Sonoma Film Club screenings

Three screenings in the next month give film-lovers a preview of the upcoming 20th annual Sonoma International Film Festival, including "Harold and Lillian" on Jan. 26. Three screenings in the next month give film-lovers a preview of the upcoming 20th annual Sonoma International Film Festival, including "Harold and Lillian" on Jan. 26.|

In honor of its upcoming 20th anniversary in March, the Sonoma International Film Festival is hosting several advance screenings, including the new Hollywood documentary 'Harold and Lillian' on Jan. 26, a sneak peek of the drama 'A United Kingdom' on Feb. 9, and the timely documentary 'Project Censored' on Feb. 22.

'Harold & Lillian' will be shown at Sonoma Community Center at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 26. Tickets are $20, or $10 for SIFF Film Club members.

The documentary is a moving account of the romantic and creative partnership of storyboard artist Harold Michelson and film researcher Lillian Michelson, who worked together on hundreds of renowned films including 'The Ten Commandments,' 'The Apartment,' 'The Birds,' 'Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?,' 'The Graduate,' 'Rosemary's Baby,' 'Scarface,' 'Full Metal Jacket' and more.

Through a mix of love letters, film clips and candid conversations with the Michelsons, Danny DeVito, Mel Brooks, Francis Ford Coppola and others, the documentary from Academy Award-nominated director Daniel Raim chronicles their remarkable marriage and extraordinary careers through six decades of movie-making history.

'A United Kingdom,' starring Rosamund Pike and David Oyelowo and directed by Amma Asante, will screen prior to its wide release on Thursday, Feb. 9 at the Sebastiani Theatre. Members of the cast have been invited to attend. Tickets are $20. A VIP reception at 5:30 p.m. at the Ledson Hotel with food and wine pairings and reserved seating, is $75.

The film takes place in the 1940s, when Prince Seretse Khama of Botswana shocks the world when he marries a white woman from London. When Seretse (David Oyelowo) proposes, having duly explained his true identity, Ruth (Rosamund Pike) imagines a new life away from the misty drizzle of London, a life that, she assures her fiance, will be taken 'moment by moment – together.' But when the news of the high-profile black-and-white union reaches neighboring South Africa, whose National party is busy enshrining apartheid into law, the cash-strapped British authorities move first to forbid and then to undermine the marriage.

'Project Censored The Movie: Ending the Reign of Junk Food News' is next and, according to the a press release for the film, takes an in-depth look at problems with the news media in the United States and 'highlights the work of 40-year veteran media democracy organization Project Censored and its commitment to media literacy education as an antidote to top-down, managed news propaganda and censorship.'

The film, co-directed by Doug Hecker and Christopher Oscar, features original interviews about media censorship with Noam Chomsky, Dan Rather, Phil Donahue, Oliver Stone and many more.

'The SIFF Film Club hosts monthly films at the Community Center where members can enjoy a glass of wine and popcorn, and see the 'best of the fest' and pre-theatrical 'sneaks,'' said SIFF executive director Kevin McNeely.

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