Sonoma State University has announced that the Fall 2024 film screenings from the Sonoma Film Institute (SFI) were its last. SFI was the oldest film repertory organization in the North Bay Area.
Since 1973, SFI has shown films – ranging from silent cinema to the avant-garde, from contemporary American fare to films from the developing world – that expanded educational opportunities for students and provided cultural benefits to the campus and greater community.
During the 1970s, the works of New Wave German directors Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Werner Herzog, and Wim Wenders were presented in their first Northern California screenings. In the 1980s, local audiences first discovered independent filmmakers John Sayles, Mike Leigh and Jane Campion on campus at SFI. At its height, SFI had a mailing list of over 3,000 patrons who drove from all over Sonoma County and beyond to attend weekly screenings.
From 1981 to its closing in 2024, SFI was directed by Eleanor Nichols, who hosted appearances by such cinematic legends as Nicholas Ray, King Vidor, and Michael Powell. SFI also sponsored lectures by independent artists Les Blank, Ernie Gehr, Nancy Kelly and Kenji Yamamoto. More recently, SFI audiences enjoyed visits by legendary documentary filmmaker Frederick Wiseman and Academy Award nominee RaMell Ross.
"Cinema is emotion. One of the things it does best is to create or demonstrate some kind of emotional reality that an audience can connect with. That's the driving force, that's why we go see films in the first place--to experience some sort of vicarious connection with something that touches us," Nichols said.
Though the Sonoma Film Institute may be closing its doors, Cinematic Arts and Technology is still a strong degree program at Sonoma State.