On the last day of the 2011 Sonoma International Film Festival one could hear groans during the umpteenth showings of "Tipsy," the festival's new trailer, which played at the beginning of each and every film screening.  Regardless of overplay, none could dispute: the trailer, starring a cheerful swift-footed French wine bottle who, as the festival puts it, "loves his wine as much as he loves film," was location appropriate. (Though, really - French wine?)  "I don't know how anyone could become agitated by a little, animated wine bottle that dances and sings," said Michael Wilde, who created …

The Chevy Volt  was released onto the market as Chevrolet's answer to gas guzzling: the fully electric car is a tough competitor to the Nissan LEAF_.  As part of the 2011 Sonoma International Film Festival, Sonoma Mayor Laurie Gallian received one as a loaner - an eco-friendly chariot around town.  Along with local transit expert Richard Schreuder, Sonoma Patch took a tour of the cutting-edge vehicle.

She's played a witch who gains her powers after being left by her husband in "The Witches of Eastwick," the mother of a child prostitute in "Pretty Baby," the outlaw in "Thelma and Louise," and a regular wife-to-be in Rocky Horror — a film that blurred the lines of sexuality and the sexes. "I'm happy to be a part of a film that helped people find their sexuality," said Susan Sarandon, who came to Sonoma this weekend to accept a lifetime achievement award at the Sonoma International Film Festival. Sarandon — who's performance in "Dead Man Walking" won her an  Academy Award," often plays the …

When Jennifer Siebel Newsom discovered she was pregnant with a girl she was forced to pause and think: What kind of chance did her daughter have in a world of boob jobs and Britney? The result is Miss Representation — Newsom’s documentary that examines the lack of agency and power felt by women — which she attributes to massive media bias. Early reviews of the film, which was picked up post-Sundance by the Oprah Winfrey Network, are mixed: many media outlets criticize Newsom's heavy-handed mix of personal narrative with grave statistics (the director intersperses interviews with descriptions …

Miss a film this weekend? Patch caught up with festival-goers Saturday afternoon at the Plaza in Sonoma to find out which films audiences said not to miss (many of which are showing again Sunday) and what movies were the popular. So, what were they? Miss Representation, Burning Man: a Voyage in Utopia, Shorts, Fort McCoy, Darwin, Love Chaos and As If I'm Not There. "I've been coming to the film festival since before it was international, and I think the Burning Man show is an awesome documentary," said Sonoma resident Sally Stone. "And the shorts, there's so much talent there." "And I …

What a difference a decade makes. In 2002, the first year of Sonoma Valley High School's film program, Mike Abela was a high school freshman with a dream and a little chutzpah.  "I was a little steamrolling punk and I wanted to make skateboarding videos," said Abela. But after enrolling in a high school film class, "it turned into a whole new world." "He came up to me and said 'Mr. Hansen, I want to be a filmmaker, can you help me craft a plan for my life'," recalls Peter Hansen, director of the high school's media arts program. "I mean - the responsibility." The now 22-year-old Abela, did …

This year's Sonoma International Film Festival is taking it to the Internet in full force, thanks to two local experts with a little ingenuity. Donna Hays and Celeste Winders, the brains behind the Sonoma-based social media consulting company Word Mice, will be tweeting, tagging and Facebook-posting their way around this year's festival. "It's 24/7, but we love it," Winders says. "We build up all year long." The team started managing the film festival's social media in December of 2009, right before the 2010 festival. They started at what they called ground zero — the film festival didn't yet…

Twenty-four hours before the start of the Sonoma International Film Festival and here's what Kim Enzensperger is doing: cutting badges, printing files, taking phone calls - sometimes all three at once. With a team of 315 volunteers staffing nine screening sites and 10 different party venues Enzensperger,  the volunteer coordinator of this year's film festival, has to be pretty good at managing chaos. A long time volunteer, she got her first taste of on the management during the festival's second year when disaster struck - all the volunteers failed to show up to work at Sonoma Cinemas. …

"Did you use After Effects," asks Luke Lasley, 17, pulling his focus from a computer screen which plays a time-lapse video he took of a night with his friends. Yes, replies his colleague, but the film is still too dark; Lasley furrows his brow. The exchange might take place in any film school workshop or professional studio, but the two are part of the Media Arts program at Sonoma Valley High School, which regularly churns out professional-level films, despite the youth of the filmmakers, for the student showcase at the Sonoma International Film Festival. The program has come a long way in …

It’s time to start plotting: how are you going to see the 90 films, documentaries, animations and shorts scheduled for this year’s Sonoma International Film Festival? Though the 14th annual film festival doesn’t officially kick off until Thursday night, there’s plenty to keep you entertained over the next few days as nearly 200 filmmakers flock to Sonoma to wine, dine and hobnob with the best in the industry. The full schedule is posted online (grab it here), but if that’s a tad overwhelming, here are some cliff notes. Unique to this year’s festival is a plethora of thought provoking …