thinks 

of conveying “a message” but rather of 

“making a quality movie that has a good 

screenplay, a production marked by work 

ethic and that has a moral.” Starring John 

Robinson and Alex Meraz, the film was shot 

last year in Peru. Vila left Cuba in 1961, and 

after living in Miami, New York, Europe and 

Puerto Rico, moved to Los Angeles in 1985. 

ALSO PLAYING: 

Friday, Sept. 16, 8:00 pm 


Total 

Running 

Time: 

91 

Minutes 

Tuesday, September 20 Tuesday, September 20 

Closing Shorts 

DRW MMX 

DIR: Stephen Ashton 


See pg. 22 for more description. 

A Hungry Boy 

DIR: Laurel Petty 


Born into a large and impoverished family 

in Israel, Chef Avner Samuel began cooking 

in a commercial kitchen at 13. Growing 

up as a “hungry boy” influenced Mr. 

Samuel to open his “dream restaurant,” 

Aurora, in Dallas. Filmmaker Laurel Ann 

Petty follows Chef Samuel in his restaurant, 

as he creates his art, from prep to service. 

In A Dreamland 



See pg. 44 for description 

Mexican Cuisine 

DIR: Francisco Guijarro 


In California, the state with the most 

Mexican immigrants, there’s a cuisine that 

has a deeper meaning. With filmmaker 

Francisco Guijarro in person 

Tacos or Tacos? 

DIR: Robert Lemon 


A short film examining the rise of food 

trucks in Austin, Tex., ranging from the 

traditional taco truck to fancier and more 

experimental trucks in south Austin, and 

the rise of urban food culture in the city.. 


DIR: 

Carlos 

Saura 

PROD: 

Andrés 

Vicente 

Gómez, 

Andrea 

Occhipinti, 

Igor 

Uboldi ED: 

Julia Juaniz 

MUS: 

Nicola 

Tescari 

CAST: 

Lorenzo 

Balducci, 

Lino 

Guanciale, 

Emilia 

Verginelli 

I, Don Giovanni 

Priest, Poet, Lyricist, Libertine 


Master filmsmith Carlos Saura has been 

making films for more than 50 years. This 

time turns his sights to opera and collaborates 

with his long time cinematographer 

and master “painter with light,” Vittorio 

Storaro (Apocalypse Now) to provide the 

stage for a nexus of revelations about art, 

politics and lust. 

The film traces the remarkable life of Lorenzo 

Da Ponte, a Jewish-born poet and Catholic 

priest who introduced Dante to America 

(be sure to see Dante’s Inferno - Animated 

Sunday, 9/18, 4:30pm, at the Roxy!). It 

opens in 1763, when he finds himself exiled 

to Vienna. It is there where his friend Giacomo 

Casanova introduces him to Wolfgang 

Amadeus Mozart who hires the unknown 

libertine as his librettist. Da Ponte’s own 

nature and sentimental wanderings in Vienna 

nurture Mozart’s inspiration and lead 

to one of his boldest and most powerful 

compositions: Don Giovanni. 

Roxy 1, 7:00 pm 

Roots Music Americana 



A CLOSING NIGHT FILM & PARTY 

Roots Music Americana Roxy 14 6pm 

The film explores today’s American roots 

musicians who take on their own legacy, 

the cult-like radio stations that play their 

music (local KRSH for one) and the community 

that listens. The Director’s Cut documentary 

by local filmmaker David Reddix, 

features Jeff Mattison & Wayward Angels, 

Alabama Mike, Duke Robillard, Poor Man’s 

Whiskey, The Hellhounds, among others. 

With filmmaker David Reddix in person and 

a short riff by The Hellhounds in the theater 

lobby. 

62 63 

90 

Minutes, 

Italy 

ALSO PLAYING: Thursday, Sept. 15, 8:00 pm 


DIR: 

David 

Reddix 

PROD: 

David 

Reddix 

FEATUR- 

ING: 

David 

Reddix 

53 

Minutes, 

2011, 

USA 

SRIFF Closing Night Party 

La Rosa Tequileria & Grille- 

500 4th Street, Santa Rosa 

(Courthouse Square) 

Jeff Mattison & The Wayward Angels, 

The Hellhounds and Alabama Mike play 

at the The SRIFF Closing Night Party at 

La Rosa Tequileria & Grille 

Free for film ticket (bring your ticket 

stub!) and FESTIVAL PASS holders.


