Founded in 1997 by friends Carolyn Stolman and
Jerry Seltzer, the Sonoma International Film Festival was created to promote Sonoma, California, and its
sister cities, as a destination festival to showcase the cinematic arts. Early festivals focused on the breadth of Bay Area filmmakers with work from industry veterans such as
Francis Ford Coppola,
John Lasseter, and
Danny Glover showcased. SIFF programs full-length features, documentaries, as well as shorts programming in animation, comedy, culinary, documentary, dramatic and foreign categories. Cash and production completion grants are awarded annually to Jury and Audience Award winners. ==Awards==