2006 OFFICIAL FILM SELECTIONS!

 

Events and Film Program are subject to change, with most current information always available here at CinemaEpicuria.org (new festival guide online around March 10).

 

SPECIAL SCREENINGS

 

•  SNEAK PREVIEW NIGHT – FAVELA RISING , inspiring and thrilling ride through the slums of Rio de Janeiro with musician activist Anderson Sa

•  OPENING NIGHT – MARILYN HOTCHKISS' BALLROOM DANCING AND CHARM SCHOOL , with Robert Carlyle, Mary Steenburgen, Marisa Tomei, Donnie Wahlberg and John Goodman

•  CLOSING NIGHT – NEVERWAS , with Aaron Eckhart, Nick Nolte, Sir Ian McKellen, Brittany Murphy, Jessica Lange and William Hurt

•  AURORA BOREALIS , starring Donald Sutherland and Josh Jackson in a moving family drama; both expected to attend

•  THE BLUE BUTTERFLY, starring William Hurt who takes a young boy with cancer to Costa Rica to track the rare Blue Butterfly (William Hurt scheduled to attend)

•  ENCOUNTERS , from the UK , a clever, droll (as they say) look at the search for love via speed-dating

•  KINKY BOOTS , also from the UK , a drag queen superstar rescues a failing old-world shoe factory (not to be missed)

•  MADE-UP, starring Brooke Adams, her husband Tony Shalhoub, and her sister Lynne Adams, all attending

•  MISSING IN AMERICA, starring Danny Glover who will be in attendance for the screening on Sunday, April 9

•  THIS FILM IS NOT YET RATED , filmmaker Kirby Dick unmasks the anonymous people who give films their ratings (outstanding!)

•  WORDPLAY , a tribute to legendary "Puzzle Master" Will Shortz, for all of us who toil over the Sunday morning crossword puzzle

 

AMERICAN INDIES

 

•  CONVERSATIONS WITH OTHER WOMEN starring Aaron Eckhart and Helena Bonham Carter in a battle of wits and the sexes

•  HOG ISLAND , lovely locally-shot film of lives in quiet crisis

•  IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER , edgy family drama set in Beverly Hills

•  THE LEGEND OF LUCY KEYES , starring Julie Delpy and Brooke Adams, by returning festival filmmaker John Stimpson (Winter People, great short from 2004)

•  MUTUAL APPRECIATION , black and white twenty-somethings captured picture-perfectly

•  NOVEM , inventive with heart-breakingly beautiful music “rediscovered” from the early 70s

 

 

HOUSE OF DOCS

 

•  BITUMINOUS COAL QUEENS OF PENNSYLVANIA , Patricia Heaton (Everyone Loves Raymond) and her filmmaker husband David Hall follow their friend Sarah Rush home for a beauty queen reunion

•  DENADIE , gritty honest tales of Central American refugees attempting to cross the length of Mexico to get to the USA

•  PURSUIT OF EQUALITY, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom's brother-in-law Geoff Callan documents Gavin's attempts to legalize gay marriages

•  WHEN I DIE , the Johnny Depp financed final tribute to Hunter S. Thompson who asked for his ashes to be shot out of a cannon over Woody Creek

•  THE WORLD ACCORDING TO SESAME STREET , the successful kid's program goes multi-national with localized programming around the world

•  A YEAR ON EARTH , follows a team of high school students on a tour of the world's health indicator systems, while setting positive role-model examples for young and old back home

 

 

WORLD CINEMA

 

•  L'ENFER , ( France ), Danis Tanovic's amazing follow-up to the hit No Man's Land

•  GUERNSEY , ( Holland ), slow-burning and so lovely relationship drama alternating between Holland , Guernsey, and Africa

•  JOHN AND JANE TOLL-FREE , ( India ), who's answering the phone at the world's customer service call centers

•  THE LAST SUSPECT , ( Israel ), tense, sexy thriller that breaks some new ground for our festival

•  TIME OFF , ( Chile ), fresh perspective on relationships from an emerging Chilean film industry

•  VIVA CUBA , ( Cuba ), new take on the road adventure, this time with adorable child-leads trying to avoid the future

 

 

RAVENSWOOD RED LOUNGE

 

•  OPENING NIGHT WARM-UP – STARBUCKING , a caffeine-fueled young man sets out to visit every single Starbucks on the planet

•  OPENING NIGHT HEADLINER – DANCE WITH THE DEVIL , a hot sexy underground cabaret act comes through the screen right to your table... Stars to perform their show LIVE following the screening!

