2O MARCH 2O26-29, 2020
Welcome to the th 13 annual
SCA BOARD ights on, lights off, people get seated ... silence ... and it starts ... Sally Baker, President 2O2O Timothy Near, Vice President we are transported in time and place and it is all REAL (how precious Erica Phillips, Secretary L Lu Frazier, Treasurer that is nowadays). Steve Wax Sue Labouvie Sebastopol Center for the Arts has nurtured the Sebastopol Documentary Marsha Sue Lustig Film Festival for 13 years! SDFF’s growth and expansion developed through SCA STAFF collaboration with key partners like Rialto Cinemas® and The Barlow. We Catherine Devriese Creative Director just love these special days in March when our small town is humming with Una Glass Chief Financial Officer filmmakers and audience who, programs in hand, fill Sebastopol shops, Anthony Wilson streets, and venues. SDFF is famous for excellence and also for the “je ne Facilities and Rentals Manager Amy Hecker sais quoi” of camaraderie, and deep respect for the artists in the field of Website and Event Coordinator Susan Hester documentaries. Accounting Clerk Joe Hoffman Thank you! Your support makes this happen. Your enthusiasm ensures A/V Technician Eve Lindi continuity. Art at the Source Program Coordinator —Catherine Devriese, SCA Creative Director Anne O’Brien Education Coordinator —Una Glass, CFO and Co-Leadership SCA Tenae Stewart Art Trails Program Coordinator Salvador Strawbridge Social Media FROM THE PROGRAMMER SDFF STEERING COMMITTEE early 30 years ago a character in A Few Good that becomes an artistic collabora- Jean McGlothlin Men bellowed “You can’t handle the truth.” tion. Stories that reflect the shared Co-Director/Lead Programmer Oh,N but we can, and we must. It’s our obligation to immigration backgrounds of all of us Jane Winslow Co-Director/ handle it with care and respect so the future can are reflected in The Last Harvest, Dear Education & Technical Manager Cynthi Stefenoni know the past: the moments, feelings and why of Homeland, Irse and Night Cleaners. Co-Director/Producer who we are. Lori Solomon Bellingcat introduces us to what is Producer/Filmmaker Liaison Every one of the 430 films submitted to SDFF right before our eyes. As an online Corella Di Fede Associate Director/Filmmaker Liaison/ 2020 came from a filmmaker who gave us a story: investigative platform, it has been piecing to- Web and Information Management images and circumstance caught by a lens. gether mysteries of worldwide conflict using open Kathryn Davy Volunteer Manager These 72 films chosen for the program preserved source researching tools such as those ubiquitous Jeffrey Zankel something real and skillfully presented it within a Google Earth images that, within context, give us Filmmaker Liaison Manager Olga Browning context that would have us notice and add to our important facts. Filmmaker Liaison/Housing Manager own deliberation. Eve Lindi There are pangolins and penguins. Photographer Information Systems/ The Video Store, That’s My Jazz, Dusty Groove David Yarrow was in South Georgia, with penguins Catalog Coordinator Anthony Marchitiello - The Sound of Transition, The Poster Boys are and a big challenge, to capture singular frames Print Traffic Manager nostalgia for some of us, discovery for others. that would somehow do justice to what we were Emmy Scharlatt witnessing. Programmer A beguiling 9-year-old beach hawker hustling tour- Dennis Bolt Catalog and Graphic Design ists in Goa, India gives us a glimpse of her cultural We are witness. Documentary filmmakers bring us Farinella LLC limitations and the director’s struggle with his own the opportunity to look and learn beyond our- Social Media expectations. Waad al-Kateab was compelled selves. They are history’s seed savers for a future Eliza Hemenway, Founder to film a legacy for her daughter, Sama, of what that nourishes critical thinking. They are the touch- it was like to exist in Aleppo as the target of a stones of reality from the past and present that Co-Founder Tommie Del Smith, corrupt regime. In Moment to Moment, Michael can guide us into an enlightened future. Teresa Book, Co-Founder Attie reveals a couple’s experience of Alzheimer’s —Jean McGlothin
sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 3 Festival Sponsors
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stein ven Gr ra il G l
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COMMUNITY PARTNERS EMPTY SEATS EMPTY will be resold 5 MINUTES resold be will
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John Boland and James Carroll Jean and Michael McGlothlin Ken Silveira screening to prior Ky Boyd and Michael O’Rand Lori Sacco Cynthi Stefenoni Lu Frazier Kate Schaffner Kenneth and Anna Zankel Sue Labouvie Daniel Shanahan Jeffrey Zankel and Simma Chester
sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 5 PUBLIC MEDIA
The home of QUALITY INDEPENDENT FILM ON TV in the Bay Area. Official Media Partner of the 2020 Sebastopol Documentary2020 Sebastopol Festival Film
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A movie-a-month. Just for Q/you. APRIL THRU SEPTEMBER, 2020 Get info at our OUTwatch Facebook page or RialtoCinemas.com
OUTwatch LGBTQI Film Festival. Save the date. OCTOBER, 2020 Get info at our OUTwatch Facebook page or OutWatchFilmFest.org Food Beer Wine Movies! 6868 McKinley Street, Sebastopol • 525-4840 • rialtocinemas.com
sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 7
1/4 page are 3 5/8" x 4 7/8" 1.18.20 Rialto for SDFF BREAKING GROUND ON HOTEL SEBASTOPOL IN 2020 Piazza Hospitality proudly welcomes fi lmakers and patrons A Supporter of SCA since 1989 A Supporter Dennis emotions affect Bolt MONEY HABITS Graphic Design, Logos, Illustration, Infographics, At Abacus, we help you Photography, navigate the difficult Maps, & Fine Art emotional terrain surrounding money and www.dennisbolt.com 707.829.3722 bring balance to your financial life. Fountaingrove Kitchen (Fire Rebuild)
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sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 9 Programs
OPENING NIGHT thu Film: Our Time Machine Directors: S. Leo Chiang and Yang Sun Thursday March 26, 7:00 p.m., SCA Brent Auditorium Special aleonn is one of China’s most influential conceptual artists today. His father, Ma Ke, was the artistic director of the Shanghai Chinese Opera Theater. He directed more than M80 Peking operas, and there would undoubtedly have been more had it not been for Mao’s Cultural Revolution. When Ma Ke gets Alzheimer’s, Maleonn pours everything into a new theater project: “Papa’s Time Machine,” designed to bring father and son together artistically and personally. This time-travel adventure is told through remarkable life-size puppets. The artistry of the puppets and the difficulties of mounting a complex theatrical production merge within the framework of a son’s love and celebration of life. Chinese w/ English subtitles
10 www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 sebarts.org Special Programs
sat SEATS EMPTY
LIVE SKA PERFORMANCE will be resold 5 MINUTES resold be will Saturday, March 28, 8:30 p.m., SCA Brent Auditorium
DFF welcomes Bay Area favorite Ska band, MONKEY, to the stage, immediately following the Strange Tenants Ska’d for Life screening. SThis 4-piece horn-driven Ska/Reggae group sets the pace for the local music scene, with intense live shows and rock-steady rhythms that get the crowd dancing. The band has won several awards, including the prestigious California Music Award (BAMMIE)! They have released 6 full-length albums, including their newest release
“Intermittent Waves (of unusual size and force).” In addition to their albums, the band has also been featured on over screening to prior 30 compilations, video games and film soundtracks. In this special performance, MONKEY will be joined on stage by Bruce Hearn Mackinnon, co-founder of Strange Tenants. This music event is the perfect end to your SDFF Saturday!
sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 11 Programs fri CONVERSATIONS Distribution, Exhibition & Film Festivals for Documentaries
Special Hosted by Jean McGlothlin Friday, March 27, 2-3:30 p.m. SCA Conversations Theater
A CONVERSATION with Jim Browne t’s a wrap! Now what? Jim Browne will share insight and tips for how to select the ideal partners for booking, publicity, marketing, design and digital distribution. He will examine how these deals work, what theI terms and potential income are, and how to include the budgets for distribution as part of your overall fundraising for your projects. Today, many producers are exploring their options through service deals and grassroots/ hybrid distribution plans. Filmmakers who take an active role in the distribution of their films are more likely to succeed in connecting with their core audiences, and this talk will help get you pointed in the right direction. Jim Browne has been exhibiting, programming, producing and distributing films in New York for 30 years. Jim founded Argot Pictures (argotpictures.com) in 2005, an independent film company specializing in distribution strategies for documentary films. He was Programmer for the Tribeca Film Festival from 2006-10, and Senior programmer for the Abu Dhabi Film Festival from 2010-14. He’s been teaching a class about distribution and film festivals at the New School for Social Research for the past 3 years and is based in Brooklyn, NY.
