Illuminate Festival Moving to Town 

Illuminate Film Festival (IFF) is celebrating its 10th anniversary by moving from Sedona, Arizona, to another somewhat spiritually-elevated community much closer to the sea. A leading festival for evolutionary/conscious cinema – focusing on films that uplift, elevate, and inspire lasting personal and social transformation – the IFF is hosting a benefit reception at the Music Academy on Tuesday, November 14. The event features a preview screening at Hahn Hall of The Monk and the Gun, a poignant drama written, directed and co-produced by Pawo Choyning Dorji, whose previous picture, A Yak in the Classroom, was a nominee for the Best International Feature Film Oscar in 2021. The film, which follows the adventures of monks, villagers, urbanites, and one hapless foreigner as Bhutan prepares to experience its first-ever election, was well-received at both Telluride and Toronto this year, and is Bhutan’s official submission for the 2024 Academy Awards. A Q&A with Dorji follows the debut California screening. 

A pre-reception with local libations and tasty hors d’oeuvres, silent auction, Chumash blessing, and afterparty at Local restaurant are all part of the festivities. The 2024 Illuminate Film Festival, the first in Santa Barbara and first under new Executive Director Téana David (formerly of the Shift Your World Film Festival), takes place April 5-7. The IFF is also launching the Illuminate Filmmaker Accelerator educational program for emerging visual storytellers who are called to create a better world through the power of cinema. Visit https://2024.illuminatefilmfestival.com. 

Elsewhere in cinema this week, SBIFF’s Cinema Society screenings continue to accumulate as award-season approaches, with previews of foreign films Concrete Utopia, South Korea’s Oscar submission, on November 12 (Q&A with writer-director Um Tae-hwa); Fallen Leaves, Aki Kaurismäki’s 20th film and Finland’s Oscar entry, on November 13 (Q&A with actress Alma Pöysti); and Tótem, Mexico’s Oscar submission, on November 16 (Q&A with writer-director Lila Avilés). Visit https://sbiffriviera.com/cs.