The festival begins with an Opening Night Reception and the screening of a family-comedic drama movie Expecting Mary. This is a Red Carpet event, with the film’s stars Linda Gray (“Dallas”), Lainie Kazan (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) and Olesya Rulin ( “High School Musical”), are in attendance.  It is an opportunity for avid moviegoers to participate in a question and answer session with the cast after the screening.

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Richard Dreyfuss will make a special appearance for a Q&A session after the screening of his most recent movie, The Lightkeepers – about a lighthouse keeper dealing with the unexpected appearance of two attractive women moving into a nearby cottage for the summer after disavowing any association with females.

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Lamorinda Film & Entertainment Foundation

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Star-studded evening Gala at the Blackhawk Auto Museum. CAIFF honors Academy Award Recipients Richard Dreyfuss and Producer Saul Zaentz with the festival’s Golden Slate Awards This event is otherwise known as the “Academy Awards of the Bay Area” and will be hosted by Jan Wahl. During the gala event, Orinda native, pianist Chloe Pang performs excerpts from Prokofieff Concerto and Samuel Barber’s Excursion No. 3

Featuring The Mighty Macs, a movie based on a true story of how a small unknown college, on the brink of closing its doors, made an improbable journey of winning the first national championship in women’s basketball against all odds.

Also featuring Like Dandelion Dust, starring Academy Award recipient Mira Sorvino. This film,which won over 20 International Film Festival Audience Awards, relates how two families find themselves at cross-roads all for the love of a little boy.

CAIFF hosts the Iron Filmmaker Contest, an integral part of the festival for the past eight years, challenges anyone with a video camera to create a three-minute film within 24 hours. The completed film must incorporate a secret ingredient as a prerequisite for screening at Orinda Theatre.

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The Festival closes with the screening of Lovely Still. It is a holiday fable about a sad and lonely elderly man who finds love for the first time. It stars Academy Award Winners, Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn. Director & Writer Nicholas Fackler will be in attendance.

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The festival is proud to screen this year’s Academy Award winning animated short, Logorama, from CAIFF’s Clermont-Ferrand Showcase.

Also screening a Bulgarian drama film, The World is Big and Salvation Lurks Around the Corner. It was selected among the top nine foreign films competing for “Best Foreign Language Film” in this year’s 82nd Academy Awards.