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Sonoma Film Festival Laugh Riot by Doniphan Blair
Lauren Hutton and Robin Williams (left) were worth every cent they may or may not have been paid for their "gala event" at the Sonoma International Film Festival. Trying to recover from a difficult last year, festival director Kevin McNeely said, "We hit the ball out of the park. The community embraced us as never before, and with the help of sponsors such as Dolby we plan on long-term sustainability."
Any self-respecting town needs a film festival these days, to rally the troops and bring in the stars, as McNeely did with Hutton/Willaims. Playing beast to her beauty, Williams was in fine fettle, even refighting the Civil War, as he riffed on Southern belle Hutton's many achievements, as an actress and model, including 28 Vogue covers and some extremely astute quotes like: "Beauty is a type of alertness."
Hutton laughed with abandon and donned a clown nose from Wavy Gravy, who was representing the doc on him, "Saint Misbehavin'," by Michelle Esrick. Hutton was highlighting her appearance in the festival closer, "The Joneses," by Derrick Borte, starring David Duchovny and Demi Moore.
Things were calmer with Ehren Koepf, accompanied by fiancee, Leah, who co-produced "The Singularity is Near," although the doc is about a wild future of machine-human hybrids. Directed by Anthony Waller, it features celebrated futurist Ray Kurzweil, who also co-produced. Ehren showed an almost finished cut and a very pro poster.