For the 15th Sonoma International Film Festival, the delightful Kevin McNeely (exec director) and Claudia Mendoza-Carruth (programming/PR) asked me to photograph/film this year's festival while also lending a hand to managing the pipeline of incoming photo/video media from other shooters.
I love telling the festival's story afterwards by marrying the reams of captured photographs and video to a glove-fitting soundtrack. A highlights video.
The festival is renowned for its friendly and fun vibe, scenic surroundings, good eats and fine wine (no surprise there!). Actors are refreshingly at ease and approachable, while the filmmakers become your friends by the end of the five days.
The filmmakers and their stories inspire everyone and it seems the whole town of Sonoma lends a hand in and around the quaint tree-lined city-center square to help them in any way – from a cup of coffee to a complimentary guesthouse. Close to my heart are these quiet filmmakers, yearning for their films to speak to a larger audience. I tried to pay homage to four of them with a few extra seconds of slow-pan screen time.
And the parties … oh the parties. You’ll see. Enjoy.
Best of Sonoma International Film Festival 2015 video.
Special thanks go to contributing photographers Cristian Isbrandtsen and Kevin Carruth.