DIR: Neil 

Hollander 

PROD: 

Jaclyn 

Bashoff, 

Barry Broman, 

Willie 

Chan, 

Sabrina 

Chen-Louie, 

Sabrina 

Chen-Louie, 

Henry 

Herng-Lih 

Ju, Neil 

Hollander, 

Steven 

Hon Keung 

L, Anjelica 

Huston, 

Geoffrey 

Kwan, 

Chun Tsui 

ED: 

Brendan 

Broman, 

Phelps 

Harmon, 

Rii Kanzaki 

MUS: Tom 

Disher 

FEATUR- 

ING: Sally 

Kirkland, 

Anjelica 

Huston 

85 

Minutes, 

Burma – A Human Tragedy 


This film, narrated and produced by Anjelica 

Huston, exposes shocking and unconscionable 

horrors not covered by any Western 

journalists at the time of production. 

Through interviews with refugees, survivors 

and Burma’s democratically elected president 

and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung 

San Suu Kyi, the landscape of an ongoing 

genocide that flies in the face of international 

law comes horribly alive. 

Filmed covertly and under constant threat 

of death, this film offers a rare glimpse into 

the systematic extermination of ethnic minorities 

that has gone on for decades. 

With a population of over 55 million people, 

Burma is the 24th most populated in 

the world. Its corrupt plutocratic dictatorship 

wields power in appalling ways, sending 

soldiers through the country to plunder 

and demolish villages, commit genocide 

and rape women, even blatantly encouraging 

HIV positive men to rape. Thousands 

of landmines are left buried in the ground, 

crippling and killing humans and animals. 

Many Burmese spend their lives in prisonlike 

refugee camps abroad, suffering in perpetual 

isolation and disenfranchisement. 

Ecological atrocities are also being committed, 

as the junta exploits the copious natural 

resources to develop nuclear weapons. 

Despite bearing the warning “Extreme 

Carnage and Mutilation Shown,” this is a 

film that needs to be widely seen, to call 

attention to the atrocities being committed. 

-James Conrad 

Roxy 3, 7:15 pm 

DIR: Nicolas 

Lopez 

PROD: 

Carlos 

Anaya 

SCR: Nicolás 

López 

CAM: 

Antonio 

Quercia 

ED: Diego 

Macho 

MUS: 

Manuel 

Riveiro 

CAST: 

Ariel Levy, 

Lucy 

Cominetti, 

Andrea 

Velasco, 

Paz 

Bascuñan, 

Leonor 

Varela, 

Matías 

Lopez, 

Nicolas 

Martinez, 

Ramon 

Llao, 

Ignacia 

Allamand, 

Claudia 

Celedón 

96 

Minutes, 

Chile 

Tuesday, September 20 Friday, September 23 

F*ck My Life - 

A Romantic Comedy 


Cine Latino 

Que Pena Tu Vida, or in English—more or 

less—F*ck My Life, gives astute and humorous 

insight into the crazy and unpredictable 

nature of love. Director López has fashioned 

a film for the Facebook crowd, playfully 

portraying the realities of 20-somethings 

in search of love, happiness and of 

course, sex. 

Set in Santiago, Chile, this romantic comedy, 

using the cinéma vérité style of filmmaking 

to great effect, centers on Javier (Levy), 

a troubled man in his mid-20’s haunted by a 

painful split with his girlfriend. On his emotional 

journey on the quest for true love, he 

experiences several misadventures, including 

but not limited to some embarrassing 

and expensive nights out at the club, getting 

caught in the middle of a bitter standoff 

between a recently separated older couple, 

a few emotional drunken binges and even 

the odd run-in with the law—all the while 

getting moral support from his long-suffering 

best friend Angela, who despite Javier’s 

petulance, insecurity and immaturity, describes 

him as “the kind of friend you put 

up with, no matter what they do.” 