Cut Cut Cut Revisited - Editing Your Doc
Hosted by Jane Winslow Friday, March 27, 4-5:30 p.m. SCA Conversations Theater
A CONVERSATION with Vivien Hillgrove fter her sold out conversation at SDFF 2019, Vivien Hillgrove returns again to continue and expand her discussion about editing documentaries. Hillgrove drawsA on a wealth of experience in edit bays, crafting story, defining characters and shaping the film. This year our Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival screeners and programmers watched over 425 films. As with most years, if we can make one key suggestion to filmmakers it is this: Cut, cut, cut that film to save it. Hillgrove will help us understand the best approaches to create the well-edited, finely paced film. Vivien Hillgrove, a member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, has over 50 years of experience as an editor for both narrative feature films and documentaries. She has served as an editing advisor at multiple Sundance Institute Documentary Composer Edit Labs, as well as for the Latino Producers Academy (NALIP) and for Chicken & Egg Pictures. Hillgrove is currently working on her documentary, Vivien’s Wild Ride (working title). Vivien is always a generous mentor to the filmmaking community; we can count on a lively, informative afternoon.
12 www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 sebarts.org Special Programs CONVERSATIONS sat Sound As Your Leading Actor
Hosted by Jane Winslow Saturday, March 28, 12-1:30 p.m. SCA Conversations Theater
A CONVERSATION with Will Storkson ontinuing SDFF’s audio in documentaries conversations, William Storkson will discuss sound as a character in films. Using sound, narrative or otherwise, to convey emotional context can help driveC and shape a story as well as establish tone and characters within the narrative. William will be sharing examples from recent projects to illustrate his concepts. For more than 18 years, William Storkson has been performing, composing, recording and engineering music and sound design for a variety of media. In 1999, he founded AudioSFX after leaving Lucasfilm THX to create the ultimate one-stop shop for post production sound. As a composer and sound designer, Storkson approaches sound creation with a hybrid approach whether for flash animations or feature films, looking for that unique and vibrant sound design to each and every project. http://audiosfx.com/
Citizen Journalism in Action
(immediately following Bellingcat – Truth in a Post-truth World screening)
Hosted by Jean McGlothlin Saturday, March 28, 1:45-4:00 p.m. SCA Little Red Hen
A CONVERSATION with Robert Evans obert Evans is a conflict journalist and a podcast host. He’s worked in Iraq, Syria, and Ukraine, as well as protests all around the United States. He covers the far-right and online radicalization forR Bellingcat. Bellingcat is an online investigative platform, founded by Eliot Higgins. It started out as a blog, piecing together mysteries from the wars in SEATS EMPTY Libya and Syria using open source researching tools. Over the last five years it has expanded into a globally recognized name in conflict research. Bellingcat journalists have proved that MH17 was shot down over Ukraine by
a Russia-made Buk missile, tracked down the agents responsible for the Skirpal 5 MINUTES resold be will poisoning and helped to lead the charge for the deplatforming of 8chan’s /pol board after a series of deadly terrorist attacks. Evans is particularly interested in the ways terrorist groups recruit, radicalize and communicate through the Internet. He also hosts the “Behind the Bastards” and “The Worst Year Ever” podcasts, which can be found on iHeartRadio.
Sponsored by
screening to prior
sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 13 Focus
DFF 2020 is pleased once again to partner Butterfly with OUTwatch, Wine Friday, March 27, 5:00 p.m., SCountry’s LGBTQI Film Festival, Rialto Cinemas® #9 offering a slate of films curated by their producers as part of Gay Chorus Deep South our program. OUTwatch began Friday, March 27, 7:00 p.m., as a day of LGBTQI films at Rialto Cinemas® #9 the Sebastopol Center for the Arts in 2012 and has grown No Box For Me into a robust and well-attended Saturday, March 28, 7:15 p.m., festival of its own. Its producers Rialto Cinemas® #7 curate the best of LGBTQI film in both narrative and documentary formats and bring it to the North The Worlds of Bernice Bing Partnership Bay to entertain and educate the community at large. As such, we Shorts Program 1: Friday, March 27, 4:30 p.m., are proud to co-present four documentaries their curating team Rialto Cinemas® #6 hosts under the OUTwatch Banner. Shorts Program 8: Saturday, March 28, 6:00 p.m., Rialto Cinemas® #6 Look for the icons in the program.
The Petaluma Cinema Series is a unique, cinematheque- style environment that mixes Santa Rosa Junior College students with residents of Sonoma County to screen and discuss significant classic and modern cinema. Screenings are hosted Wednesday nights from September through May in the state-of-the- art Carole L. Ellis Auditorium on the SRJC or over a decade Michael Traina—Professor, Film & Petaluma Campus. The Petaluma Film Media Studies at SRJC and Director of the Petaluma Alliance also produces Sonoma County’s Film Alliance—has partnered with Sebastopol premier shorts festival, Film Fest DocumentaryF Film Festival to expand SDFF’s outreach in the Petaluma, scheduled for May 2, 2020
community. Each year Professor Traina selects one film from at the historic Mystic Theatre. SDFF’s program to showcase in the Petaluma Cinema Series Visit PetalumaFilmAlliance.org to learn and celebrate the craft of documentary filmmaking. more about their programs.
Schaffner Filmmaker Travel Fund
DFF 2020 celebrates its fourth year of offering where he helmed such notable projects as The Planet of travel stipends to filmmakers due to the Apes, Patton (for which he won both the Directors the creation of the Franklin and Jean Guild of America Award and an Academy Award for SSchaffner Filmmaker Travel Fund. The fund, Best Director), Nicholas and Alexandra, Papillion, made possible by a generous grant from and The Boys From Brazil. He is considered one the Schaffner Family Foundation, is named of the great epic directors of his time, along with for Director Franklin J. Schaffner. His career Richard Attenborough and David Lean, and widely began in live television, where he won 4 revered by filmmakers and historians for his body of Emmys in Direction: one for the teleplay Twelve work. This fund allows SDFF to honor Mr. Schaffner’s Angry Men (1954), two for The Caine Mutiny legacy by providing travel stipends to some of our Court Martial (1955) and one for an episode of The filmmakers who might not otherwise be able to travel to Defenders (1962). Soon after, he progressed to the silver screen Sebastopol for the Festival.
