We stand in solidarity with all of the protesters fighting for justice for George Floyd and black communities across this country. The barbarity of racist, State-sanctioned violence laid bare (yet again) by George Floyd’s murder, and the use of militaristic policing as a means of social and political control, are anathema to the values of freedom, justice and equality to which our nation aspires in its best moments. We stand firmly with those fighting against systemic racism in hopes of making this country safe for everyone.

The documentary community will bring its lens to bear witness and help us create a future of justice for all, not for some. However, we also hope that as people watch events unfold, they will keep in mind that we live in an image-based media ecosystem, and the immediacy of protest images can elide, even eradicate, the long-hidden, systemic violence to which these protesters are responding. We are also mindful of the ways in which journalists and media-makers, particularly those from independent media outlets, have been targeted by police during these protests, and recognize how important it is for those leading these movements to have their voices uplifted in this moment.

We hope you will consider donating to the following organizations:

Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter Bay Area
Movement for Black Lives

Filmmaker Attempts to Shed Light on Navajo Nation’s COVID Crisis and Monumental Effort to Protect its Most Vulnerable

After visiting the Navajo nation earlier this month, filmmaker Karney Hatch (Overdrawn, Plant This Movie!) was overcome by the staggering number of cases and the scale of the loss facing the community and decided to volunteer in hopes of helping the Navajo & Hopi Families COVID-19 Relief Fund raise money by shooting some footage…

Visit our News page for more on this story!

Congrats to SDFF 2020 selection That’s My Jazz on Webby!

We’d like to congratulate That’s My Jazz for their Webby win in editing! That’s My Jazz is an SDFF 2020 Official Selection and one of the more recent projects to come out of Breakwater Studios, which is also responsible for Life’s Work,honored by SDFF in 2017.

Visit our News page for more on this story!

Congratulations to our longtime Premier Venue Partner (and local treasure!) Rialto Cinemas® on their 20^th Anniversary! While we all have our fingers crossed that we’ll be enjoying movies together at the theater soon enough, we encourage everyone to check out Rialto virtual cinemas, which is offering a host of first run art house and independent films, including one of SDFF 2020’s top official selections, The Booksellers. The virtual cinema is also a way to continue to support our local art house theater while sheltering in place. Rialto owner Ky Boyd is also giving daily film recommendations which are (unsurprisingly) fantastic and a great way to be adventurous and sample something that may fall outside of your usual film fare.

For more on the Rialto and its 20 years in Sebastopol check out Sonoma West’s excellent piece by clicking on their logo.

To see the Rialto’s Virtual Cinema, featuring independent first-run films, and owner Ky’s film picks, click the the Rialto logo.

Sebastopol Hardware + Spirit Works Distillery

This is how Sebastopol does taking care of each other…

Community businesses and individual donors have always been key partners in bringing SDFF to life. In-kind donations, monetary support, media exposure: all are vital to our existence. In recognition of their support, the SDFF team is proud to shine a light on these partners and what they are doing in this time of COVID-19.

When the community ran out of hand sanitizer early on in the pandemic, Spirit Works Distillery and Sebastopol Hardware joined forces to make and distribute it!

Click here for the full story!

SDFF 2018 filmmaker and conflict photographer Kate Brooks participated in a live, online education event for Earth Day, “Confronting Extinction,” which is available to stream for free…