As the tears are shed, the arguments fought 

and the text messages displayed on screen 

in midair using a most effective computergenerated 

font, F*ck My Life reminds us all 

that when it comes to love, we are all the 

same schmuck, no matter what. 

Deerfield Ranch Al Fresco, 8:00 pm Deerfield Ranch Cave, 7:00 pm 

Among Wolves 

Eco Cinema 

Winner of SRIFF 2011 Jack London 

Spirit Award 

Set in a remote valley of the Spain’s Sierra 

Morena Mountains which is the current 

site of the Natural Park of Cardeña and 

Montoro Sierra, Among Wolves is the true 

story of Marcos Rodríguez Pantoja, famous 

for being one of Spain’s high-profile feral 

children. 

The product of an abusive household, 

when Marcos turned seven in 1953, his 

father sold him to a goatherd in the mountains 

to be the man’s assistant. Despite the 

initial unease of their relationship, Marcos 

won the goatherd over by proving himself a 

quick study at herding goats as well as trapping 

and fishing. 

Sadly, the goatherd sickened and died and 

Marcos spent the next twelve years living in 

the wilderness with a pack of wolves, declaring 

himself “King of the Valley.” 

In 1965, aged nineteen, Marcos was captured 

by Spain’s civil guard and forced out 

of his exile into civilized society. He never 

adapted, and still lives with the dream of 

returning to his true home. 

-James Conrad 

The Cove 

A Special Added Event 

Eco Cinema 

GAIA AWARD WINNER 

This extraordinary 2009 documentary follows 

a group of environmental activists, 

armed with state-of-the-art equipment, 

who travel to Taiji, Japan on a covert mission, 

infiltrate an isolated cove and expose 

the cruel horrors of dolphin drive hunting, 

performed under the cover of night, in 

which some of these animals are hunted 

for their meat while the survivors suffer in 

captivity. 

The team is led by Ric O’Barry, who trained 

the five dolphins used in the 1960’s television 

show Flipper. O’Barry had a heartbreaking 

epiphany when Kathy, a dolphin 

who played the show’s title character committed 

suicide by self-asphyxiation, dying in 

his arms. From that day forward, he devoted 

his life to activism, founding the dolphin 

project on Earth Day 1970. 

Many horrifying revelations are brought to 

attention in the film. Most of Japan’s population 

is unaware of the dolphin hunts or 

the marketing of dolphin meat. Worse yet, it 

is disclosed that dolphin meat contains high 

volumes of mercury. 

Awarded the 2011 Academy Award for 

Best Documentary Feature, The Cove 

will no doubt shine a light on the increasing 

health hazards and troubling 

ecological ramifications of the barbaric 

dolphin hunts. With special guests from 

Oceanic Preservation Society In Person. 

-James Conrad 

64 65 

PROD: 

José María 

Morales 

SCR: 

Gerardo 

Olivares 

CAM: Óscar 

Durán 

ED: Iván 

Aledo 

MUS: 

Klaus 

Badelt 

CAST: 

Juan José 

Ballesta, 

Sancho 

Gracia, 

Carlos 

Bardem, 

Manuel 

Camacho 

114 

Minutes, 

2011, 

Spain 


Food: Reach for the Stars Caterers 

DIR: Louie 

Psihoyos 

PROD: 

Olivia Ahnemann, 

Jim Clark, 

Paula 

DuPré 

Pesmen, 

Charles 

Hambleton, 

Fisher 

Stevens 

ED: 

Geoffrey 

Richman 

MUS: 

J. Ralph 

CAST: 

Richard 

O’Barry, 

Louie 

Psihoyos, 

Hardy 

Jones, 

Hayden 

Panettiere 

90 

Minutes 

USA

66 

SRIFF Core Team: 

