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September 9–11, 2022  ·  Sonora, California

Let's
Suspender
Dance.

The inaugural Sonora Film Festival took the Sierra Nevada foothills by storm — four films spanning four nations, bound together by movement, rhythm, and the kind of screen energy you feel in your bones. From the rain-soaked streets of Mumbai to the dusty crossroads of the Mississippi Delta.

RRR · © DVV Entertainment  ·  Dir. S.S. Rajamouli
4
Films Screening
3
Days of Cinema
4
Nations Represented
1
Dance You'll Never Forget
2022 Programme — Celebrating International Cinema & Dance
RRR poster
India  ·  2022  ·  182 min  ·  Dir. S.S. Rajamouli
With N.T. Rama Rao Jr., Ram Charan, Ajay Devgn

Two legendary revolutionaries forge an unlikely brotherhood in British-ruled India. S.S. Rajamouli's three-hour adrenaline tsunami is the grandest action spectacle of the century — and home to the single greatest dance sequence ever committed to film.

Opening Night Telugu Cinema Best Dance
★ Best Picture
★ Best Scene — Any/Every Scene
★ Most Vin Diesel Like Performance — Tiger Fight
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Crossroads poster
USA  ·  1986  ·  99 min  ·  Dir. Walter Hill
With Ralph Macchio, Joe Seneca, Steve Vai

A young Juilliard student abandons classical guitar to seek out a lost Robert Johnson song from a blues harmonica legend. Walter Hill's film builds to a climactic guitar duel against Steve Vai — the most jaw-dropping face-melting six-string battle ever recorded.

Saturday Afternoon Music Delta Blues
★ Best Quote — Willie Brown, any time he talks
★ Best Location — Guitar Bar Duel
★ Most Overacting — Steve Vai
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The Drop poster
USA / Belgium  ·  2014  ·  106 min  ·  Dir. Michaël R. Roskam
With Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace, James Gandolfini

A lonely Brooklyn bartender tends a mob money-drop bar and becomes entangled in a robbery gone wrong. Tom Hardy delivers a career-defining, almost wordless performance in this slow-burn crime thriller — Gandolfini's final film, and one of his very best.

Saturday Night Crime Noir James Gandolfini
★ Best Surprise/Reveal — Bob Breaks Bad
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The Peanut Butter Solution poster
Canada  ·  1985  ·  96 min  ·  Dir. Michael Rubbo
With Mathew Mackay, Siluck Saysanasy, Alison Darcy

A boy loses all his hair after a terrifying experience and mixes a magical peanut butter formula — one that works far, far too well. A fever-dream Canadian children's film of such staggering, confident weirdness that it permanently rewires whatever part of the brain handles reality.

Closing Night Cult Classic Canadian Cinema
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Schedule — September 9–11, 2022
9
Sept
6:00 pmDoors & Welcome ReceptionGuests
7:30 pmRRROpening Night
10
Sept
2:00 pmCrossroadsSaturday Afternoon
4:30 pmQ&A & DiscussionGuests
8:00 pmThe DropSaturday Night
11
Sept
12:00 pmBrunch & Filmmaker TalkGuests
4:00 pmThe Peanut Butter SolutionClosing Night

"The Most Exclusive Event in Film"

Founded in 2022 in the Sierra Nevada foothills, the Sonora Film Festival is Northern California's premier film festival, featuring the finest selection of overlooked, forgotten, underrated films—hand selected by our panel of experts.

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