Illuminate Ideas and Imagination Through Movies

The area’s newest film festival, and one with a decidedly different focus, gets going next month. The ILLUMINATE Film Festival, an annual celebration of short and full-length evolutionary cinematic endeavors that aspire to elevate humanity’s sense of self, purpose and possibility, is actually celebrating its 10th anniversary, but relocated from Sedona, Arizona last year. With a mission is to elevate human consciousness and inspire lasting transformation through cinema. ILLUMINATE is a hybrid event, opening with a weekend of live screenings at the Lobero and Fiesta 5 theaters and post-screening discussions. There will be filmmaker Q&A’s, workshops, receptions and parties on April 5-7, continuing online from April 8-14. There’s even a hub for filmmakers and passholders at the new Community Environmental Council space on State Street. 

Schedule highlights include Love Over Money, the story of John Robbins, the heir to the Baskin-Robbins fortune who took a different path, penning the game-changing Diet for a New America, and Source, a doc about Dr. Joe Dispenza’s work, followed by an interactive session with the local healer. What the Bleep Do We Know!?, the ground-breaking film that bends fact and fiction in a whimsical Alice in Wonderland adventure into the quantum field, marks its 20th anniversary with a post-screening discussion with the film’s co-director, Will Arntz, who lives in Montecito. Visit https://2024.illuminatefilmfestival.com for more information and passes.