Festival Team 

Stephen Ashton, Founder, Creative Director 

Justine Ashton, Founder/CEO, Development Director 

Meredith Hayes, Director of Marketing 

David Norwood, Director of Operations, Volunteer Coordinator 

Nick Gloyd, Operations Manager 

Theresa Norwood, “Angel” Assistant Dir. of Operations 

Casey Lewiston, Technical Director Web Master 

Katherine Devereux, CFO 

Gwen Wright, Assistant to CFO 

Jess Johnson, Executive Assistant 

Tylor Norwood, Trailer/Film Producer 

Shannon Norwood, Film Production Asst. / Photographer 

Tara Montoya, Festival Hospitality Lounge Co-Manager 

Stacy Ervin, Festival Hospitality Lounge Co-Manager 

Barbara Beeden, Festival Hospitality Lounge Assistant Manager 

Jaqui King, Deerfield Ranch Winery Co-Manager 

Dan Schieberl, Deerfield Ranch Winery Co-Manager 

Kathleen Willbanks, 3rd St. Cinemas Manager, Facebook Administrator 

Diane McCurdy, Summerfield Cinemas Manager 

Brittany Sweeting, Roxy Stadium 14 Co-Manager 

Robert Becker, Roxy Stadium 14 Co-Manager 

Leila Rand, Program Designer 

Don Gibble, Talent Manager 

Jay Vorzimer, Visual and Graphic Designer 

Special Recognition and a Ton of Thanks to: Robert and PJ Rex, Dan, Amy Tocchini 

& Family, Don Ponte, Karina Nishi Marcus, Robert Marcus, Connie Mygatt, Gerald Huth, 

Jennifer Mygatt Tatum, Kathleen McCallum, Joel Jaman, Nancy Manchester, Brad Calkins, 

Scott Jordan, Michaelene Lee, Van Marovich, Councilmember Susan Gorin, Sally Kirkland, 

Lalit Khanna, Debbie Harding, Dominic Espinosa, Vesta Copestakes, Yannick Ponte, Jonathan 

Coe, Jillian Dorman, Debbie McGauley, Amy Hogen, Guy Erdman, Stephen Collins, 

Barbara Bowman, Richard Murphy, Cheri Lieurance, Alex Freemon, Eric Olsen, Ann and 

Alec Peters, Amanda Smith, Surendra Rai, Darren Chapple, Max Childs, Jamison O’Toole, 

Stephen Weisz, John Biggs, Heidi Porch, Paul Katzeff, Karen Armstrong, Mary Olsen, Mimi 

Pirard, Anne Mitchell, Max Porter-Elliott, Lionel Rocha, John Pita, Randy Destruel, Len 

Polito, Chris McCormick, Dan Brown, Peggy and Ed Dombeck, Leilani Sioson and Ron 

Sioson (we apologize if we missed anyone!!!), and to the scores of dedicated volunteers. 

We salute the 

santa rosa 

International 


and encourage the 

citizens of our 

community to attend 

screenings & 

special events 

September 14 - 20 

- A Proud 

15 year 

Sponsor - 

Enjoy the 

movies under 

the stars... 

They are 

truly 

awesome! 

A Proud Partner 

of the SRIFF & 

Environmental 


& 

Sponsor of the 

Festival 

Hospitality 

Lounge 

A Proud 

Sponsor of 

the 



film festival!

The Official 

wine bar of 

the sriff 

located in 

railroad 

square 

The Official 

wine bar of 

the sriff 

located in 

railroad 

square 

Proud Sponsor of the 



Film Festival. 

Be sure to stop by 

during SRIFF-we’re 

next door 

Summerfield Cinemas 

& Downtown! 

A Proud 

Sponsor 

of the 



film festival 

A Proud SRIFF 

Sponsor 

Festival 

Hospitality 

Lounge 

Insurance 

Services 

Maroevich, O’Shea & Coghlan Insurance, Inc. 

