Sedona News – More than 140 features, documentaries, shorts and foreign films from around the world will be screened at four venues during the 30th annual Sedona International Film Festival from Feb. 24 through March 3.
Festival passes and 10-and-20 ticket packages are on sale now at www.sedonafilmfestival.com. Single tickets will go on sale two weeks before the screening of the opening-night film Isle of Hope starring Dianne Ladd, Mary Stuart Masterson, Andrew McCarthy and Sam Robards.
Ladd and Masterson are expected to be on hand for the screening at the Sedona Performing Arts Center (SPAC) at Sedona Red Rock High School.
“Isle of Hope will kick off what we know will be an incredible celebration of 30 years and thousands of films that have entertained thousands of film lovers,” said Sedona Film Festival Executive Director Pat Schweiss. “When I think back on my 20 years with the Festival and its three-decade legacy, I’m overwhelmed by this milestone. And so much of the credit for our success, beyond the incredible films and filmmakers we have hosted, goes to our board and the people of Sedona who have supported the Festival as volunteers, donors, partners and incredible film fans.”
Additional films may be added to the lineup that now includes 32 narrative features, 36 documentary features, 38 documentary shorts, 34 narrative shorts, 1 animated feature and 1 animated short film. Filmmakers from across the country and several foreign countries, including Turkey and Macedonia, will travel to Sedona this year.
Two Arizona-based documentaries – Robert Shields – My Life as a Robot and Tad’s Emerging World – Glen Canyon Exposed by Flagstaff filmmaker Dawn Kish – and Him, a narrative feature filmed in Sedona, are in the lineup. Shields will be joined by Zoom by singer Tony Orlando. Also included is Rock & Roll Hall of Fame band Chicago’s new concert film, Chicago Live 2024. Chicago founding member Lee Loughnane, a Sedona resident, will answer questions after the film.
Among the films selected this year are The Old Oak, a narrative feature which will open in theaters in the spring; Dancing Through the Shadow, a riveting narrative about a young Chinese ballerina who came of age during the reign of Mao Zedong; A Weekend with Pablo Picasso, based on the stage play of the same name; Kidnapped: The Abduction of Edgardo Mortara directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Tony Kushner (Angels in America), about a young Jewish boy forcibly raised as a Christian in 19thcentury Italy creating a furor pitting the Papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification; Marguerite’s Theorem, a French film about a brilliant math student who, on the day of her thesis presentation, decides to quit everything and start over; In the Shadow of Beirut, portrait of modern-day Lebanon seen through the eyes of four families living there; Between the Rains, filmed over four years during record low annual rain in northern Kenya seeking to understand the experiences of a childhood caught within traditional culture that is a casualty of climate change; The Cowboy and the Queen, a documentary about Monty Roberts, a renegade horse trainer whose non-violent techniques never would have seen the light of day without an endorsement by Queen Elizabeth II; Coldwater Kitchen, which follows a gourmet chef’s culinary training program in a men’s prison giving men new skills and new hope; and 7000 Miles, featuring Wendie Malick, Max Caulfield, Roy Abruzzo, Juliet Mills and Alixzandra Dove (who will all be in Sedona) about a passionate pilot inspired by her grandmother’s mysterious legacy who must decide which is more important, protecting the innocence of those you love or famed success. (A full list of films is below)
A special 45th-anniversary tribute to the iconic musical film Grease will be shown with director Randal Kleiser (The Blue Lagoon, Flight of the Navigator, Shadow of Doubt, The Gathering) on hand. Other special events include an evening with comedian and musician Gary Mule Deer, who has made more than 350 television appearances and performed with the Doobie Brothers, Sly and the Family Stone, The Guess Who, Boz Scaggs, Vince Gill and Johnny Mathis. His film Show Business Is My Life, But I Can’t Prove It will be shown.
Other special events include a tribute to the music of composer Henry Mancini, who would have been 100 years old this year, featuring his daughter Monica and her husband, Gregg Field, performing Mancini legacy songs and offering behind-the-scenes insights. Also, Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, will headline a cabaret show.
Ticket packages range from $2,130 to $660 with commensurate benefits. Ten ticket film packages are $150 and 20-ticket packages are $280. Sedona Film Festival members receive discount pricing and student prices are available. Group discounts are available by calling 928-282-1177.
For more information about the Sedona International Film Festival, visit www.sedonafilmfestival.com.