14 www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 sebarts.org Occidental Rd. Policy
MEMBERS AND Ticket PASS HOLDERS SCA Members and Passholders must register on the SDFF High School Rd. Website (SebDocs.org) to claim member and passholder Laguna Parkway benefits. After completing your Wallace Ave. Rialto®
Pass purchase, you will receive a customer St. Johnson parking only i lto confirmation email with registration ine s instructions. Main St. P The McKinley St. Morris St. A limited number of Passholder SEBASTOPOL Barlow seats is available for each McKinley St. Plaza screening, based on theater Wilton Ave. capacity. You will need a P St. Brown reservation and ticket for each Depot St. event you attend, in addition P Highway 12 to your printed pass. Online Bodega Ave. Parking Florence Ave. P available P reservations close 2 hours before in CVS lot Public each screening. Within 2 hours of P Burnett St. parking lot a screening, Passholder tickets, if Seb stopol available, can be obtained at the enter Petaluma Blvd. Box Office. or t e P S. Main St. Arts P Willow St. Veterans Building High St. RUSH AVOID Ive’s Park TICKETS DISAPPOINTMENTS AND LATE Please Read SEATING and Understand TICKETS Our 5-Minute Single: $15 POLICY Rush Policy! Opening Night: $40 ($35 SCA members) Tickets purchased online can be Passholders cannot be printed at home, or picked up at the admitted to events for which box office during festival hours. no seats are available. The following policy applies to everyone, PASSES including Passholders and Filmmakers. Industry Pass: $125 Your ticket or Passholder reservation For Film professionals only. Includes one free guarantees a seat only until 5 minutes prior VENUES admission to all Festival Screenings and Special to the start of all films and presentations. Events, excluding Opening Night, and admission to all 1. Sebastopol Center for the Arts parties and Filmmaker events. Please arrive early, and be in your seat at least 5 minutes before the start of the event. For sold-out 282 S. High St. All Access Pass: $250 Sebastopol, CA 95472 screenings, a Rush line will form outside the Includes all above plus SEATS EMPTY venue. Five (5) minutes prior to showtime, 707-829-4797 one admission to the Opening Night screening any empty seats will be released for Rush and reception. seating. Late-coming Passholders and those with 2. Rialto Cinemas® pre-paid tickets should proceed to the front of 6868 McKinley St. HOW TO BUY the single ticket holders Rush line. As Rush seats Sebastopol, CA 95472 Any Time: SebDocs.org 5 MINUTES resold be will become available, Passholders will be admitted 707-525-4840 first, followed by late-coming ticket holders. Any Before Festival: remaining Rush seats will be made available to At Sebastopol Center for the Arts others in line for purchase at $20, cash only. 282 S. High Street, Sebastopol March 19–23, 1–4pm Once the theater is full, we are unable to March 24 & 25, 10am–4pm accommodate Passholder reservations or pre-sold tickets. Festival Weekend: At Sebastopol Center for the Arts screening to prior or Barlow Marketplace, McKinley Street Box office opens one hour prior NO REFUNDS to first screening. OR EXCHANGES
sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 15 2020 FILMS
SCA SCA SCA Rialto Cinemas® Rialto Cinemas® Rialto Cinemas® Rialto Cinemas® Robert Brent Theater Little Red Hen Conversations Theater Theater #6 Theater #7 Theater #8 Theater #9 Special Programs: THURSDAY MARCH 26 Theater #7 7pm Opening Night Film & Awards Ceremony 7-9 p.m. 8pm Our Time Machine (86) Opening Night Reception 9-10:30 p.m. 9pm OUTwatch Shorts Program SDFF 2020 Award Finalist Finalist Award 2020 SDFF Program Shorts OUTwatch
2-3:30 p.m. FRIDAY MARCH 27 Distribution, Exhibition FRIDAY 4:30-6:01 p.m. & Film Festivals for SHORTS GROUP 1 4pm Documentaries Kamali (24), Knocking Down the Fences (12), 5-6:22 p.m. Conversation on Maikaru (7), That’s My Jazz (14) Distribution OW: The Worlds of Bernice Bing (34) 5pm Workhorse (82) 5:30-7:07 p.m. TRT: 91 For Sama (97) 4:00-5:30 p.m. 6pm Cut Cut Cut Revisited – FRIDAY 7:30-8:46 p.m. SHORTS GROUP 2 Editing Your Doc Conversation on Editing Moment to Moment (13), Night Cleaners (24), 7pm 7-8:30 p.m. The Starfish (39) Midnight Family (90) TRT: 76 8pm 7:45-9:00 p.m. FRIDAY 7:45-9:00 p.m. Shorts Group 3 SHORTS GROUP 3 TRT: 85 Little Gandhis (14), Chalk of Champions (4) 9pm All Inclusive (10), The Great Toilet Paper Scare (11), The Whale (8), Neighbors (38) TRT: 85 SATURDAY MARCH 28 11am SATURDAY 11:45 a.m.-12:50 p.m. 11:15 a.m.-12:39 p.m. SHORTS GROUP 4 Noon Dusty Groove (84) 11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. Green Screen Gringo (16), The Bit Player (90) 12:00-1:30 p.m. Still Plays w/ Trains (17), Motorcycle Man (32) TRT: 90 Sound As Your Leading Actor TRT: 65 1pm Conversation on Audio 1:15-2:16 p.m. SATURDAY 1:15-2:16 p.m. 2pm Family-friendly Shorts Group 5 1:45-4:00 p.m. FAMILY-FRIENDLY SHORTS GROUP 5 Yarrow: The Virtues of Monochrome (5), Bellingcat–Truth in a Post-truth Little Gandhis (14), Still Plays with Trains (17), 3pm World (88) African Driver (25) Conversation Citizen Journal- TRT: 61 3-4:39 p.m. ism in Action (45) TRT: 135 4pm The Booksellers (99) SATURDAY 1:45-2:55 p.m. SHORTS GROUP 6 Long Yearning (25, Night Cleaners (24), 5pm Quiet Hours (14), Esperança (6) 4:30 p.m.-5:41 p.m. TRT: 69 When Tomatoes Met Wagner (71) 6pm TRT: 71 SATURDAY 4-5:15 p.m. SHORTS GROUP 7 7pm All That Remains (20), L’eau Est La Vie (24), 7-9 p.m. 6:30-8:20 p.m. The Last Harvest (20), Rewilding Honey Bees (11) That’s My Jazz (14) The River and The Wall (100) TRT: 75 8pm Strange Tenants: TRT: 100 Ska’d for Life (53) SATURDAY 6-7:19 p.m. 9pm Music performance (30) SHORTS GROUP 8 TRT: 97 Yarrow: Virtues of Monochrome (5), OW: The Worlds of Bernice Bing (34), A Pilgrimage (10), Hebo (11), Living Music (19) SUNDAY MARCH 29 TRT: 79 Noon
1pm SUNDAY 1:30-2:54 p.m. 1-2:32 p.m. SHORTS GROUP 9 African Drivers Lion Lights Story (25), S: Knocking Down Fences (12) 1:30-2:48 p.m. Born in Gambia (27), Kamali (24), 2pm OW: Butterfly (80) Where We Belong (78) Impermanence (8) TRT: 92 TRT: 84 3pm 3:30-4:55 p.m. 4pm S: Irse (27) PLEASE ARRIVE EARLY! F: Dear Homeland (58) 5pm TRT: 85 Five minutes prior to showtime, empty seats will be re-sold. 6pm
16 www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 sebarts.org 2020 FILMS
SCA SCA SCA Rialto Cinemas® Rialto Cinemas® Rialto Cinemas® Rialto Cinemas® Robert Brent Theater Little Red Hen Conversations Theater Theater #6 Theater #7 Theater #8 Theater #9 Theater #7 THURSDAY MARCH 26 7pm
8pm
9pm FRIDAY MARCH 27 4pm 4 p.m.-5:17 p.m. S: Subject to Change (33) 4:30-6:01 p.m. Shorts Group 1 F: Eye of the Pangolin (45) 5pm 707-829-4797 282 S. High St. TRT: 91 TRT: 78 5-6:17 p.m. S: The Desert (27) 5:30-6:46 p.m. 6pm Personhood (76) F: 5 Blocks (50) TRT: 77 6:30-7:46 p.m. At The Video Store (76) 7pm TRT: 76 6-7:25p.m. S: The Last Harvest (20) 7-8:29 p.m. 7:30-8:46 p.m. OW: Gay Chorus Deep South (89) 8pm
F: Soyalism (65) Shorts Group 2 TRT: 89 TRT: 76 TRT: 85 9pm SATURDAY MARCH 28 11am 11:15 a.m.-12:26 p.m. 11:45 a.m.-12:50 p.m. S: Dick Ogg: Fisherman (9) Noon Shorts Group 4 F: The Wild (62) TRT: 65 TRT: 71 12:15 p.m.-1:15 p.m. 12:45-2:15 p.m. On the Top Tyrryry (60) 1pm Islander (90) TRT: 90 1:15-2:49 p.m. 2pm 707-525-4840 St. McKinley 6868 1:45-2:55 p.m. S: After the Fire (19) Shorts Group 6 F: The Wind (75) TRT: 94 2:15-3:35 p.m. TRT: 69 2:45-4:30 p.m. Finding Home In Boomtown (80) 3pm Advocate (105) TRT: 80 TRT: 105 3:30-4:44 p.m. 4pm 4-5:15 p.m. S: That’s My Jazz (14) Shorts Group 7 F: Siudy Entre Mundos (60) TRT: 74 4:30-5:54 p.m. TRT: 75 S: Ignis (5) 5pm 5-6:12 p.m. F: Re:Member (79) The Poster Boys (72) 5:30-7 p.m. TRT: 84 6pm TRT: 72 Sharkwater Extinction (90) 6-7:19 p.m. Shorts Group 8 TRT: 90 TRT: 79 6:45-8:19 p.m. 7pm Madame (94) SEATS EMPTY 7:15-8:20 p.m. TRT: 94 8pm S: Maikaru (7) OW: No Box for Me (58) TRT: 65 9pm SUNDAY MARCH 29 5 MINUTES resold be will Noon
1pm 1-2:46 p.m. 1:30-2:54 p.m. Queen of the Beach (106) 2pm Shorts Group 9 TRT: 106 1:45-3:05 p.m. TRT: 84 2-3:05 p.m. The Vow From Hiroshima (80) Alternative Facts: The Lies of TRT: 80 3pm
Executive Order 9066 (65) screening to prior TRT: 65 4pm
5pm
6pm
sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 17 27 March Friday,
Saturday, MarchSaturday, 28 Rialto Cinemas® #7, 2:45 p.m. Rialto Cinemas® #7, Rialto Cinemas® #9, 5:00 p.m.
