Every spring, a curious transformation overtakes the otherwise tranquil wine country burg of Sonoma.
Restaurants buzz, wine flows, and the sidewalks suddenly teem with showbiz people. In short, the Sonoma International Film Festival makes its welcome return.
Now in its 29th year, the festival, running March 25–29, has grown into one of the North Bay’s most cosmopolitan events: five days of cinema drawn from around the world, served with the region’s customary side of award-winning wine and culinary offerings. This year’s program features 104 films from 37 countries, including 41 narrative features, 16 documentaries and 47 shorts.
For festival artistic director Carl Spence, assembling the program is less a sprint than a year-long pilgrimage through the global film circuit.
“We really are collecting films throughout the year,” Spence explained to Bohemian editor Daedalus Howell during a recent interview. “The start of the film search starts at the Cannes Film Festival… There’s some films from Sundance, from Venice … and some that have won top awards at festivals like San Sebastián and Venice.”
The result is something like a curated highlight reel of the international festival season—films that have generated buzz elsewhere but haven’t yet reached Bay Area audiences en masse. As Spence sees it, the Sonoma fest functions partly as a cinematic import operation.
“We’ve assembled the finest films we discovered throughout the year, including exceptional works that deserve a larger spotlight, alongside in-person conversations with visionary filmmakers,” Spence said in announcing the lineup.
Among the biggest draws this year is an appearance by artist-turned-filmmaker Julian Schnabel, who will present his latest feature, In the Hand of Dante. The film arrives with a cast that reads less like a credits list and more like a guest list at an Oscars after-party: Oscar Isaac, Gal Gadot, Gerard Butler, John Malkovich, Al Pacino, Jason Momoa and even Martin Scorsese in a cameo role.
Schnabel, of course, occupies a singular place in contemporary culture. Known first as a painter associated with the Neo-Expressionist movement, he later pivoted into filmmaking with Basquiat and the haunting The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. At Sonoma, the screening will be paired with an extended career conversation moderated by Sundance Film Festival director Eugene Hernandez.
“He’s an artist, but he’s also a well-known filmmaker,” Spence said. “It’s an epic film, and he’s going to be here to present it and talk about his career.”
Through the fest, SIFF functions as an immersive festival ecosystem built around a peculiar wine country cadence: See a film, drink something local, see another film.
Within walking distance of Sonoma’s historic square, the festival constructs a temporary cinema village, transforming venues into fully equipped screening rooms with state-of-the-art projection and sound.
“We build out cinemas… There’s five great cinemas right here off the square,” Spence said. “You can walk to all of it as well as all the great restaurants and wine tasting rooms.”
Around those screens unfolds a parallel program of culinary events and parties—everything from elegant dinners to dance-floor spectacles. This year’s lineup includes the Moon and the Stars dinner at Valley Bar + Bottle, the high-energy Studio 54 Disco Party at HopMonk and the centerpiece Dolce After Dark celebration at Buena Vista Winery.
The festival’s programming also ventures into industry territory with panels exploring topics such as the new Academy Award category for casting and candid discussions with veteran filmmakers about how movies actually get made.
Still, the most practical advice Spence offers attendees is simple: Pace yourself.
“There’s films starting every day from 10 in the morning up until 8 or 9 at night,” he said. “You have to build the rhythm where you’re going to see a few films, take a break, wine up, have some food, see another film.”
In other words, don’t try to see everything. The better strategy is to construct one’s own festival agenda from the myriad offerings. That’s the real pleasure of Sonoma’s cinematic invasion: wandering between venues, restaurants and conversations, occasionally spotting a famous filmmaker in the wild.
For a listing of films, events and tickets, visit sonomafilmfest.org.
