Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival is driven by an immense curiosity to learn and understand the lives of others, lives different in experience and age from our own. Submissions are open to anyone, from every part of the world. Films are chosen for excellence in craft, character, storytelling and authenticity. Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival is an Oscar qualifying Film Festival

There are as many ways to tell stories in film as there are filmmakers. Animation, color, music, archival material, silence, laughter, reenactment all are explored to cross the gaps of unknown, underrepresented, unseen, unfelt experience and truth. Knowing what it’s like for any life to wake to its existence guides us in critical thought.

Get comfy and engage in what’s real.

Schedule:
Sunday March 12, 2023
3:00pm - 5:00pm: Curtain Raiser Event: Dusty and Stones, Filmmaker Q&A, BBQ & Country Western Dance Party!
Join us for the SDFF 2023 Curtain Raiser Event!

We have a very special afternoon and evening planned for you, beginning with the California Premiere of Dusty and Stones.

This special screening will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Jesse Rudoy, and an evening of Country Western dancing, food from A Guy and His Grill, and an assortment of beer, wine and non-alcoholic beverages! Don't worry if you haven't done line dancing before, DJ Joy Anagnostis from OutWest Dance in Sebastopol will provide lessons before she starts to DJ a Country Western Dance Party!

Doors Open at 2:30 p.m., Dusty and Stones screens at 3 p.m., the filmmaker Q&A begins at 4:20 p.m., followed at 5 p.m. by line dancing lessons, food (BBQ, cornbread, salads), and beverages (beer, wine, and non-alcoholic options). The Country Western Dance party will run from 5:30-7 p.m. and includes music for country two-step & waltz, East & West Coast Swing, line dancing and more!

Dusty & Stones
As Dusty and Stones struggle to sustain a country music career in the tiny African Kingdom of Swaziland, they yearn for greater recognition. When they are unexpectedly nominated to compete in a Texas battle of the bands, the two cousins journey to the heart of American country music, determined to win big and turn their careers around.

Location: Sebastopol Community Cultural Center

Thursday March 16, 2023
7:00pm - 8:28pm: Opening Night - Exposure
Opening Night Film, Reception & Awards!

SDFF 2023 Opening Night Festivities begin at 5 p.m. with a reception. The film, Exposure, a jaw-droppingly stunning adventure/outdoor feature, begins at 7 p.m. The film will be followed by a specially recorded interview with filmmaker Holly Morris. Opening Night festivities will include a pre-screening reception, and a post-screening awards show for the juried selections.

Exposure
Against all odds and polar advice, a Muslim chaplain, a French biologist, a Qatari princess and eight other women from the Arab World and the West, attempt to ski across melting Arctic sea ice to the North Pole. Director Holly Morris and her crew capture the struggle of these boundary-breaking adventurers who, led by veteran polar explorer Felicity Aston, navigate everything from frostbite and polar bear threats, to sexism and self-doubt, in this intimate story of resilience, survival and global citizenry.

Location: Robert Brent Auditorium - SCA

Friday March 17, 2023
3:00pm - 4:00pm: Panel - Conversations in Style - Little Red Hen - SCA
4:15pm - 5:28pm: Zoo Lockdown - Rialto Cinemas #9
4:45pm - 5:56pm: At Your Cervix - Rialto Cinemas #7
5:00pm - 6:24pm: Women's Power Shorts Block: Swimming Through, To Be Born, The Best Chef In The World, Big Water Summer: A Creation Story - Little Red Hen - SCA
5:00pm - 6:15pm: Ruth Stone's Vast Library - Rialto Cinemas #8
5:45pm - 7:13pm: Whaam Blam! with Jaz - Rialto Cinemas #6
7:00pm - 8:29pm: Art and Pep - Rialto Cinemas #9
7:00pm - 8:26pm: Body Parts - Robert Brent Auditorium - SCA
7:1pm5 - 9:02pm: Pleistocene Park - Rialto Cinemas #7
7:30pm - 8:43pm: Men's Profiles Shorts Block: Colonel Kalsi, Dear Max, George - Little Red Hen - SCA
7:30pm - 9:12pm: Before They Take Us Away with MINK! - Rialto Cinemas #8