Arabic, Hebrew w/ Hebrew Arabic, English subtitles explores income disparity, changing changing disparity, income explores A portrait of human rights lawyer San Francisco’s Market Street was once
Advocate Israel, minutes 105 2019, Directors: Bellaiche Philippe and Rachel Leah Jones who has beenLea defending Tsemel, Palestinians: from feminists to fundamentalists, from non-violent demonstrators to armed militants. As a Jewish-Israeli lawyer who has represented political prisoners fornearly 50 years, her in tireless questTsemel, for justice, pushes the praxis of a human rights defense to its limits. 5 Blocks United States, 50 2019, minutes Director: Goldes Dan the grandest boulevard America. in Although located just minutes from City Hall, the area intofell decline and became home to some of the city’s most marginalized populations. tech companies and those all Today, they employ confront the realities of existing in one of the City’s poorest neighborhoods. 5 Blocks demographics, and the nature of place.
THE FILMS
18 2O2O18 2020 FILMS
African Drivers: After The Fire All Inclusive United States, 2018, 19 minutes Switzerland, 2018, 10 minutes Lion Lights Story Directors: Spencer Seibert Director: Corina Schwingruber Ilić Mexico, 2019, 25 minutes and Derek Knowles Director: Hector Salgado This documentary short shares a In October 2017, the most destructive snapshot of life on the high seas. A workout Narrated from the point of view of a safari fires in U.S history engulfed northern on the sun deck, a conga line in the dining driver, this documentary shares the story of California. While national coverage hall, a photo shoot with the captain, or a a 13 year-old boy in the Maasai community emphasized the scale and devastation of beauty contest for all ages: fun around-the- of Africa and how through his invention the disaster, After The Fire examines the clock is guaranteed on a cruise, while you of Lion Lights, he changes the effort to less heralded experiences of those who float along with your hotel room. conserve the wildlife and landscape. This lived through it, following three residents Shorts Program 3, Friday, March 27 film provides a view into a valuable and of one of the Sonoma Valley as they SCA Little Red Hen, 7:45 p.m. unique moment in African life. struggle to find their places in a community Shorts Program 5 - Family Friendly, reshaped overnight. Saturday, March 28 SCA Brent Auditorium, 1:15 p.m. English and Spanish w/ English subtitles Shorts Program 9, Sunday, March 29 Saturday, March 28 Rialto Cinemas® #6, 1:30 p.m. Rialto Cinemas® #8, 1:15 p.m.
All That Remains Alternative Facts: At The Video Store United States, 2019, 20 minutes United States, 2019, 76 minutes Director: Eva Rendle The Lies of Executive Director: James Westby SEATS EMPTY A year after wildfires ravaged Northern Order 9066 At the Video Store is a loving ode to California’s Wine Country, its vulnerable United States, 2018, 65 minutes the dying art of connection and curation population of farmworkers, many of them Director: Jon Osaki in independent rental outlets, weaving a
undocumented, find themselves in a Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive macro-narrative of the film industry together 5 MINUTES resold be will heightened state of insecurity and inequality. Order 9066 examines the false information with the intimate memories of store owners. All That Remains follows the second and political influences that led to the U.S. While nostalgic for what was lost, the film responders and vineyard workers who are incarceration of Japanese Americans during is hopeful about what neighborhood video still dealing with the aftermath of the fires, WWII. The film exposes the lies used to stores can still offer a world starved for long after the media has turned away. Their justify the decision and the cover-up that authentic human interaction. stories shed light on the immigration, labor, went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Friday, March 27 and housing issues that have been building It also examines parallels with the current Rialto Cinemas® #6, 6:30 p.m. in Napa and Sonoma for years, only to be climate of fear, rhetoric towards immigrant brought to the surface by one of the deadliest communities, and attempts to abuse screening to prior natural disasters in California history. governmental powers. English and Spanish w/ English subtitles Sunday, March 29 Shorts Program 7, Saturday, March 28 Rialto Cinemas® #7, 2:00 p.m. Rialto Cinemas® #6, 4:00 p.m.
sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 19 2020 FILMS Special Programs:
OUTwatch Shorts Program SDFF 2020 Award Finalist Finalist Award 2020 SDFF Program Shorts OUTwatch Bellingcat: Truth The Bit Player The Booksellers United States, 2019, 90 minutes United States, 2019, 99 minutes In A Post-Truth World Director: Mark Levinson Director: D.W. Young Netherlands, 2018, 88 minutes Director: Hans Pool In a single blockbuster paper in 1948, Antiquarian booksellers are part scholar, Claude Shannon introduced the notion part detective and part businessperson, and A first-hand look into the revolutionary of a “bit” and laid the foundation for their personalities and knowledge are as rise of the “citizen investigative journalist” the information age. His ideas influence broad as the material they handle. They also collective known as Bellingcat, an online every aspect of modern life: computing, play an underappreciated yet essential role association of truth-seekers trying to upend communication, economics, cryptography, in preserving history. The Booksellers takes the world of journalism. De facto leader Eliot genetics, cosmology. Mixing contemporary viewers inside their small but fascinating Higgins and his fellow researchers give us interviews, archival footage, animation and world, populated by an assortment of exclusive access into their tight-knit world as convincingly reenacted dialogue drawn from obsessives, intellects, eccentrics and they demonstrate the power of open source interviews conducted at Shannon’s home in dreamers. investigation, in cases ranging from the MH17 the 1980s, The Bit Player tells the story of Saturday, March 28 disaster to the hidden crimes of the Syrian an overlooked genius who revolutionized the SCA Brent Auditorium, 3:00 p.m. regime. International Emmy award winner. world, but never lost his child-like curiosity.
Dutch, English, German w/ English subtitles Saturday, March 28 Saturday, March 28 SCA Little Red Hen, 11:45 a.m. SCA Little Red Hen, 1:45 p.m.
