Sonoma International Film Festival To Open With ‘Widow Clicquot,’ Host World Premiere Of ‘Extremely Unique Dynamic’
03.03.2024 - 00:43
/ deadline.com
The champagne may be flowing at the kickoff for the 27th Annual Sonoma International Film Festival – for more reasons than one.
This year’s event in California’s wine country will open with the U.S. premiere of Widow Clicquot, directed by Thomas Napper, a narrative feature about the Grande Dame of Champagne. Actress Haley Bennett stars in the titular role of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot, “who against all odds advanced her late husband’s techniques to create the recipe for modern-day champagne.”
SIFF, running from March 20-24, will showcase 43 narrative features, 16 documentary features, and 48 short films representing more than 25 countries, according to a release.
The festival’s Centerpiece Film is Wildcat, directed by Ethan Hawke and starring his daughter Maya Hawke as renowned Southern Gothic author Flannery O’Connor. The Closing Night Film is Luc Besson’s crime drama Dogman, starring Caleb Landry Jones. A Closing Night Special Presentation of Pablo Berger’s Robot Dreams, Oscar-nominated for Best Animated Feature, is set for March 24.
“The world premiere of Extremely Unique Dynamic directed by Harrison Xu, Ivan Leung, and Katherine Dudas is the Gay-La Spotlight Film,” the festival notes, “with a party to follow hosted by actor, director, writer, musician John Cameron Mitchell (Hedwig and the Angry Inch).”
Extremely Unique Dynamic is described as a “deliriously silly stoner comedy,” about two friends who “decide to make a movie about making a movie that stars two friends making a movie. When cameras start rolling, secrets and half-truths about their friendship, crushes, sexuality, and every other imaginable insecurity come out.”
Award-winning actor Beau Bridges will be presented with the SIFF Lifetime Achievement