The new documentary film “Dawson City Frozen in Time” opens the Sonoma Film Institute's fall 2017 season at Sonoma State University. The film by Bill Morrison, the first filmmaker to have a movie made in the 21st century selected for preservation by the National Film Registry, tells the story of a city that holds one of the greatest film discoveries of all time.
"Dawson City: Frozen in Time" is the product of a bulldozer that dug up a collection of 533 nitrate film prints from the early 1900’s in northwestern Canada that had been thought to be lost forever. Morrison’s documentary uses the long-lost film to tell the story of the discovery and ancedotes about the small mountain town that held these hidden treasures.
The film even includes a short story of how the Trumps came to wealth with the help from Dawson City. The film also shows actual never before seen footage from the controversial 1919 World Series that players from the Chicago White Sox conspired with gamblers to lose to the Cincinnati Reds.
The Institute’s fall 2017 season includes the north bay premieres of “Obit”, the story of the New York Time’s journalists who write the obituary section, “Time to Die”, the western written by Nobel Literature Prize winner, Gabriel García Márquez and award-winning writer Carlos Fuentes, and the French film “The Death of Louis XIV” with Palme d’Or winner, Jean-Pierre Léaud.
All film screenings are in Warren Auditorium, located in Ives Hall at Sonoma State University. Suggested ticket donation is $5, parking on campus is $5-$8. For more information visit www.sonoma.edu/sfi or call (707) 664-2606.
Full SFI Fall 2017 Schedule
Friday, Aug. 27 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 27 at 4 p.m.
North Bay Premiere: Dawson City: Frozen Time (Bill Morrison, 2016) A history in still and moving images charting the transformation of a fishing camp at the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers, into the epicenter of the Yukon gold rush at the turn of the last century.
Closed for Labor Day
Friday, Sept. 8 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 10 at 4 p.m.
Shadows (John Cassavetes, 1960) First feature film directed by John Cassavetes. Filmed in inky black and white, Shadows follows three African American siblings through a multi-racial New York bohemia.
Friday, Sept. 15 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 17 at 4 p.m.
North Bay Premiere-Obit. (Directed by Vanessa Gould) Documentary on the New York Times obituary department.
Friday, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Sept. 24 at 4 p.m.
Love and Basketball (Gina Prince-Bythewood, 2000) Two childhood adversaries and talented athletes share a love of basketball and each other. SSU Assistant Professor of Multi-Cultural Professor Christina Baker-Foley will introduce the film on Friday night only.
Friday, Sept. 29 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 1 at 4 p.m.
North Bay Premiere: Afterimage (Andrzej Wajda, 2016, in Polish w/English subtitles) The final film from the iconic Polish director is a loving portrait of avant-garde artist Wladyslaw Strzeminski.
Friday, Oct. 6 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 8 at 4 p.m.
Highway To Dhampus (Rick McFarland, 2015) The first feature-length film shot almost entirely in Nepal.
Friday, Oct. 13 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 15 at 4 p.m.
New Restoration Print: Bless Their Little Hearts (Billy Woodberry, 1984) Landmark independent film chronicles the devastating effects of underemployment on a L.A family.
Friday, Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 22 at 4 p.m.
Demain (Tomorrow) (Melanie Laurent and Cyril Dion, 2015, in English and French w/English subtitles) Documentary on the people who are making a difference in the fields of food, energy, economy, democracy, and education. Presented in Conjunction with SSU's Sustainability Days.
Friday, Oct. 27 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Oct. 29 at 4 p.m.
Casque D’or (Jacques Becker, 1952, in French w/English subtitles) Classic French film with Simone Signoret.
Friday, Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 5 at 4 p.m.
North Bay Premiere:Time To Die (Tiempo de Morir) (Arturo Ripstein, 1966, in Spanish w/English subtitles) Classic Western written by Nobel laureate Gabriel García Márquez with additional dialogue by Carlos Fuentes.
Friday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 12 at 4 p.m.
The Death of Louis XIV (Albert Serra, 2016, in French w/English subtitles) The great Jean-Pierre Léaud as the longest-reigning French monarch during his final days.
Friday, Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Nov. 19 at 4 p.m.
North Bay Premiere: By the Time It Gets Dark (Dao Khanong) (2016, in Thai with English subtitles) Mysterious, shapeshifting work by Thai director Anocha Suwichakornpong.
Closed for Thanksgiving
Friday, Dec. 1 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, Dec. 3 at 4 p.m.
Silence (Martin Scorsese, 2016, in English and Japanese w/English subtitles) Two seventeenth-century Jesuit missionaries travel from Portugal to Japan in search of their missing mentor.
Friday, Dec. 8 at 7 p.m.
The Clock (Vincente Minnelli, 1945) MGM melodrama starring Judy Garland and Robert Walker, who meet cute in New York City during WWII.