Born In Gambia Butterfly Chalk Of Champions Spain, 2018, 27 minutes Italy, 2018, 80 minutes United States, 2019, 4 minutes Director: Natxo Leuza Fernandez Directors: Casey Kauffman and Director: Jackie Omanoff Alessandro Cassigoli Hassan is a 14-year-old boy who lives on One of the best kept secrets in the math the street. After his brother was accused Irma Testa was raised in one of Naples’ world is…chalk. But not just any chalk, of witchcraft and burned alive in front most troubled neighborhoods. Through Hagoromo: a Japanese brand so smooth, so of him, he was forced to flee to escape her focus on boxing and self-discipline perfect that some wondered if it was made persecution. Hassan leaves home with only she rises to become the hope of the from the tears of angels. This story follows a sound recorder, and its recordings create Italian team in Rio’s Olympic games. The some of the brightest minds in math as they a backdrop to his life and the lives of other aftermath of those games challenges the talk about hoarding this magical chalk when homeless children who are his friends. They core of her identity. She proves to be Hagoromo abruptly went out of business. are the victims of a cycle of discrimination resilient and determined. This summer Shorts Program 3, Friday, March 27 as difficult to break as it is to try to change Irma, the Butterfly, will compete in Japan’s SCA Little Red Hen, 7:45 p.m. the traditions and customs of a country. A Olympic boxing events. haunting and poetically told story. Won best Italian w/ English subtitles Short Ibiza cine festival. Sunday, March 29 Mandingo w/ English subtitles SCA Brent Auditorium, 1:00 p.m. Shorts Program 9, Sunday, March 29 Rialto Cinemas® #6, 1:30 p.m.
20 www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 sebarts.org 2020 FILMS
Dear Homeland The Desert Dick Ogg: Fisherman United States, 2019, 58 minutes United States, 2019, 27 minutes United States, 2019, 9 minutes Director: Claudia Escobar Director: Bo Kovitz Director: Cynthia Abbott Mexican singer/songwriter Diana The Desert explores the aftermath of a Living and fishing in the Bodega Bay Gameros comes of age in the United States. major hospital closure in the SF Bay Area, area for 55 years, Dick Ogg is forced Told through her hauntingly beautiful music, one of the wealthiest regions in the country, to confront the realities of a warming her 20-year journey takes her from Ciudad which left over 250,000 patients without ocean, increased government regulation Juárez to San Francisco where Diana an accessible public hospital. Through and derelict crab pots. As these daunting asserts herself not only as a musician, intimate character-driven storytelling, this challenges cause fishermen to leave the but as an advocate for immigrant rights. film illustrates the multifaceted impact of profession, Dick faces them with solutions Dear Homeland is a deep reflection on the loss of a major safety net institution as and actions to keep the local fisheries what it means to call a place home. those in the community must travel further sustainable and alive. English and Spanish w/ English subtitles to overcome barriers to care. Saturday, March 28 Sunday, March 29 Friday, March 27 Rialto Cinemas® #8, 11:15 a.m. SCA Brent Auditorium, 3:30 p.m. Rialto Cinemas® #9, 5:00 p.m.
Dusty Groove: The Esperança Eye Of The Pangolin
France, 2019, 6 minutes South Africa, 2019, 45 minutes SEATS EMPTY Sound Of Transition Directors: Benjamin Serero, Jeanne Director: Bruce Young United States, 2019, 84 minutes Paturle and Cécile Rousset Director: Danielle Beverly Eye of the Pangolin is the story of two Esperança, 15, has just arrived in men on a mission to get all four species of Chicago vinyl buyer Rick Wojcik walks us France from Angola with her mother. At African pangolin on camera for the very first into the homes–and stories–of strangers, Amiens station, they don’t know where time. As they travel the continent to learn 5 MINUTES resold be will digging through their jazz, soul, and hip to sleep, and look for someone who can more about those caring for and studying hop records, purchasing their once- help them. Esperança tells her story in pangolins, they are captivated by these prized possessions. Each seller shares a an animated documentary that is both a strange, secretive creatures and document common reason: they face a major life personal tale and typical of the modern the race to save them from being poached transition. The documentary is a collection refugee experience in Europe. to extinction. of intimate narratives, akin to a record French w/ English subtitles Friday, March 27 album of songs about our deep personal Shorts Program 6, Saturday, March 28 Rialto Cinemas® #8, 4:00 p.m. connection to music.
Rialto Cinemas® #6, 1:45 p.m. screening to prior Saturday, March 28 SCA Brent Auditorium, 11:15 a.m.
sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 21 2020 FILMS Special Programs:
OUTwatch Shorts Program SDFF 2020 Award Finalist Finalist Award 2020 SDFF Program Shorts OUTwatch Finding Home For Sama Gay Chorus United Kingdom/Syria, 2019, 97 minutes In Boomtown Directors: Waad al-Kateab Deep South United States, 2019, 80 minutes and Edward Watts United States, 2019, 98 minutes Director: Matt Maxwell Director: David Charles Rodrigues Told as a message from a young Syrian Finding Home in Boomtown is a a vérité mother, Waad al-Kateab to her daughter, Over 300 singers travel from Mississippi documentary about Briana & John-Mark For Sama traces Waad’s life through five to Tennessee bringing a message of music, Echols’ dream of building a tiny house years of the uprising in Aleppo as she falls love and acceptance to communities and community for the homeless of Midland— in love, gets married and gives birth while individuals confronting intolerance. The a West Texas oil town that is the nation’s apocalyptic conflict erupts around her. tour by The San Francisco Gay Chorus and second wealthiest city. Filmed over a Winner of Best Documentary at Heartland, The Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir offers period of 2 years, the film follows the SXSW, BAFTA, IDFA, Cannes. Oscar® a glimpse of a less divided America, where couple as they commit their lives to helping Nominee differences are set aside by the power of the homeless. Arabic w/ English subtitles music, humanity and a little drag. Saturday, March 28 Friday, March 27 Friday, March 27 Rialto Cinemas® #9, 2:15 p.m. SCA Little Red Hen, 5:30 p.m. Rialto Cinemas® #9, 7:00 p.m.
The Great Green Screen Gringo Hebo Netherlands, 2016, 16 minutes United States, 2019, 11 minutes Toilet Paper Scare Director: Douwe Dijkstra Director: Kevin Wells United States, 2019, 11 minutes Director: Brian Gersten Behind a green screen, a European Hebo explores the work of outsider folk traveler finds his way in an enchanting, yet artist, Sam Ezell, a painter, junk hunter and The untold story of a notorious incident turbulent, Brazil. Where the streets are a maintenance worker at Daniel Boone Village, involving Johnny Carson, lots of toilet paper, stage for politics, art and affection, a gringo NC since 1970. After suffering a stroke that and millions of fearful Americans. In 1973, can only watch. The result is a mixtape- left him blind in one eye and afraid he’d Carson made a joke on The Tonight Show portrait on modern day Brazil seen through have to abandon painting, the film examines about a possible toilet paper shortage. This the eyes of the visitor. Ezell’s work and the power of the creative off-hand remark quickly created an actual English and Portuguese w/ English subtitles spirit in the face of adversity. shortage when viewers went and bought up Shorts Program 4, Saturday, March 28 Shorts Program 8, Saturday, March 28 as much toilet paper as they could get their Rialto Cinemas® #6, 6:00 p.m. hands on. Rialto Cinemas® #6, 11:45 a.m. Shorts Program 3, Friday, March 27 SCA Little Red Hen, 7:45 p.m.
22 www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 sebarts.org 2020 FILMS
Ignis Impermanence Irse United States, 2019, 5 minutes Tibet, 2018, 8 minutes United States, 2019, 27 minutes Director: Ashleigh McArthur Director: Elliot Spencer Directors: Jean-Philippe Dobrin and Marian Carrasquero This short shares the story of how, in the In the remote high-altitude village of wake of Northern California’s devastating Sichuan, Tibetan children intensively study Irse tells the stories of two Venezuelan wildfires, a local artist re-purposes the Buddhist scripture while their parents tend families with expecting mothers, who cross remains of his community’s homes. to their herds. Impermanence explores into neighboring Colombia to safely give Saturday, March 28 the lives of nomadic Tibetan villagers and birth. Members of these families recount Rialto Cinemas® #9, 4:30 p.m. their close relationship to a harsh and the economic desperation and failing beautiful environment. healthcare system in Venezuela, while Shorts Program 9, Sunday, March 29 enduring the day-to-day struggles of trying Rialto Cinemas® #6, 1:30 p.m. to survive in a new country. Irse offers an intimate perspective on what it’s like to leave one’s country, amidst the backdrop of one of the largest migration crises in Latin American history. Spanish w/ English subtitles Sunday, March 29 SCA Brent Auditorium, 3:30 p.m.
