The first two festivals were produced with sponsorship from Sonoma's Sister Cities Program and were held in the early fall. Film industry luminaries, and Bay Area residents, Danny Glover, Francis Ford Coppola and John Lasseter were among the first to attend and support SIFF’s mission to bring new independent world cinema to Sonoma.

This year marked the debut of food and wine-tastings at all screening venues. The program doubled in scope to a total of 50 films, and included industry panels, as well as the inception of the Media Arts Program at Sonoma Valley High School to provide students the opportunity to learn about and create films. The festival showcase included a screening of FINDER'S FEE and honored three of the films creators: Robert Forster, Lifetime Achievement; Matthew Lillard, Breakthrough Actor; and Jeff Probst, Breakthrough Director.

The festival program grew to over 70 films, including 20 student shorts and 10 animated shorts, which were screened within our well-received special shorts programs. Women in film was a significant theme, and the festival honored Blythe Danner with a special Achievement Award, as well as three actresses spanning three generations at the Imagery Honors Tribute Evening--Jena Malone, Deborah Unger and Fionnula Flanagan.

This edition featured actor/activist Danny Glover who was presented with SIFF’s first ever Humanitarian Tribute in conjunction with screening the powerful FAVELA RISING, courtesy of ThinkFilm. Patricia Heaton, Tony Shaloub, Brooke Adams, Kimberly Williams, Ernie Hudson, Melissa Joan Hart, Melissa Leo, and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom all attended the festival supporting filmmaking and festival film projects. Entertainment Weekly and Mercedes-Benz joined as Premier Sponsors, and entertainers, The Toledo Show (the subject of Zalman King's documentary DANCE WITH THE DEVIL) brought the house down for 300 enthralled guests at the Festival Gala.

SIFF expanded to six screening venues: Sebastiani Theatre, Hollywood at the Veteran’s Building, Vine at the Veteran’s Building, House of Docs at the Sonoma Valley Woman’s Club; Ravenswood Lounge at Sonoma Community Center, and the Ramekins Screening Room at Ramekins Culinary School, Events & Inn. Our festival tributee was Michael Keaton and included a special screening of BEETLEJUICE.

The SIFF Backlot Tent, located in Sonoma Plaza, was introduced and served as the hub for the SIFF Box Office, festivalgoers, filmmakers and sponsors. Noted actor Lauren Hutton was presented an Achievement Award by renowned actor/comedian, and festival friend, Robin Williams. Hutton, along with David Duchonvy, attended the festival in support of their film THE JONESES, which closed the festival.

Actor/activist Susan Sarandon received our Lifetime Achievement Award after a Q&A to a sold out audience. Her special dinner, attended by several SIFF patrons, was held at Sebastiani Winery featuring the band, Crossfire.

SIFF focused on Latino films and festival goers with a new program, Vamos al Cine. Also that year director John Waters performed his one-man show to a standing room only crowd. The Opening Night Film was Luc Besson's LADY, the epic story of Aung Suu Kyi who was eventually elected to Parliament in Myanmar. Christopher Lloyd, whose outstanding performances in ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, BACK TO THE FUTURE, and the TV show Taxi, received SIFF's Award Of Excellence after the screening of his film LAST CALL.

Our Spotlight Award went to actors Mary-Louise Parker and Demián Bichir as part of our Latino Vamos al Cine programming initiative. Opening Night Film THE ICEMAN welcomed film actor Ray Liotta and director Ariel Vromen. Liotta’s generosity included a visit with the student filmmakers participating in the Sonoma Valley Media Arts Program.

We honored two of Hollywood’s most influential and contributing filmmakers. Robert Kamen, scriptwriter and Sonoma winegrower, whose box office hits include KARATE KID, THE 5TH ELEMENT, TRANSPORTER and TAKEN; and Meg Ryan, actress/director, who brought her film ITHACA and whose acting credits include SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE, WHEN HARRY MET SALLY and YOU’VE GOT MAIL, among others. Our 19th festival opened with LOUDER THAN BOMBS (Norway | France | Denmark) and closed with THE SENSE OF WONDER (France). The SIFF Backlot Tent, featuring a VIP Lounge, daily Happy Hours and main stage entertainment nightly, and the Le Tigre Tent, a daytime screening venue and nighttime vaudeville and burlesque stage, electrified the expanded SIFF Village. Five days, 106 films, 200 filmmakers from 16 countries, 5,000 festival attendees, and a showcase of Sonoma’s best wines, spirits and cuisine.

The festival opened with the Australian film LADIES IN BLACK with Julia Ormond and Rachael Taylor, the stars of the film in attendance. The SIFF Backlot Tent featured our Friday and Saturday evening parties, VIP Lounge, a Sony Home Theatre interactive experience, and the new SIFF Café open to the public. The SIFF | Devour! Chefs & Shorts culinary event was a sellout on Thursday evening and Chef Tyler Florence hosted a sold out Friday evening dinner to screen his film UNCRUSHABLE. The UFO Symposium panel and screening special continued to be a popular draw among local enthusiasts.