The journey from a Sonoma County high school to playing basketball professionally is long and arduous, with an ultimate destination that may be a surprise. It's a story traced by a hometown documentary film-maker.

Brenden HamiltonBound was the first effort by documentarian Brenden Hamilton. He says it's especially meaningful to have it being shown as part of this in his own back yard.

 See the full schedule for the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival here. The trailer for Bound is below.

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Builders of tiny houses, recycling pens, and the issues facing aging gays are among the subjects with local connections featured at the upcoming Fifth Annual Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival.

Stu MadduxAlthough Gen Silent concentrates on the present and future, director Stu Maddux says he has an intense interest in also capturing the past through the eyes and oral histories of the aging LGBT population.

Filmmaker Paul Meyers gets a close-up of the Pen Car's dashboard for his short documentary, "Penultimate"For an event that debuted just four years ago, the Sebastopol Documentary Film Festival has quickly established itself. You can scan the full schedule of this year's event here. Program Director Jason Perdue talked about that short history, and the particulars of this year's event in this interview with Roland Jacopetti on KRCB's Sonoma Spotlight program.

The rare Devils Hole pupfish lives only in a single subterranean pool, deep in the southern Nevada desert. The survival of the fish—there are only about 100 of them living—is a minor miracle of nature. And just last week, they endured another strange natural phenomenon.

Devils Hole pupfishDue to their rarity, reports Petaluma journalist Peter Byrne, the Devils Hole pupfish receive an unusual level of protection, both on the desert surface and in the aquifer below.

Peter Byrne's video, and his reporting on the incident was also published this week on the Scientific American website.

From Sebastopol to San Quentin to Hollywood-- a local musician's wild, uplifting, issue-driven ride continues to accelerate.

Sebastopol bandleader, songwriter, youth advocate and music teacher Buzzy Martin's three years of regular music classes at San Quentin came to an abrupt halt when one of the participating inmates recognized him, causing Martin to fear for the safety of his wife and son. That was more than a decade ago, but he still misses his work there.

Buzzy MartinThe sudden cessation of his San Quentin classes—and the reason for it—provides one of the most dramatic moments in Martin's memoir, Don't Shoot! I'm the Guitar Man. As his book is transformed into a movie—so far with the title unchanged—Buzzy expects that will become a key scene in the film. But he's hoping the rest of his story will come through the process without getting changed too much.

The unfolding process of making the movie has also triggered some creative moments for Martin, including one that resulted in a new song that is to become part of the soundtrack. Here, he explains and performs that new composition.