Islander (Insulaire) Kamali Knocking Down
Switzerland, 2019, 90 minutes United Kingdom, 2019, 24 minutes SEATS EMPTY Director: Stéphane Goël Director: Sasha Rainbow The Fences United States, 2019, 12 minutes In 1877, a young aristocrat from Bern, Kamali is the only girl skateboarder in her Director: Meg Shutzer Alfred von Rodt, settles on a small Chilean Indian fishing village. When her timorous island with a few men. For twenty-eight mother, Suganthi, takes a pilgrimage in A documentary about A.J. Andrews, years he pursues his hopes of developing a quest for self discovery, mother and the first woman to win a Rawlings Gold 5 MINUTES resold be will his piece of rock. Islander is the story of this daughter are separated for the first time. Glove, and her struggle to make it as one black sheep who is vanquished by storms, Now they must each discover their own of the best professional softball players abandoned by his wealthy family, fails freedom in a man’s world. in the world. constantly, but rebounds all the same. Tamil w/ English subtitles Shorts Program 1, Friday, March 27 French and Spanish w/ English subtitles Shorts Program 1, Friday, March 27 Rialto Cinemas® #6, 4:30 p.m. Saturday, March 28 Rialto Cinemas® #6, 4:30 p.m. Sunday, March 29 Rialto Cinemas® #7, 12:45 p.m. Shorts Program 9, Sunday, March 29 SCA Brent Auditorium, 1:00 p.m.
Rialto Cinemas® #6, 1:30 p.m. screening to prior
sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 23 2020 FILMS Special Programs:
OUTwatch Shorts Program SDFF 2020 Award Finalist Finalist Award 2020 SDFF Program Shorts OUTwatch L’Eau Est La Vie: The Last Harvest Little Gandhis United States, 2018, 20 minutes United States/India, 2019, 14 minutes From Standing Rock Director: Alexis Spradic Director: Libby Spears To The Swamp The Last Harvest offers a rare glimpse India initiates 10% of the world records United States, 2019, 24 minutes into the critical labor shortage impacting in the Guiness Book of Records. At the New Director: Sam Vinal U.S. agriculture today. The film relays the Delhi School, 5,000 Ghandi look-alikes get Indigenous women in Louisiana race stories of unsung heroes who grow our food ready for what they hope will be a new world to stop the Bayou Bridge Pipeline, linking and considers how immigration reform, record. In 100 degree heat, the boys, their Texas oil terminals to Louisiana. They improved guest worker programs, innovation teachers and administrators desperate try are fighting to protect the crucial swamp and collaboration in our food systems can to make their mark on history. A thoroughly environment from fossil fuel companies provide solutions to this growing problem. charming and amusing story. that would pollute it. They also represent Friday, March 27 Shorts Program 3, Friday, March 27 local residents whose health has been Rialto Cinemas® #8, 6:00 p.m. SCA Little Red Hen, 7:45 p.m. compromised. An inspiring story of bravery Shorts Program 7, Saturday, March 28 Shorts Program 5 - Family Friendly, in the face of powerful interests. Rialto Cinemas® #6, 4:00 p.m. Saturday, March 28 Shorts Program 7, Saturday, March 28 SCA Brent Auditorium, 1:15 p.m. Rialto Cinemas® #6, 4:00 p.m.
Living Music Long Yearning Madame United States, 2018, 19 minutes China, 2017, 25 minutes Switzerland, 2019, 94 minutes Director: Libby Spears Director: Elliot Spencer Director: Stéphane Riethauser Tyler Carson is a lifelong violinist with a Long Yearning is a cinematic exploration A family saga based on private archive successful career. Suddenly his life takes a of the lives of Chinese factory workers and footage, Madame takes us on an intimate turn as his voice begins to fail. The turmoil the nature of repetitive industrial work. The journey in which a flamboyant 90-year-old that ensues pushes him to seek a new path film is intermixed with written excerpts of grandmother and her filmmaker grandson and resolution to his problem. Ultimately his traditional Chinese poetry, creating a surreal explore the development and transmission of creativity soars as does the message of this merging of modern and ancient China. gender identity in a patriarchal environment. uplifting film. Chinese and English w/ English subtitles A surprisingly complete filmic record of one Shorts Program 8, Saturday, March 28 Shorts Program 6, Saturday, March 28 man’s story from boyhood to manhood. Rialto Cinemas® #6, 6:00 p.m. Rialto Cinemas® #6, 1:45 p.m. French w/ English subtitles Saturday, March 28 Rialto Cinemas® #9, 6:45 p.m.
24 www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 sebarts.org 2020 FILMS
Maikaru Midnight Family Moment To Moment United States, 2014, 7 minutes Mexico, 2019, 90 minutes United States, 2018, 13 minutes Director: Amanda Harryman Director: Luke Lorentzen Director: Michael Attie An authentic and vulnerable piece In Mexico City, the government operates This documentary follows Carl and that exposes the invisible issue of human fewer than 45 emergency ambulances for Susan, husband and wife, scientist and trafficking that is happening worldwide. a population of 9 million. This spawned artist, as they navigate the challenges of Maikaru’s story is at once horrific, healing an underground industry of for-profit Carl’s Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Unable to and hopeful. Told with artistry and honesty, ambulances often run by people with little engage in his prior physics career, Carl finds My-kah-rue and his story are unforgettable. or no training or certification. An exception solace dismantling discarded electronics Shorts Program 1, Friday, March 27 within this ethically fraught, cutthroat in search of the copper inside. This film Rialto Cinemas® #6, 4:30 p.m. industry, the Ochoa family struggles to keep is a love story and a testament to human Saturday, March 28 their financial needs from jeopardizing the resilience and creativity in the face of a Rialto Cinemas® #7, 7:15 p.m. people in their care. Winner: Sundance, IDA, debilitating disease. Oscar® Short list Shorts Program 2, Friday, March 27 Spanish w/ English subtitles Rialto Cinemas® #7, 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 27 SCA Brent Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.
Motorcycle Man Neighbours Night Cleaners
United States, 2019, 32 minutes Norway, 2018, 38 minutes United States, 2019, 24 minutes SEATS EMPTY Director: Daniel Lovering Director: Trond Kvig Andreassen Director: Hanna Nordenswan Motorcycle Man portrays the quiet A woman is found dead in her apartment Night Cleaners is a documentary about commitment of a man who has pursued in the middle of Oslo. She’s been dead for the people who clean up after us while motorcycle racing for his entire life. Dave more than a month. No family or friends. we sleep. The film is an exploration of Roper has raced every year since 1972, How do you remember someone no one the relationship between spaces and 5 MINUTES resold be will winning hundreds of races around the world knew? This film explores how an anonymous the cleaners who go through them at and becoming the first American to triumph life leaves an imprint with little mysteries night. It shines a light on people who are at the Isle of Man Tourist Trophy race. The that may never be fully explained. rarely noticed and lets us witness the film is a study of Roper’s lifelong passion Norwegian w/ English subtitles extraordinary in the ordinary. and devotion to this sport. Lots of exciting Shorts Program 3, Friday, March 27 English and Spanish w/ English subtitles racing footage. SCA Little Red Hen, 7:45 p.m. Shorts Program 2, Friday, March 27 Shorts Program 4, Saturday, March 28 Rialto Cinemas® #7, 7:30 p.m.