A Proud 

Sponsor of 

the 



film festival

Congratulations! We are proud sponsors of 

the Santa Rosa International Film Festival 

Congratulations! We are proud sponsors of 

the Santa Rosa International Film Festival 

Feature Films 

40 .........................................59 

Age of Champions .............25 

Amazon Forever ................43 

Among Wolves ...................65 

Anna ....................................58 

Athlete, The ........................33 

Baja Wave Document, The 58 

Bardsongs .....................50, 60 

Barista....................................32 

Bicycle, Spoon, Apple .......60 

Burma – A Human Tragedy 64 

Child of Giants: ..................55 

City of Gardens ............30, 62 

Cosmic Joke, The ...............59 

Currency .............................50 

Delicious Peace ...................42 

Dolphin Tale ....................... 51 

East Fifth Bliss ...............35, 53 

Eighteen Years Later ..........26 

Enjoy Your Meal! ................28 

Entrance: .............................42 

F*ck My Life ..........................64 

Flirting with Heights ..........30 

Furious Force of Rhymes, The 

.....................................27, 39 


Voyage ............... 12, 39, 46 

I, Don Giovanni ............24, 63 

If a Tree Falls: .....................34 

Jailmate, The ......................28 

Jess + Moss ...................36, 45 

Kinshasa Symphony ..........57 

Legend of Flying Cyprian, The 

...........................................40 

Love in Another Language 38 

Magnificent Seven, The .....23 

Mamitas ..............................40 

Mediterranean Food .........29 

Milk War ..............................37 

Mother Vine ........................25 

Music from the Big House 56 

My Afternoons with Margueritte 

.....................................22, 61 

My Life ................................64 

Never Stand Still ................23 

Nuummioq .........................44 

On Coal River .....................49 

Only a Number ..... 13, 43, 53 

Patagonia ............................52 

Patagonia Rising ................45 

Priceless ..............................38 

Reconciliation ...............46, 54 

Robert Mitchum is Dead ... 41 

Roots Music Americana ....63 

Salvador ..............................52 

Scarface ...............................52 

Second Knock at the Door, A 

........................................... 51 

Seven Samurai ...................26 

Silent Sonata ................ 41, 49 

Slow the Flow ...............30, 56 

Solemn Promise (Besa) ....32 

Streets of Flamenco ...........27 

Sushi: The Global Catch ....54 

Tanzania: A Friendship Journey 

...........................................24 

Touch .............................29, 47 

Unfinished Spaces .......57, 61 

Short Films 

9 Variations On A Dance 

Theme ..............................23 

Animated Shorts .......... 48 

Cockroach .......................48 

Dante’s Inferno - Animated 

............................................48 

Night Fishing with 

Cormorants .....................48 

Woman and Wind .........48 

Arts in Film Shorts .... 37, 47 

Arcimboldo ................37, 47 

Gauguin ......................37, 47 

Pass Through the Fire 37, 47 

Cinema of Conscience Shorts 

Program ............... 36, 55 


.................................36, 55 

I Am Neda .................36, 55 

Interview, The ...........36, 55 

Next of Kin ..........36, 51, 55 

Closing Night in the Cave 62 

DRW MMX ......................62 

Index 

In a Dreamland ..............62 

A Hungry Boy ...................62 

Mexican Cuisine ..............62 

Tacos or Tacos? ................62 

Counterfeit ..........................50 

Cycles Shorts ...................31 

Anchor, The .................... 31 

Convention of Dying, The 31 

Sea is All I Know, The .... 31 

Walter .............................. 31 

Winter Frog ..................... 31 

Living on Air .......................23 

LMAO! Humor Shorts .... 33 

Sense of Humor, A ........33 

California King ...............33 

Life In Short ....................33 

Movie Critic, The ............33 

Stanley Pickle .................33 

Luther Burbank and His 

Experimental Farm ..........28 

Movie Critic, The ..........22, 33 

Music Arts In Film Shorts 34 

Band Art .......................... 34 

Living On Air ...................34 

Winter .............................. 34 

Next of Kin ..............36, 51, 55 

Opening Night in the Cave! 

....................................... 22 

DRW MMX ......................22 

In a Dreamland 3D ........22 

Lingo Vino .........................22 

Venez Avec Moi ..............22 

Paco .....................................38 

Save Earth, Save Us ...........45 

Simply Rob ...................27, 39 

Spanish Arts Shorts ....... 44 

9th Day of Creation .......44 

figure ...............................44 

In a Dreamland 3D ........44 

Trout Fishing In Afghanistan 51 

Winter Frog .............22, 31, 61 

Youth Shorts ....................31 

Dog Math ........................ 31 

Immersion ...................... 31 

Play By Play ...................... 31 

My Friend Peter ................ 31 

Red Curtains, The ............ 31 

71

25 

th

SANTA ROSA FILM FESTIVAL - Santa Rosa International Film Festival

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