Watching films so you don’t have to (but you must!)

Film-fest organizers are a selfless bunch, right up there with Gandalf the Gray—and possibly even Jesus.

Think about it. Only those with a passion for film would elect to sit through hundreds of submissions—the good, the bad, the gnarly—to make sure viewers only see the best.

Nathan Schemel, Anthony Sheppard and Laurie Pederson, co-directors for the Sacramento Film & Music Festival, spent the last year narrowing down hundreds of films to 130 worthy features, shorts and music videos—with the help of a screening committee, of course.

For 10 days, a collection of amazing internationally and locally produced feature films, documentaries, student films and music videos by local bands will showcase at the Crest Theatre—along with live music and musical theater performances.

The event will open Friday, July 24, with a screening of Sensored, a movie filmed in Roseville using a crazy-intense high-definition camera called Red One, which is like high-def times four, according to Sheppard. The star of the film, Robert Picardo—you know, the doctor from Star Trek: Voyager and the cowboy from 1987’s Innerspace—will make an appearance.

Other must-see screenings include: Rivers of a Lost Coast (with narration by Tom Skerritt) and Sac Music Seen music-video program on Saturday, July 25; Inlaws and Outlaws on Monday, July 27; and Paper Heart sneak-peek screening (featuring Michael Cera and Charlyne Yi) on Friday, July 31. Justice and political films will be featured Tuesday evening, July 28, including Sin by Silence, about women who were incarcerated for murdering their abusive husbands before such abuse was allowed in testimony.

Those film-fest organizers also are guardians of your pocketbook. The mere act of you reading this article means you only have to pay $60 for the entire festival. That’s right, SN&R readers only pay half the all-festival price.