Film Series

Rialto Cinemas Lakeside regularly works with organizations to present recurring events, current and previous organizations include Face to Face, KRCB and the Jewish Community Agency of Sonoma County.

The third Thursday of each month at 7:15pm, the Face to Face Film Series features a film focused on gay men. The film series is a partnership between the Man to Man/Man to Man+ program at Face to Face and Rialto Cinemas™ Lakeside. After film rental costs, all box office proceeds from this event are divided equally between the theatre to cover its costs and Face to Face to support the activities of Man to Man/Man to Man+. For 2008 the Face to Face Film Series will head in a new direction by revisiting some of the classic films that are part of the history of the portrayal of gays and lesbians on the big screen. For more information on upcoming films, please visit the Special Events section of our Web site.

Since the Fall of 2000, the Jewish Community Agency of Sonoma County has called the Rialto Cinemas Lakeside home for its annual Jewish Film Series. Produced and programmed by the Jewish Community Agency, the Jewish Film Series presents films about the Jewish experience, both past and present, here at home and around the globe. In addition to the annual Fall series, the Jewish Community Agency and the theatre have partnered to present films at other times of the year, including the Academy-Award-winning documentary Into the Arms of Strangers and Divided We Fall. For more information, please visit the Sonoma County Jewish Film Series.

A collaboration between KRCB and Rialto Cinemas™ Lakeside developed to feature films that reflect the diversity of KRCB's programming and films that the theatre otherwise didn't have the opportunity to show. Amongst the films presented were Mana: Beyond Belief, Music From the Inside Out, Postmen in the Mountians, and Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus.

In conjunction with the 20th Anniversary Exhibit Sonoma Confidential: Stories From The Archives at the Sonoma County Museum, we presented a trip back into Sonoma County's rich cinematic history. Five evenings of classic films that were filmed in our own backyard, followed by conversations about the films with local experts.

In conjunction with the 30th Anniversary of Community Resources for Independence (CRI), we presented a series of dramatic and documentary films by and about people living with disabilities. Amongst the films shown were 39 Pounds of Love, and an evening of short films by Bay Area filmmakers Betsy Bayha (Outsider: The Life and Art of Judith Scott), Karina Epperlein (Phoenix Dance), and John R. Killacky (Crip Shots, Dreaming Awake, and Holding On).

In December, 2006, The Metropolitan Opera launched a bold initiative to bring world-class opera to the screens of movie theatres around the world. In March, 2007 Rialto Cinemas Lakeside presented the six operas captured live from the stage of The Met in a series of encore presentations. For the 2007-08 season, Rialto Cinemas™ Lakeside will present the eight operas in their LIVE Saturday morning presentations as well as two ENCORE presentations of each opera. As the exclusive Sonoma County venue for The Met Live in HD we are thrilled to bring this exciting series of thrilling world-class opera to both opera lovers and opera novices alike.