The 28th Annual San Luis Obispo International Film Festival (April 26-May 1) announced this year’s robust film lineup bookended by critically-acclaimed documentaries —the Opening Night selection of Sara Dosa’s Fire of Love and the Closing Night selection of Isabel Castro’s Mija. The festival will celebrate its return to in-theater screenings and in-person events, including its famous Surf Nite, a tribute to Philip Glass, Cal Poly Shortcuts, and entrants in this year’s Reel Challenge debut.
This year’s film lineup will feature 121 presentations, including 32 feature films (10 narrative, 22 documentary), 77 short films and 12 music videos.
San Luis Obispo Film Festival Director Skye McLennan said, “Returning to the theater is something all of us at the film festival have looked forward to for some time now, so we can hardly believe that moment is almost here. Because we knew there would be such anticipation by San Luis Obispo film lovers, we took special care to not simply program the best films available to us, but to also make sure we brought back the signature events like Surf Nite that SLO Film Fest built its reputation on. Now, we cannot wait to welcome everyone back and start screening our movies!”
SLO Film Fest’s Opening Night selection, Sara Dosa’s documentary Fire of Love, is a rare look at a volcanic love story – literally. Using amazing footage of and by volcanologist couple Katia and Maurice Krafft, and narrated by art film fixture Miranda July, Fire of Love tells a story of primordial creation and destruction, following two bold explorers as they venture into the unknown, all for the sake of love. On Closing Night, Isabel Castro’s documentary Mija showcases a dynamic pair of young Latina women who forged careers in music management and the music scene. They overcame a never-ending stream of hurdles to succeed despite the heightened pressure of being the family’s hope for green cards and reunification.
Additional highlights among the narrative selections include Max Walker-Silverman’s A Love Song, a romantic drama starring Dale Dickey and Wes Studi as two childhood sweethearts, both widowed, who share a night by a lake reminiscing about their lives, losses, and loneliness; and Jessica Hester and Derek Schweickart’s Coast, which follows 16-year-old Abby, desperate to escape the trappings of her small-town life, who finds that everything changes when she meets the lead singer of a traveling rock band and must decide whether or not to leave her family and friends behind. To open and close the screening SLO Film Fest will present concert performances from DOG PARTY and local legends PANCHO & THE WIZARDS, all featured in the film.
Bretten Hannam’s drama, Wildhood, is about an impulsive and closeted First Nations youth who escapes his abusive father with his little brother and sets on a journey to reclaim his heritage while finding love along the way; and Dina Amer’s blend of psychological thriller, social drama and investigative documentary, You Resemble Me, follows the struggles of an older sister to find her identity after she is separated from her younger sister in Paris. The film was Executive Produced by Spike Lee.
On the documentary front, highlights include Danielle Kummer and Lucy Harvey’s Alien On Stage, which documents the attempt by an amateur drama group to create a serious stage adaptation of the sci-fi horror film, Alien; Rob Coe and Warwick Davis’ Blind Ambition about a group of Zimbabwean sommeliers living in South Africa who form the first team from Zimbabwe to compete in The World Wine Blind Tasting Championships — the Olympics of the wine world;
Corey McLean’s Havana Libre about a group of diehard Cuban surfers who rise up against their government to legitimize the sport; and Camilla and James Becket’s The Seeds of Vandana Shiva, which focuses on Gandhian eco-activist Dr. Vandana Shiva and how she stood up to Monsanto and rose to prominence in the ecological food movement.
SLO Film Fest’s Surf Nite, a one-of-a-kind surfing film event, will be presented on Thursday, April 28, at the Sunset Drive-In for the second straight year. Surf Nite will include the traditional appearance of some classic 1960s surfing autos to add to the atmosphere of what could be called the “Rocky Horror Picture Show” for the surfing film lover.
Additional special events and presentations include the Coastal Awakening salute to avant-garde “classicist” composer and pianist Philip Glass, the Cal Poly Short Cuts films created by Cal Poly students under the mentorship of Screenwriter and Editor, Professor Randi Barros, and a presentation of the films that resulted from SLO Film Fests’ first The Reel Challenge – a weekend-long film competition where filmmakers of widely varying experience had just 48 hours to write, shoot, edit and submit a 90-second short film.
The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival will also once again put local filmmakers on a pedestal via its always-popular Central Coast Showcase and encourage the filmmaking ambitions of elementary, middle school and high school students with its Filmmakers of Tomorrow Showcase.
Passes are now on sale and information on the film festival can be found at https://slofilmfest.org.