•  THE AVIARY , local film about jet-setting and romance-seeking flight attendants

•  FORMOSA , funny faux-period piece about a family that makes wholesome sex-education videos

•  F*CK , the history of the word, how it's used, why it's such a no-no, with hilarious commentary from all the big names on both sides of our cultural divide

•  HALF-EMPTY , wonderfully-creative song-filled tale of a wannabe motivational speaker

•  LAST STOP FOR PAUL , remember when you just had to get you, your back-pack, and your buddies to the Full Moon Party on a remote Thai island?  No? … well then …!

•  RAW FOOTAGE , everyone video-tapes exactly what happens when they take their fiancé home to meet the parents, right?!

 

 

BAY AREA SHORTS PROGRAM

 

•  ARTISTIC LICENSE , fun and games at the DMV

•  ENFOLDING , intense time-warp in a gorgeous SF flat

•  HA HA HA AMERICA , sobering and hilarious riff on China kicking our American butts

•  VOICEMAIL , get to know our protagonist via his voicemail messages

 

DOCUMENTARY SHORTS PROGRAM

 

•  LIVING POETS , street poets on a corner in SF's Mission District

•  RICHARD TUTTLE: NEVER NOT AN ARTIST , breaking the mold, working in small-scale, real genius

•  SMITTEN , a portrait of local and legendary art collector Rene di Rosa and his Carneros preserve and collection

•  TEXAS GOLD , an unreasonable woman determined to save the planet

 

SHORTS PROGRAM #1

 

•  ED I HIDE , a story the plays the same told forward or backward

•  SHADE , with Kimberly Williams-Paisley and Patrick Dempsey (Dr. Dreamy) from Gray's Anatomy

•  SMART CARD , the future with all those hi-tech gadgets might not be so smart

•  TEN SOULS RISING , eight New Yorkers and two French tourists in a NYC elevator

 

SHORTS PROGRAM #2

 

•  ASSUMPTION , a sci-fi mind-bender with James Denton from Desperate Housewives

•  INSIDER TRADING , troubled brother visits buttoned down sister at the office

•  NO SHOULDER , two women meet on a rainy night on a road with no shoulder

•  PATCH , time heals all wounds, or can events reopen them?

•  RUBY'S TUESDAY , how we embellish and fantasize in a blink of the eye

 

 

 

SHORTS SCREENING WITH FEATURES

 

•  81 YEAR-OLD SWEETHEARTS , a story captured in real-time on JetBlue, our official airline

•  COMMON PRACTICE , tough LA neighborhood takes five

•  DEALBREAKER , a short co-directed by Gwyneth Paltrow

•  FANCY , you want to look good all over, right?

•  HIRO , a sleek little noir piece from Japan

•  LITTLE VICTIM , a funny green creature meets Robert Wagner

•  LOOKING GOOD , Dad and daughter with an aussie sense of humor

•  MUTE , with Melissa Joan Hart gone bad

•  SHOWERING WITH SPIELBERG , looking for inspiration for the next Schindler's List

•  THE SPECIALS , singing waiters let demanding patrons have it all

•  TALES OF MERE EXISTENCE, more fun animated shorts from Lev

•  TEST DAY , what box to fill in on a standard test form when you're a mini Tiger Woods?

•  TREE MEDIA SHORTS , a duo of slick environmental messages from Leo DiCaprio

•  THE WINTER OF THE DANCE , grainy zany doings from the great white north

•  ZOMBIE-AMERICAN , they live among us and remain so misunderstood

 

STUDENT WORKS

 

•  Films from the Sonoma Valley High School Film Club and Film Classes

•  Films from the Middle School Animation Workshops

•  Films from other programs at schools throughout the region

 

PANELS & CONVERSATIONS

 

•  Three-Panel Series on Saturday at the historic Sonoma barracks, with topics ranging from Music in Film, to Evolutions/Revolutions in Film Distribution, to Pitching Your Own Ideas For A Movie

•  Conversation with the Lounge Filmmakers on Sunday on true low-budget, high-quality indie filmmaking