Saturday March 18, 2023
11:00am - 12:21pm: Conversation with John Cooper - State of the Industry - Rialto Cinemas #6
11:15am - 12:16pm: March of the Elephants with Of Wood - Rialto Cinemas #7
11:45am - 1:10pm: Matter of Mind: My ALS with Healing In The Open - Rialto Cinemas #8
12:15pm - 1:48pm: Nelly and Nadine - Robert Brent Auditorium - SCA
12:45pm - 2:05pm: Move When the Spirit Says Move - Rialto Cinemas #9
1:00pm - 2:14pm: Political Adjustments Shorts Block: American Justice On Trial, Jade Helm, The Recall: Reframed - Little Red Hen - SCA
1:15pm - 2:28pm: Jack Has A Plan - Rialto Cinemas #7
1:30pm - 3:05pm: Objects with Inside The Beauty Bubble - Rialto Cinemas #6
2:30pm - 3:51pm: Town Destroyer with Remnants Of Memory - Rialto Cinemas #8
2:30pm - 3:34pm: Nature's Big Year with If Turtles Could Talk - Robert Brent Auditorium - SCA
3:15pm - 4:16pm: Arts Shorts Block: Cara Romero: Following The Light, Grounded, La Mariachi, Jaz, Richard Misrach: Never The Same - Little Red Hen - SCA
3:15pm - 4:30pm: Let Me Be Me - Rialto Cinemas #9
3:45pm - 5:07pm: Dusty and Stones - Rialto Cinemas #7
4:15pm - 5:42pm: I Like It Here - Rialto Cinemas #6
4:15pm - 6:15pm: El Equipo (The Team), Special Panel Conversation: In Search Of Justice - Robert Brent Auditorium - SCA
4:30pm - 5:39pm: Woodwriter:The Wordless Art - Rialto Cinemas #8
5:15pm - 6:29pm: Community & Culture Shorts Block: Heseovo’eo’he’e, Candles In The Window, More Than I Want To Remember, Where The Winds Die, Ukrainians In Exile - Little Red Hen - SCA
6:45pm - 7:45pm: Jewelle: A Just Vision with The Ruth Brinker Story - Rialto Cinemas #6
7:00pm - 8:04pm: A Boy Called Piano with Resurface - Rialto Cinemas #8
7:00pm - 8:21pm: Prognosis - Notes on Living - Robert Brent Auditorium - SCA
7:15pm - 8:12pm: Community & Identity Shorts Block: The Block, Handwritten, Live Till I Die - Little Red Hen - SCA

Sunday March 19, 2023
12:00pm - 1:06pm: Environmental shorts block: Everything Wrong And Nowhere To Go, Washed Ashore, The Goats Of Monesiglio, Hope Acre - Little Red Hen - SCA
2:15pm - 3:30pm: Donna - Little Red Hen - SCA
2:45pm - 4:15pm: Won't You Be My Neighbor? shorts block: The Block, George, Inside The Beauty Bubble, La Mariachi - Robert Brent Auditorium - SCA

March  20 - 30, 2023
12:00am
A Boy Called Piano - The Story of Fa'amoana John Luafutu
A Midsummer Night's Dream In Prison
Art And Pep
Arts
Before They Take Us Away
Community & Culture
Dusty & Stones
Environmental
Grain
Let Me Be Me
March Of The Elephants
Matter Of Mind: My ALS
Men's Profiles
Political Adjustments
Prognosis - Notes On Living
Women's Power
Woodwriter: The Wordless Art of George A. Walker

Date: March 16 - 30, 2023

Location:
Sebastopol Community Cultural Center - 390 Morris Street Sebastopol, CA 95472
Robert Brent Auditorium-SCA - 282 Hight St Sebastopol, CA 95472
SCA Little Red Hen - 282 South High Street Sebastopol, CA 95472
Rialto Cinemas - 6868 McKinley Avenue Sebastopol, CA 95472

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