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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 packages are on sale at www.sedonafilmfestival.com "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."
Two Arizona-based documentaries - Robert Shields - My Life as a Robot and Tad's Emerging World - Glen Canyon Exposed by Flagstaff filmmaker Dawn Kish - are in the lineup. Shields will be joined by Zoom by singer Tony Orlando. Among the films selected this year are Dancing Through the Shadow, 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; 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 19th century Italy creating a furor pitting the Papacy against forces of democracy and Italian unification; In the Shadow of Beirut, portrait of modern-day Lebanon seen through the eyes of four families living there; The Cowboy and the Queen, about 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 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 special 45th-anniversary tribute to the iconic musical film Grease will be shown with director Randal Kleiser (The Blue Lagoon, Shadow of Doubt). Other special events include an evening with comedian and musician Gary Mule Deer, who has performed with the Doobie Brothers, The Guess Who, Boz Scaggs, Vince Gill and Johnny Mathis, among others. 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, and Lucie Arnaz, daughter of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz, in a cabaret show.
