The fourth Arena Theater Short Film Festival runs November 13 through 15 at 214 Main Street. Across three days it runs seven programs, from queer shorts and international work to animation, comedy and music films. The program most tied to the place where it is screening comes first. Close to Home opens the weekend at 7 p.m. Friday. Its nine films come from Clear Lake, the Russian River, Noyo Harbor, Mendocino Village and downtown Point Arena itself, and six of the nine are listed with the filmmaker in attendance.
The rest of the weekend brings the wider world to Main Street. Friday is the coast looking back at itself, with the people who made the films sitting in the same seats as everyone else.
Friday Night Belongs to the Coast
The festival's curators for the program are Shauna Boyd, Gary Levenson-Palmer and Gillian Nye. They describe it as "an eclectic collection of local and regional films, celebrating our unique stories and perspectives." Several films land especially close to the South Coast:
- The Land Still Speaks, by Coast Miwok filmmaker Elissa Simons, is a festival premiere and her festival debut as a documentary director. It features Bernadette Smith of the Manchester-Point Arena Band of Pomo Indians and Joe Salinas of the Kashia Stewarts Point Band of Pomo Indians.
- The Promise — In Memory of Nicole Smith, by local filmmaker Sky Washick, records the dedication of a mural in downtown Point Arena. Mural artist Nicole Ponsler created it with the Smith family and 36 other artists.
- Conservation Forever, by Alex McCutcheon, looks back at 50 years of work by Mendocino Land Trust protecting wild and working lands and expanding public access across the county.
- Seafood in Schools: Noyo Harbor, a three-minute film by Mendocino-based Cassandra Young, follows the effort to bring fish caught by local fishermen into schools in Mendocino and Fort Bragg.
- This Way, by Ethan DeLorenzo and Victoria Pedretti, was filmed in Mendocino Village with several local actors.
The rest of the program reaches a little farther. TULE, by Big Valley Pomo and Mexican American artist Jocelyn Garcia, centers on Clear Lake. Megan Enright's Meadowverses follows the restoration of one acre on the Russian River. Santa Rosa Junior College screenwriting teacher Eric Adams brings Milagro, and Cal Poly Humboldt professor Sarah Laskey brings Climate Control. Most of the program runs on short documentary. That suits a theater whose audience can stop the director on the sidewalk afterward.
How Three Novembers Built a Full Weekend
Friday's place on the schedule makes more sense once you see how fast the festival has grown. The 2023 printed program called that first edition inaugural, set it on Friday, November 10 and Saturday, November 11, and named Shauna Boyd as festival coordinator. In 2024 it went to three days, November 8 through 10, with more than 15 filmmakers taking part. By 2025 the program promised more than 20 filmmakers in person. Mendocino Voice reported that the committee picked more than 50 films for that third edition.
Boyd, now festival director, told Bay City News in coverage republished by SFGate, "We are really excited that it's becoming a beloved annual tradition. It's been very embraced by the community."
This year's seven programs pass 2025's six themed showcases. Close to Home keeps the local strand in the opening slot, and First Cuts gives young filmmakers their own Sunday morning.
The building is part of the draw. The Arena Theater calls itself a 1929-vintage vaudeville and movie house, restored in 1996 and run by the Arena Theater Association, a membership nonprofit with an elected board. Sources disagree on the opening year. The 2023 festival program says 1928, and local historians Jean Ohman and Mitch McFarland told Bay City News they estimate 1931. Whichever year is right, the theater is close to its centennial.
The Weekend, Program by Program
| Day and time | Program |
|---|---|
| Friday, 7:00 p.m. | Close to Home: local and regional shorts |
| Saturday, 11:00 a.m. | Identity Politics: queer shorts |
| Saturday, 2:00 p.m. | Shorts From Afar: international shorts |
| Saturday, 4:00 p.m. | Direct From Imagination: animated shorts |
| Saturday, 7:30 p.m. | Laughing Matters: comedy shorts |
| Sunday, 11:00 a.m. | First Cuts: youth shorts, by donation |
| Sunday, 1:00 p.m. | Sound & Vision: music shorts |
Single tickets are $15 general and $8 youth. The early-bird pass ended October 31, and passes bought in November cost $65, or $80 with access to the Saturday afterparty. Tickets are sold through the festival's Eventive page.
First Cuts is the weekend's other local program. Its 15 youth films include Mendocino Country Store by Isabelle Shippely and Hazel Gordon, and Surfing: The Why by Enzo Abuliak. The Sound & Vision program that closes the festival includes A Concerto Is a Conversation by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers.
Up the Road Between Screenings
Saturday's gaps are short, so the weekend works best when meals stay on Main Street. The afterparty is at The Record, which the festival describes as just up the road from the theater. The Record is a pub at 265 Main Street, and its posted hours are Wednesday through Saturday, 3 to 10 p.m. The Point Arena Merchants Association lists it for food, drinks and live music.
Matched to the program times, the walkable options sort themselves out:
- Before Friday's 7 p.m. opener: Izakaya Gama, 150 Main Street, serves Japanese small plates and skewers starting at 5 p.m., Wednesday through Saturday.
- Before Saturday's 11 a.m. program: Franny's Cup & Saucer at 213 Main Street opens at 8 a.m. with pastries and espresso. Little Green Bean, a small-batch roastery at 211 Main, opens at 9.
- Between Saturday programs: Arena Market and Café at 185 Main Street lists soups, salads and sandwiches, and the Point Arena Merchants Association gives its Saturday hours as 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
- Before Sunday's 11 a.m. youth shorts: Franny's opens Sunday from 8 a.m. to noon. Little Green Bean is closed Sundays.
For a longer evening, Arena Cove is about a mile from town on foot. Pier Place at 790 Port Road lists live music for November 13, the same night as Close to Home. Point Arena Pizza shares the address and serves brick-oven pizza. The Merchants Association lists its hours as 3 to 8 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. These are the businesses' posted regular hours, so a call ahead before festival weekend is a good idea.
The Rest of November Runs Through the Same Two Doors
After the festival, the theater and the lighthouse share most of the month. At the Point Arena Lighthouse, the Day of the Dead exhibit of student art from local schools stays on display through Wednesday, November 11. Tempra Board's gallery show "Iconic Landscapes of Mendonoma" runs through December 13.
Saturday, November 21, brings both venues back the same day. The lighthouse night tour opens its gates at 4:30 p.m., with the tour starting around 5. On Main Street, the Arena Theater screens the National Theatre Live production of The Playboy of the Western World, with Nicola Coughlan, Éanna Hardwicke and Siobhán McSweeney. The Met's revival of Samson et Dalila follows on December 5. On December 12, the Point Arena Merchants Association's Hometown Holidays brings a tree lighting, caroling and a pop-up arts-and-crafts market to Point Arena.
At Liisberg & Company, we follow the coast's calendar as closely as its market, because the evenings at the Arena Theater are part of why people stay here. If you're weighing a home within walking distance of Main Street, or a coast address you'd rather visit during festival weekend than in July, we're glad to talk it through over coffee at Franny's.