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February 28 – March 2, 2025  ·  Sonora, California

I Know
Kung Fu.

Wing chun grandmasters, coma-awakened avengers, agents with improbable tennis skills, and a man fighting Nazis with a very small budget — the 2025 Sonora Film Festival honored the fist, the foot, and the furiously creative spirit of the fighting arts. Seven films. Three days. Innumerable bones broken.

Hard to Kill  ·  Dir. Bruce Malmuth
7
Films Screening
3
Days of Cinema
10
Japanese Soldiers Per Fight Scene
1
Cockroach Song You'll Never Forget
2025 Programme — I Know Kung Fu
Ip Man poster
Hong Kong  ·  2008  ·  106 min  ·  Dir. Wilson Yip
With Donnie Yen, Simon Yam, Lynn Hung

The true story of Ip Man, the Wing Chun grandmaster who trained Bruce Lee, as he navigates the Japanese occupation of Foshan during World War II. Donnie Yen commands every frame — and then he fights ten men at once.

Opening Night Wing Chun Hong Kong Cinema
★ Best Picture
★ Most Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property
★ The Weng Weng Award for Excellence (tie)
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Hard to Kill poster
USA  ·  1990  ·  95 min  ·  Dir. Bruce Malmuth
With Steven Seagal, Kelly LeBrock, Bill Sadler

A detective awakens from a seven-year coma to discover his family was murdered and a corrupt senator is behind it all. Steven Seagal heals via traditional Chinese medicine and then goes to the blood bank. Senator Trent's blood bank.

Saturday Afternoon Steven Seagal Revenge
★ Best Quote — "I'm gonna take you to the bank, Senator Trent. To the blood bank!"
★ Worst Movie
★ Worst Actor — Steven Seagal
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Challenge of the Tiger poster
Hong Kong  ·  1980  ·  90 min  ·  Dir. Bruce Le
With Bruce Le, Richard Harrison, Hwang Jang Lee

Two secret agents race to recover a formula that causes global sterility before criminal masterminds can use it. Features a tennis match sequence that defies all logic, physics, and filmmaking convention — and a child peeing statue deployed as a weapon.

Saturday Hong Kong Action Tennis
★ Best Surprise/Reveal — Tennis match
★ Most Provocative Use of a Prop — Child Peeing Statue
★ The Weng Weng Award for Excellence (tie) — Bruce Le
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Dick Dynamite 1944 poster
USA  ·  2024  ·  84 min  ·  Dir. Matti Finochio
With Matti Finochio, Gina Luciani, John Newton

A gloriously over-the-top action parody set in WWII, featuring the most confidently unhinged performance committed to film in recent memory. Every moment raises new questions about what the filmmakers were thinking. This is a compliment.

Saturday Night Action Parody WWII
★ Most Overacting
★ Most Politically Incorrect Moment — various moments
★ Worst FX
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Grand Theft Hamlet poster
UK  ·  2024  ·  90 min  ·  Dir. Pinny Grylls, Sam Crane
With Sam Crane, Mark Rylance, Paul Kaye

Two unemployed actors, stranded at home during lockdown, decide to stage a full production of Hamlet inside Grand Theft Auto Online. The most inventive documentary in years — and the only one where Ophelia is shot by a passing motorist mid-soliloquy.

Saturday Late Documentary GTA Online
★ Best Location — Los Santos
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Franz Kafka's It's a Wonderful Life poster
UK  ·  1993  ·  23 min  ·  Dir. Peter Capaldi
With Richard E. Grant, Crispin Letts, Ken Stott

Franz Kafka struggles to write the opening line of "The Metamorphosis" on Christmas Eve, tormented by interruptions and alternatives. An Oscar-winning short featuring the Cockroach Song — which will live in your head forever, free of charge.

Sunday Oscar Winner Short Film
★ Best Song, Theme, or Soundtrack — Cockroach Song
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Gentlemen Broncos poster
USA  ·  2009  ·  89 min  ·  Dir. Jared Hess
With Michael Angarano, Sam Rockwell, Jemaine Clement

A homeschooled teenage sci-fi writer discovers his novel has been plagiarized by his famous idol. Jared Hess's most deranged film — stranger than Napoleon Dynamite, funnier than it has any right to be, and featuring Sam Rockwell at his most gloriously unhinged.

Closing Night Cult Comedy Sam Rockwell
★ Best Scene — Snake shitting on Dusty's neck
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Schedule — February 28 – March 2, 2025
28
Feb
6:00 pmDoors & Welcome ReceptionGuests
7:30 pmIp ManOpening Night
1
Mar
12:00 pmHard to KillSaturday Afternoon
2:30 pmChallenge of the TigerSaturday
5:00 pmQ&A & DiscussionGuests
7:00 pmDick Dynamite 1944Saturday Night
9:30 pmGrand Theft HamletSaturday Late
2
Mar
11:00 amBrunch & Filmmaker TalkGuests
1:00 pmFranz Kafka's It's a Wonderful LifeShort Programme
3:00 pmGentlemen BroncosClosing 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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