Kevin McNeely, still in the film festival spotlight

For 20 years, Kevin McNeely has bled celluloid for the Sonoma International Film Festival|

Next week Kevin McNeely will jump on his ivory BMW R100 motorcycle and drive around checking out the crowd at the Sonoma International Film Festival.

An estimated 5,000 attendees will visit the Valley to view 130 films from 27 countries, with plenty of opportunities to network and party between screenings. But even after eight years as executive director, McNeely admits: “I still get nervous. I go from venue to venue to see if anyone showed up.”

He needn’t worry.

The film festival is marking its 20th year and McNeely and his wife Rosemary have been involved from the earliest days, starting as volunteers. McNeely joined the board in 2004, taking full charge as executive director in 2009. He works year round on the five-day festival, wooing sponsors and ensuring high quality films.

“For a relatively modest budget we put on a big city event,” he said. It’s a budget he contributes to personally, declining to reveal the depth of his generosity, or what the bottom-line cost is to put on the increasingly well-known festival.

“A lot of people feel strongly about the festival and are willing to contribute to it,” he said, and McNeely is its champion.

He estimates that between ticket sales and contributions the nonprofit takes in about $250,000, with additional in-kind wine and food support and the immeasurable value of more than 200 volunteers.

He’s sentimental about the Sonomawood sign, built by Creekside students, that now welcomes visitors each year from it prime spot on the Plaza. “Our wonderful town for a few days really does become Sonomawood,” he said.

His favorite film festival memory, though, was when the SIFF’s 2009 Lifetime Achievement Award was presented to Bruce Willis, who was the best man at the McNeely’s wedding.

McNeely had been working as an investment banker for three years, a job that did not agree with him, when he first met Willis at an Upper East Side bar in New York City. Soon afterward they each landed a spot on the 1980 Frank Sinatra movie, “The First Deadly Sin.” McNeely was a production assistant and Willis was a stand-in (both jobs the epitome of Hollywood entry level) and working together on that film cemented their lifelong friendship. “Needless to say his career had a more meteoric rise than mine,” McNeely laughed. Maybe, but as McNeely presents himself as a happy man deeply satisfied with his life, he seems to have also attained star quality.

McNeely first came to Sonoma 25 years ago to film a show at Sears Point (now Sonoma Raceway) about a high-performance racing school for “Sidelines,” the program he produced for ESPN. Impressed by Sonoma’s “stunning beauty, food and wine culture and proximity to San Francisco,” and having an itch to change up their lives, the McNeely’s moved here soon afterward, at first keeping their Manhattan loft in case it didn’t work out. It did.

Beside the festival, McNeely is part owner of Le Colonial restaurant in San Francisco and a partner in Roger Roessler Wines. Roessler makes a Hannah Rose rose, named for the McNeely’s 15-year-old daughter.

“She makes life exciting and adventurous for Rosemary and me,” he said, flashing the sincerest smile.

McNeely grew up in Minnesota, in a family of five children, his late father a prominent real estate developer, philanthropist and longtime owner of the Minnesota Vikings. He began college in Switzerland (he speaks fluent German) and graduated from Claremont McKenna College with a degree in economics. Having lived for 20 years in Manhattan, he still returns four or five times a year to visit friends, and frequently travels to Europe, where he says they might live someday.

Now 64, he’s forthcoming about his role at SIFF, “I’m having fun doing this and I’m going to be here for a while. I work with a group of people who are as committed as I am and when you have that kind of support it inspires you to keep going forward. It has gone on for 20 years and nothing would please me more than to know it is going to go on for another 20 years.”

He also has an eye on the future. “My bag is running out of tricks. I’d like to think we could find someone who is brighter and younger and more resilient,” he said, and then laughs. Clearly he is well suited to what he calls the “controlled chaos,” as the festival is about to start and his two-room office above Maya Restaurant on the Plaza is crowded with five employees and his fluffy white dog, Lukie, his constant companion.

The curtain is rising on the 20th Sonoma International Film Festival, and Kevin McNeely is quite comfortable at center stage.

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