The Block's Director, Producers, Illustrator, Star “Spot,” and the film’s youngest Sound Person accept the SDFF 2023 Audience Award for Best Documentary Short.

El Equipo (The Team), which won the Jury Award for Best Documentary Feature at this year’s SebDocs Festival, made the recently released HotDocs Audience Top 20. Read more about it on our blog: sebastopolfilmfestival.org/el-equipo-hot-… #SebastopolDocFest #hotdocs

SDFF is taking a year off from the festival circuit to plan and implement a robust film festival and program within the SebARTS organization, of which we are a part. We are excited at the possibilities of collaborations: opportunities for artists, audience and communities.

Jaime Sunwoo’s short Handwritten (#SDFF2023) has been selected for The American Pavilion Emerging Filmmaker Showcase at Cannes this year. Handwritten was one of 38 short films from five countries that comprised this year’s overall showcase, 22 of which came from women filmmakers.

Want to keep up to date with SDFF happenings until we're back in 2025? Subscribe to the newsletter to keep up to date on information about special 2024 events. Send your own news to [email protected]. #SebastopolDocFest #DocumentaryFilm #sdff #hiatus

The Ruth Brinker Story (Apo W. Bazidi, 23 mins, SDFF 2023), a documentary short about a retired food-service worker who founded Project Open Hand when she began delivering meals to HIV/AIDS patients in 1985, was screened as part of this year’s San Francisco Documentary Festival.

As you know, SDFF will be taking a year off. Our website (sebdocs.org) will continue to be an active hub for news about alumni filmmakers, industry conversations & follow-up of topics brought to the festival in films and panels.

As California’s reparations task force approved a potentially groundbreaking list of recommendations earlier this month, The Apology (Mimi Chakarova), a new doc about the forced relocation of Russell City, a majority Black and Brown community in the 1960s Bay Area, was screened.

The screening of The Apology was held in the same Veterans’ Memorial Building where the Alameda County Board of Supervisors held public hearings about the redevelopment plan that would eventually force residents from their homes.

Mark your calendars for June 2024 because that's when we'll be requesting submissions for #SDFF2025!

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the 1st Annual Sebastopol Arts Open House! We are incredibly proud to have show a series of films that screened in past years during SDFF. You filled the seats and graced us with your presence. Stay tuned, we’ve got more fun coming your way

🎬 Firelight Media is accepting proposals for season two of HOMEGROWN: A Part Of/Apart From! 8 BIPOC filmmakers will be granted $45k each to produce a short doc, with assistance and mentorship throughout the process 🎥 Learn more and apply @ link in bio 🔗

You know our favorite movie theater is the Sebastopol Rialto Cinemas! We’ll see you there for National Cinema Day, 8/27 ❤️

📣 WORKSHOP ALERT! QWOCMAP's Film & Freedom Academy is back with two FREE filmmaking workshops for LBTQIA+ BIPOC. Learn to write, direct, and edit your own 5-minute film! For dates and registration, head to: qwocmap.org/make-films/fil… #Filmmaker #BayArea #QueerArt

Trying to get your LGBTQ+ film across the finish line? We're here for you! Our annual Completion Fund offers up to $5K to LGBTQ+ filmmakers to help ensure that their films are completed & viewed by wider audiences 🏁💓 Learn more: frameline.org/completionfund ✅

Our Film Program Director position is now open and linked below. 🎥 Join SebDocs as we move forward with this astounding Oscar Qualifying documentary film festival! indeed.com/m/viewjob?jk=e… #documentaryfilmmakers

Our long time SDFF premiere partner OutWatch Film Festival has 2 LGBTQI films playing now at @rialtocinemas in Sebastopol 🏳️‍🌈 Learn more about “Aristotle and Dante Discover Secrets of the Universe” and “Bottoms” at OutWatchFilmFest.org and at RialtoCinemas.com

Jury Prize winner for Best Documentary Feature at 2023 SDFF; El Equipo filmmaker Bernardo Ruiz spoke with noted novelist Francisco Goldman in a recent christian article bombmagazine.org/articles/franc…

Come see us tomorrow during the @sebastopolarts Open House! We will have the SDFF Film Lounge set up in the Fireside Room and will be signing up volunteers for SebDocs 2025 🎞️

Submissions for SebDocs 2025 are now OPEN on @filmfreeway 🎥 Filmmakers from around the world are welcome to submit their documentaries of all genres to have an opportunity to be screened at our North Bay Oscar® Qualifying Documentary Film Festival located in Sebastopol, CA.