5 reasons to check out the Napa Valley Film Festival

EARLY NERD HISTORY

Audience members this year can get a sneak peek at National Geographic’s new series exploring the early years of Silicon Valley. The first two episodes of “Valley of the Boom” will be shown, and creator Matthew Carnahan will hold a Q and A.

MORE TYLER FLORENCE

On Thursday, Nov. 8, Food Network will host a series of dramatic bites inspired by iconic food scenes in movies. Tyler Florence will be on hand to judge and discuss cooking and storytelling.

FUNKY VENUES

The Napa Valley Film Festival is known for screening flicks in unusual venues. This year, you can catch movies in the Napa Valley Opera House, the Farmstead restaurant in St. Helena, the new Archer Hotel in Napa and Charles Krug Winery.

GEENA DAVIS

On Friday, the festival will host a star-studded tribute to Geena Davis, the Academy Award-winning actress, and her efforts to fight for gender equality in the film industry, along with a screening of a documentary on her work, “This Changes Everything.”

LOCAL FLICKS

In addition to “Uncrushable,” there are plenty of films with local ties screening this year, including “General Magic,” about one of Silicon Valley’s most exciting failed companies, A “Perfect Note,” a documentary about San Francisco’s Cafe Jacqueline and “Empire on Main Street,” a short doc on how Guerneville has changed with the opening of a new hotel and bar. by Florence, with the help and support of local chefs, vintners and brewers.

“I’ve been in television production for almost 25 years,” he says. “I do know how to cook, yeah, but I also know how to tell stories.” The topic, he says, felt right. “I’m a chef: Everything I want to shoot is telling a human-interest story from a slight culinary perspective or a cultural (story) based on food.”

Until “Uncrushable,” Florence had never directed a feature-length documentary. (“I’ve been making really elaborate home movies forever,” though, he says.)

To shoot the doc in just three weeks — while he prepared to feed hundreds outdoors — Florence called in friends and colleagues from his career in television, telling them “Listen, here’s the big one — this is really important.” The ad hoc crew interviewed more than 50 firefighters, residents, congressmen, winemakers and others. The interviews, Florence said, could be devastating, but when he and the crew turned their lens to community efforts after the flames died down, the conclusion was uplifting.

“This disaster can be a calling that pulls us all together,” Florence says. “We can do anything together.”

In this era of yearly 100year storms and fire seasons that never end, Florence thinks the message will resonate in other disaster-stricken locales. “It is really a message of hope for communities that go through this. Here’s a road map.”

“Uncrushable” will play multiple times during the Napa Valley Film Festival. All proceeds, Florence says, will go to Habitat for Humanity Sonoma County, the Red Cross and local fire victims.

David Ferry is a freelance writer in Los Angeles. Email: travel@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @FerryIn280.