Lauren Flinner (TheVariablespace.com) seeks to make films in a way that moves people. Her animation short film "Compulsion" (2021) does just that, resulting in an autobiographical collage of animation. To her, animation is about the movements in between life and fantasy. I met her at the 2021 Mammoth Film Festival. We recently held an interview about her filmmaking. This is what she had to say:   Can you tell us about your path to becoming a filmmaker? LAUREN: From a very ...

  SIFF AWARDS FILM AND SPECIAL EVENTS WINNERS  AT 25TH ANNIVERSARY SONOMA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL Female Filmmakers Take Top Jury Awards in Feature Film Categories Karen Allen, Jacqueline Bisset, Jacques Pépin, Aaron and Adam Nee,  Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Jean Schulz, Joanne Weir,  Governor Gavin Newsom and Senator Bill Dodd in Attendance   Sonoma, CA March 29, 2022—Centered on its slogan—the best in films, food...

AVELO AIRLINES NAMED OFFICIAL DOMESTIC AIRLINE SPONSOR FOR SIFF’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY FILM FESTIVAL MARCH 23-27, 2022 Sonoma, CA—Sonoma International Film Festival has partnered with air carrier Avelo Airlines for its 25th anniversary film festival March 23-27, 2022. Named Official Domestic Airline and Premiere Sponsor, Avelo Airlines will be integral in providing air transportation for attending filmmakers and talent scheduled to appear at the 25th edition festival. “...

SONOMA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (SIFF) ANNOUNCES JOANNE WEIR’S PLATES & PLACES LUNCH MARCH 25 Noted Chef, Television Host, Author, and Culinary Tour Leader Headlines New Epicurean Lunch at SIFF’s 25th Anniversary Festival March 23-27, 2022   Sonoma, CA— Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF), noted for delivering the best in film, food, wine and fun, is including a new culinary headliner event to this year’s festival. Joanne Weir, the James Bea...

                                                             SONOMA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (SIFF) ANNOUNCES FIRST RECIPIENT OF THE 2022 SIFF CULINARY EXCELLENCE AWARD   Sonoma, CA—Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF), noted for delivering the best in film, food, wine and fun during its annual festival, w...

FESTIVAL SLATE AND SPECIAL EVENTS  ANNOUNCED FOR 25TH ANNIVERSARY SONOMA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL MARCH 23-27 Special Guests Karen Allen, Jacqueline Bisset,  Jacques Pépin, Aaron and Adam Nee, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Joanne Weir And More Than Fifty Filmmakers Converge on Sonoma for Festival   Sonoma, CA— A festival 25 years in the making, Sonoma International Film Festival celebrates this milestone with a slate of more than 120 independent, international fi...

AVELO AIRLINES NAMED OFFICIAL DOMESTIC AIRLINE SPONSOR FOR SIFF’S 25TH ANNIVERSARY FILM FESTIVAL MARCH 23-27, 2022 Sonoma, CA—Sonoma International Film Festival has partnered with air carrier Avelo Airlines for its 25th anniversary film festival March 23-27, 2022. Named Official Domestic Airline and Premiere Sponsor, Avelo Airlines will be integral in providing air transportation for attending filmmakers and talent scheduled to appear at the 25th edition festival. “...

FIILM AND STAGE ACTOR/DIRECTOR KAREN ALLEN SCHEDULED TO SPEAK AT SONOMA VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT MEDIA ARTS PROGRAM SCREENING AT 25TH ANNIVERSARY FILM FESTIVAL MARCH 23-27, 2022 Sonoma, CA— Film and stage star Karen Allen will be a special industry guest at SIFF’s 25th Anniversary Film Festival. While in town for the festival, she will speak at the first of two screenings with Sonoma Valley High School filmmaking students at this year’s Media Arts Program Student Sh...

SONOMA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (SIFF) ANNOUNCES JOANNE WEIR’S PLATES & PLACES LUNCH MARCH 25 Noted Chef, Television Host, Author, and Culinary Tour Leader Headlines New Epicurean Lunch at SIFF’s 25th Anniversary Festival March 23-27, 2022   Sonoma, CA— Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF), noted for delivering the best in film, food, wine and fun, is including a new culinary headliner event to this year’s festival. Joanne Weir, the James Bea...

                                                            SONOMA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL (SIFF) ANNOUNCES FIRST RECIPIENT OF THE 2022 SIFF CULINARY EXCELLENCE AWARD   Sonoma, CA—Sonoma International Film Festival (SIFF), noted for delivering the best in film, food, wine and fun during its annual festival, will ho...

2022 Sun Valley Film Festival Announces Film Slate and Award Honorees   Woody Harrelson and Amy Poehler to Receive Vision Awards and Participate in Coffee Talks; Selected Films in Line-up Feature Nicole Beharie, Juliette Binoche, John Boyega, Connie Britton, Bruce Dern, Jim Gaffigan, Ron Howard, Maika Monroe, Haley Lu Richardson, Tony Shaloub, Wes Studi, Michael K. Williams and more   Sun Valley, ID— Sun Valley Film Festival, returning as an in-person ...

Incomparable Shachin Dev Burman: HQ Chowdhury’s labour of love, about the man and his music It is not often that one gets to hear about a book and its author first, and gets to spend some enriching time with the author afterwards, before getting an autographed copy of his book, as a gift. And to think this happened 2,500 km away from my city of Mumbai, in the capital of Bangladesh, Dhaka, at Chowdhury’s posh guest house, seems almost unreal. Reading Incomparable Sachin Dev Burman ...

Music Forever: Long performing music duo L-P, alias Laxmikant-Pyarelal Ajay Poundarik is neither a writer nor a journalist. But if he is anything, he is a fanatic admirer of the work of the music composer duo of Hindi films, Laxmikant and Pyarelal, better known as L-P. LP, which, in music parlance, is an acronym for Long Playing Record, is a term that fits them like the proverbial glove. They were indeed a long-playing pair, to be sure. As a tribute to his ‘deities’, Poundarik ...

  SEDONA, Ariz: Delicious, a mouth-watering historical comedy pairing a gifted chef and his unlikely protégé who must find the resolve to free themselves from servitude in 1789 France, was named both Best of Fest and winner of the Director’s Choice Best International Film Festival Award at the 28 th annual Sedona International Film Festival. Awards were presented on Sunday, Feb. 27, the final day of the 10-day Festival that showcased 33 narrative features, 32...

FIILM AND STAGE ACTOR/DIRECTOR KAREN ALLEN SCHEDULED TO SPEAK AT SONOMA VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT MEDIA ARTS PROGRAM SCREENING AT 25TH ANNIVERSARY FILM FESTIVAL MARCH 23-27, 2022 Sonoma, CA— Film and stage star Karen Allen will be a special industry guest at SIFF’s 25th Anniversary Film Festival. While in town for the festival, she will speak at the first of two screenings with Sonoma Valley High School filmmaking students at this year’s Media Arts Program St...