Rialto Cinemas® #6, 11:45 a.m. Shorts Program 6, Saturday, March 28 screening to prior
Rialto Cinemas® #6, 1:45 p.m.
sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 25 2020 FILMS Special Programs:
OUTwatch Shorts Program SDFF 2020 Award Finalist Finalist Award 2020 SDFF Program Shorts OUTwatch No Box For Me On The Top Tyrryry Our Time Machine France and Switzerland, 2018, 58 minutes Poland, 2019, 60 minutes China, 2019, 86 minutes Director: Floriane Devigne Director: Renata Kijowska Directors: S. Leo Chiang and Yang Sun M and Deborah, like an estimated 1.7 In their own words, “Na Górze” (“On the Maleonn is one of China’s most influential percent of people, were born intersex — top”) is a “semi-normal” band because the conceptual artists today. His father, Ma Ke, with sex characteristics that are different public considers half of the line-up to be was the artistic director of the Shanghai from binary understanding of male or disabled. Although some of the band lives Chinese Opera Theater. When Ma Ke gets female. This film reflects on the way intersex at a residential home, that is no obstacle Alzheimer’s, Maleonn pours everything into people seek to reappropriate their bodies to playing the biggest rock festival in this a new theater project: Papa’s Time Machine, and questions what it means to be a man, a part of Europe. Will they succeed? Will the a time-travel adventure told with life-size woman or a little of both. performance change anything in their lives? puppets, designed to bring father and son Saturday, March 28 Polish w/ English subtitles together artistically and personally. Rialto Cinemas® #7, 7:15 p.m. Saturday, March 28 Chinese w/ English subtitles Rialto Cinemas® #9, 12:15 p.m. Opening Night!—Thursday, March 26 SCA Brent Audotorium, 7:00 p.m.
Personhood A Pilgrimage The Poster Boys United States, 2019, 76 minutes United States, 2019, 10 minutes United States, 2019, 72 minutes Director: Jo Ardinger Director: Sara Alexander Directors: Joshua Lamme Hilliard and Bob Simmons After a doctor’s visit places her When Genevieve Barnhart, now 97, pregnancy under the oppressive scrutiny of was invited to assemble a retrospective This is the story of a few artists who the state, Tammy Loertscher’s fetus was of her sculptures and photographs, her pooled their talents to visually inform a given an attorney, while the courts denied first thought was, “Why would I want to cultural revolution in Austin, Texas. From the Tammy her constitutional rights and sent do that?” Her second was, “Maybe I can proto-psychedelic late 60s to the cosmic her to jail. Through her story, Personhood inspire ‘little women’ to do big things.” This cowboy 70s, they created thousands of reframes the cultural narrative around is a cinematic adaptation of her astounding, images to promote the music and defined abortion to encompass the growing system auto-biographical one-woman show, the city along the way. Set to the music of of dangerous laws that criminalize and tracking this renowned local artist’s life and the era, including Roky Erickson and the police pregnant women. her work’s global reach. 13th Floor Elevators, Shiva’s Headband and Friday, March 27 Shorts Program 8, Saturday, March 28 Mance Lipscomb, among others. Rialto Cinemas® #7, 5:30 p.m. Rialto Cinemas® #6, 6:00 p.m. Saturday, March 28 Rialto Cinemas® #7, 5:00 p.m.
26 www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 sebarts.org 2020 FILMS
Queen Of The Beach Quiet Hours RE:MEMBER Canada, 2019, 106 minutes United States, 2018, 14 minutes United States, 2019, 79 minutes Director: Christopher McDonell Director: Paul Szynol Director: Katie Teague While on vacation in Goa, India, Before Donald Hall died in June of 2019, Years after her son’s tragic death, a Canadian filmmaker Chris McDonell turns the 89-year-old American poet laureate let bereaved mother is on an impassioned his camera on Shilpa Poojar, a 9-year-old a filmmaker into his home in bucolic New mission to un-silence grief in our modern beach hawker hustling tourists to buy Hampshire. In the film, Hall reflects on his culture, which has buried and forgotten the clothes and jewelry from her seaside poetry and the one great love of his life: the essential art of grieving. Over the course of shop. Funny, charming and skilled beyond poet Jane Kenyon, his second wife, who a year, the film follows Victoria Markham’s her years, she is a migrant worker from passed away in 1995. purpose-driven journey of becoming a “grief the unique Banjara tribe and the primary Shorts Program 6, Saturday, March 28 guide” for others. breadwinner for her family. Forging a Rialto Cinemas® #6, 1:45 p.m. Saturday, March 28 connection in this chance encounter, Chris Rialto Cinemas® #9, 4:30 p.m. returns three times to capture Shilpa’s empowering story and help her achieve her childhood dream of going to school. English and Hindi w/ English subtitles Sunday, March 29 Rialto Cinemas® #8, 1:00 p.m.
Rewilding Honeybees The River And Sharkwater Extinction United States, 2019, 11 minutes Canada, 2018, 90 minutes SEATS EMPTY Director: Cameron Nielsen The Wall Director: Rob Stewart United States, 2019, 100 minutes Rewilding Honeybees analyzes the Director: Ben Masters Sharkwater Extinction is an action relationship of humans to nature and adventure journey that follows filmmaker The River and the Wall follows five friends presents a fundamentally new approach Rob Stewart as he exposes the billion-dollar 5 MINUTES resold be will to our interaction with the natural as they venture into the unknown wilds of illegal shark fin industry and the political world through a revolutionary method the Texas borderlands and travel 1,200 corruption behind it. Stewart dives into the of beekeeping. The intent behind this miles along the Rio Grande. On horses, often violent underworld of international technique is to alter the way “saving the mountain bikes, and canoes, they set out to pirate fishing and trading. Shark finning bees” is understood by cultivating a more document the wildlife and landscapes and is still rampant for shark fin soup, and sustainable environment. The concept to explore the potential impacts of a wall on endangered sharks are now widely used of rewilding presents us with a new the natural environment. But as wilderness to make consumer products. Stewart’s understanding of what beekeeping actually gives way to the more populated and heavily mission is to save the sharks before it’s
means. trafficked Lower Rio Grande Valley, they too late. This is his follow-up to his much screening to prior come face-to-face with the human side of Shorts Program 7, Saturday, March 28 acclaimed film Sharkwater. the immigration debate and enter uncharted Rialto Cinemas® #6, 4:00 p.m. Saturday, March 28 emotional waters. Rialto Cinemas® #8, 5:30 p.m. Saturday, March 28 SCA Little Red Hen, 6:30 p.m.
sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 27 2020 FILMS Special Programs:
OUTwatch Shorts Program SDFF 2020 Award Finalist Finalist Award 2020 SDFF Program Shorts OUTwatch Siudy Entre Mundos: Soyalism The Starfish Italy, 2018, 65 minutes United States, 2018, 39 minutes 50 Performances of Directors: Stefano Liberti Director: Tyler Gildin and Enrico Parenti the American Dream The Starfish is the true story of a 10-year- Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, 2019, In a world struck by climate change old German-Jewish boy whose life changed 60 minutes and overpopulation, food production when his parents sent him and his sisters to Director: Pablo Croce is increasingly becoming a huge live with non-Jewish families in Sweden to Siudy Entre Mundos (Between Worlds): 50 intercontinental business for a handful of escape Nazi persecution. Decades went by Performances of the American Dream, tells the giant corporations. Following the industrial before he told his family about his childhood, story of the now Miami-based Siudy Flamenco production chain of pork and the related resulting in a journey to Sweden to reunite Dance Theater (SFDT), whose heritage and soybean monoculture, this movie describes with those who had taken him in. roots are in Venezuela and Spain, but who how the concentration of power in the Shorts Program 2, Friday, March 27 aspire as transplanted artists, refugees and hands of Western and Chinese companies Rialto Cinemas® #7, 7:30 p.m. immigrants to see themselves accepted in their is jeopardizing the social and environmental adopted American homeland and society. An balance of the entire planet. exquisite film testimony to dance, music and English, Portuguese and Chinese heritage now at risk in a failed state. w/ English subtitles English and Spanish w/ English subtitles Friday, March 27 Saturday, March 28 Rialto Cinemas® #8, 6:00 p.m.
Rialto Cinemas® #8, 3:30 p.m.
