Napa Sonoma Wine Country Film Festival 2008

When Hurricane Katrina drowned New Orleans, it also drowned the soul of Noe Hebert, a baker whose lifeblood was rooted in every nook of the city. Noe is forcibly evacuated to the dry and rugged landscape of New Mexico, where he struggles to reconnect within himself to a world that no longer exists. A poignant and elegiac short film, “In the Wake” follows Noe’s life as survivor of a personal apocalypse. Please note: Online ticket sales end 24 hours before each event. Tickets may still be available for purchase at the venue.

A psychological drama revealing for the first time the extraordinary circumstances behind the unjust murder trial of the young Jew, Philippe Halsman, who would later become the most sought after celebrity portrait photographer of his generation. Set in 1928 Austria during the rise of fascism, the story documents the corrupt relationship between Philippe and his father, the events leading to his father's death, and focuses a sharp but delicate eye upon the anti-Semitic atmosphere that quickly led to Philippe's conviction.

The Search That Never Ended -- Even when armies surrender and peace treaties are signed, the war isn't over for everyone. The Last Flight Home documents the story of Dr. Patrick Scannon, whose search for missing World War II aircraft and the MIAs associated with them has continued for over 60 years. Palau was a ferocious battleground in the Pacific, where more than 200 US aircraft went down on and around the islands, with almost half of them with crew listed as Missing In Action. During the war, all their families received was a telegram from the State Department, listing their sons as whereabouts unknown, Missing In Action. Yet over generations, they continued to hope and pray for their return, waiting for an answer, for some clue as to what happened. They simply refused to forget. Then, out of the blue, comes a phone call that finally offers some answers and leaving no stone unturned, Dr. Scannon furthers his research into the MIAs of Palau by scouring the National Archives, After Action Reports, and interviews with veterans of the campaign. The film follows the story of three searches in Palau and the families touched by this work. Scannon's small team of self-funded private citizens have taken on this task simply as a way of thanking the MIAs and their families for the sacrifices made decades ago. Filmed over the course of nearly six years and seven expeditions to Palau, where the events originally unfolded, it turns out that the heart of the story was here in the U.S. with the people who never gave up hope. Please note: Online ticket sales end 24 hours before each event. Tickets may still be available for purchase at the venue.

Cinema of Conscience

It has been three long years since Stepan last saw his family or heard from his wife. Stepan, a Soviet Army soldier, spent these three years fighting fascists in a partisan unit while his wife and two children considered him missing-in-action, or even dead. Once in an army hospital and awaiting his leave after an injury, Stepan decides to find out just how much his wife loves him. He writes a letter in which he tells her that he has had two legs amputated. Now that he is a legless cripple, will Shura accept him back? On receiving the letter, Shura does not hesitate whatsoever. Together with her eldest son she starts putting together a wheelbarrow in which she is going to haul her legless husband home from the train station. Stepan arrives... but there is a betrayal awaiting... Please note: Online ticket sales end 24 hours before each event. Tickets may still be available for purchase at the venue.

The lives of eight Sudanese refugees. Displaced from their homes in the late 1980's due to a brutal civil war, the youngest boys were forced to flee alone. Pitted against an Arab Militia, wild animals, starvation, and thirst the boys survived a trek of 1,000 miles and twelve years in refugee camps before coming to the United States. Enduring such unimaginable hardships left them with many stories to tell.

A depressing, rain-soaked tale about human traffic, in this case Chinese immigrants seeking to cross the Bosnian-Croatian border on their way west. Strong perfs and impassioned camerawork inject interest in the inhuman proceedings, which culminate in a violent finale of Tarantinoesque proportions.

After stealing a machete from a market in Kigali, Munyurangabo and his friend, Sangwa, leave the city on a journey tied to their pasts. Munyurangabo wants justice for his parents who were killed in the genocide, and Sangwa wants to visit the home he deserted years ago. Though they plan to visit Sangwa's home for just a few hours, the boys stay for several days. From two separate tribes, their Munyurangabo, warning that "Hutus and Tutsis are supposed to be enemies."

A beautifully shot noir interview with whistleblower Clint Curtis has all the drama of a Raymond Chandler script, as the programmer recounts how Congressman Tom Feeney, R (FL) asked him to create vote-rigging software for electronic voting machines.