As any teenager might, the 15-year-old Sacramento Jewish Film Festival took some risks this year, and, as often happens, the risks didn't entirely pay off. Most risky of all was the second film on Saturday evening's program, the comedy "This Is Sodom."  The irreverent comedy, which posited God as a traveling salesman hawking a new religion, is reportedly the biggest box office smash in Israel in 25 years. The film had elements of Monty Python and Mel Brooks comedies and had several very funny segments and sight gags among its more crude moments. Perhaps the highlight of the two-day festival was the screening of "66 Years," a short film by Rachel Behrmann about the bar mitzvah of  Sacramen

Pop culture has power - enough power to affect the wine industry. In 2004, the feature film Sideways came out, and according to Sonoma filmmaker Rudolf N. McClain, merlot sales in the United States dropped. Of those well-studied in wine statistics, McClain is among them, having just completed his first documentary on merlot in 2008. The dramatic effects of Sideways boil down to one pivotal scene, he explained at the Sacramento premiere screening of Merlove Saturday night. It’s the scene where protagonist Miles Raymond, the oenologist in the film, says, “I’m not drinking any f***ing merlot.” That one statement statistically curbed the sales of merlot, and pinot sales went up by 30 perce