Still Plays Strange Tenants: Subject To Change New Zealand, 2018, 33 minutes With Trains Ska’d for Life Director: Wiktoria Ojrzyńska United States, 2018, 17 minutes Australia, 2019, 53 minutes Director: Ross Kauffman Director: Fiona Cochrane Subject To Change explores the impacts global warming. It tells the personal Still Plays With Trains captures one This feature film tells the story of Strange stories of a Pacific community living on man’s passion to express the joy of his Tenants, the “Godfathers of Australian Ska.” a frontline of climate change, and how it childhood. By recreating his 10th birthday They emerged in the 1980s in the wake has responded to global objectives set by with a 3,000-square-foot replica of the old of UK-based, two-tone ska bands like The the Paris Agreement. The film conveys a Lackawanna Railroad in his basement, he Specials, but produced original political moving exploration of how climate change gives a nostalgic glimpse of what it was like ska songs unlike most other Australian ska is affecting the people who are faced with growing up in the 1950s. Not your childhood bands. Thirty-six years later they’re still rising sea levels, extreme weather events, model trains, John Scully has recreated an around and still political. and ocean acidification. entire railroad town. Special Screening plus musical performance English and Fijian w/ English subtitles Shorts Program 4, Saturday, March 28 from Bay Area Ska band Monkey! Friday, March 27 Rialto Cinemas® #6, 11:45 a.m. Saturday, March 28 Rialto Cinemas® #8, 4:00 p.m. Shorts Program 5 - Family Friendly, SCA Brent Auditorium, 7:00 p.m. Saturday, March 28 SCA Brent Auditorium, 1:15 p.m.
28 www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 sebarts.org 2020 FILMS
That’s My Jazz The Vow From The Whale United States, 2018, 14 minutes Poland, 2018, 8 minutes Director: Ben Proudfoot Hiroshima Directors: Marcin Marcin Popławski, United States, 2019, 80 minutes Józefina Gocman and Iza Pająk Milt Abel II, the son of Kansas City jazz Director: Susan Strickler legend, Milt Abel Sr. longed to follow in his A whale was found at the side of the father’s footsteps, but on a different stage. A portrait of Setsuko Thurlow, an 85 Vistula river in Warsaw. How did it get That’s My Jazz follows Milt II’s career as a year-old survivor of the atomic bomb in there? As a large crowd gathered, a crew world-class pastry chef and his struggle with Hiroshima, told through the lens of Mitchie of professionals had cordoned off the the confines of success. At a crossroad, Milt Takeuchi, a second generation survivor. area and were attending to it. Were they II reflects on the intersection of fame and Pulled out of a fiery building after the bomb scientists or city technicians? Was the family life. was dropped, Setsuko’s experience shaped whale still alive? As we follow the film, we her life. The film follows Setsuko through Shorts Program 1, Friday, March 27 try to unravel this mystery. decades of activism as she achieves her Rialto Cinemas® #6, 4:30 p.m. Polish and English w/ English subtitles dream of a Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty. Saturday, March 28 Shorts Program 3, Friday, March 27 Sunday, March 29 Rialto Cinemas® #8, 3:30 p.m. SCA Little Red Hen, 7:45 p.m. Rialto Cinemas® #9, 1:45 p.m. SCA Brent Auditorium, 7:00 p.m.
When Tomatoes Where We Belong The Wild
Switzerland, 2019, 78 minutes United States, 2019, 62 minutes SEATS EMPTY Met Wagner Director: Jacqueline Zünd Director: Mark Titus Greece, 2019, 72 minutes Director: Marianna Economou Parents split up, a family falls apart. Fresh from addiction recovery, an urgent Two separate worlds emerge from what threat spurs filmmaker Mark Titus back to The humorous and uplifting story of two once was considered a unity. In constant the Alaskan wilderness—where the people ingenious Greek cousins and five village transition, children now live between two of Bristol Bay, and the world’s largest wild 5 MINUTES resold be will grannies, who tackle the world market with homes. Where We Belong approaches salmon runs, face devastation if a massive their organic tomatoes. their reality and focuses on how fragile copper mine is constructed. This battle Greek, French and children are, but also how brave, smart and for Alaska’s soul mirrors Titus’s personal English w/ English subtitles funny they can be as they respond to their struggle and poses global questions about Saturday, March 28 situation. changing our course as a species, and how SCA Little Red Hen, 4:30 p.m. French and German w/ English subtitles to save the wild that remains. Sunday, March 29 Saturday, March 28
SCA Little Red Hen, 1:30 p.m. Rialto Cinemas® #8, 11:15 a.m. screening to prior
sebarts.org www.sebastopolfilmfestival.org | 707.829.4797 | Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival 2020 29 2020 FILMS Award Finalists ’20
Special Programs: FEATURE (40 minutes & over) For Sama Midnight Family Our Time Machine OUTwatch Shorts Program SDFF 2020 Award Finalist Finalist Award 2020 SDFF Program Shorts OUTwatch The Wind. A Workhorse When Tomatoes Met Wagner Canada, 2019, 82 minutes The Wind. Documentary Thriller Director: Cliff Caines A Documentary Thriller Poland, 2019, 75 minutes Where We Belong Director: Michal Bielawski Workhorse is an ode and essay on horse- powered labor through the contemporary The halny wind is the most unpredictable experiences of three teamsters whose work SHORT element in the Polish mountains. It comes and lives are intertwined with their stoic (10–39 minutes) in cycles, every spring and autumn. One equine partners. never knows if, or when, it might turn All Inclusive Friday, March 27 into a destructive gale. Halny particularly SCA Brent Auditorium, 5:00 p.m. All That Remains affects the inhabitants of Zakopane and the surrounding area, changing picturesque Neighbours mountain trails into sets for an untamed Night Cleaners performance of nature. Polish w/ English subtitles Still Plays with Trains Saturday, March 28 That’s My Jazz Rialto Cinemas® #8, 1:15 p.m. MINI-DOC (under 10 minutes) Chalk of Champions Esperança Impermanence Maikaru The Whale YARROW: The Virtues of Monochrome
The Worlds Yarrow: The Virtues Jurors Pablo Alvarez-Mesa, Director Of Bernice Bing Of Monochrome La Pesca, SDFF 2017 Award Finalist United States, 2013, 34 minutes Australia, 2019, 5 minutes Deborah Craig, Director Director: Madeleine Lim Directors: Dom West and Abraham Joffe A Great Ride, 2019 Award Winner Mark Erder, Founder Riding the waves of American history, This short documentary follows the Asia Pacific Vision Ltd. The Worlds Of Bernice Bing explores creative process of fine art photographer Aine Henderson, Distribution and the life, activism and art of this Abstract David Yarrow as he steps ashore the Acquisitions, KQED Presents Expressionist painter, beat-era existentialist, beaches of South Georgia, in an attempt Niam Itani, Filmmaker, Acquisitions Manager, TRT World Buddhist, feminist, activist, and Chinese- to capture the beauty and scale of this Twice Upon a Time, SDFF 2017 American lesbian. This poignant awe-inspiring natural wonder in just a single Chris Metzler, Associate Director documentary is a lush tribute to Bernice image. of Programming Bing, the little-known foremother of Asian Shorts Program 5 - Family Friendly SF DocFest and SF IndieFest American avant-garde art and does justice Saturday, March 28 Jaime Meltzer, Filmmaker, Program Director to her legacy as a San Francisco icon. SCA Brent Auditorium, 1:15 p.m. Stanford MFA Program in Documentary Film Shorts Program 1, Friday, March 27 Shorts Program 8, Saturday, March 28 True Conviction, SDFF 2018 Rialto Cinemas® #6, 4:30 p.m. Rialto Cinemas® #6, 6:00 p.m. The Informant, SDFF 2013 Erin Palmquist, Director Shorts Program 8, Saturday, March 28 From Baghdad to the Bay, SDFF 2019 Rialto Cinemas® #6, 6:00 p.m. Davina Pardo, Director Minka, SDFF 2011 Award Winner Discovering Charlie Harper, SDFF 2017
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