Eleven Canadian films will be screened at the 15th annual Sonoma International Film Festival, a five-day feast of wine, food and more than 130 independent films from around the world, which runs from April 11 to 15, 2012. Included in the Festival program are two Oscar®-nominated animated shorts, two Québécois films featuring the same leading man, and two powerful documentaries about two very different global catastrophes.   Québécois superstar Patrick Huard is the lea...

Discovery isn’t always a good thing. A pair of American indie films—the world premiere of Paul Leuer’s EDEN COURT and the San Francisco Bay Area debut of Charles Oliver’s TAKE—served as weak bookends for the 18th edition of the Cinequest Film Festival. Fortunately, there was much to celebrate between opening and closing nights during the festival’s 12-day run in downtown San Jose, California.According to Cinequest executive director and co-founder Halfdan Hussey, approximately 80,000...

Cinequest 18 is turning out to be a particularly strong festival this year. The quality of filmmaking on view is quite staggering, and, in this reviewer’s opinion, surpasses previous years for quality of storytelling and technical accomplishment.  Becoming John Ford – United StatesI began my weekend with this well-crafted and insightful documentary by director Nick Redman. Through archival footage, interviews with the great man’s contemporaries and film clips, a multi-dimensional portrait...

3rd ANNUAL SLAMDANCE ON STAGE OPENS MONDAY, APRIL 3rdwith cast members from the hit TV show, “Just Shoot Me” in key rolesThe 3rd season of Slamdance on Stage, the exciting culmination of the 2005 Slamdance Screenplay and Teleplay Competitions begins Monday, April 3rd at 7:30 pm with a reading of Love and Letters, featuring cast members from “Just Shoot Me”- Enrico Calentoni, Wendie Malick and Laura San Giacomo. Every Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night through the month of April theater...