The Amador Film Festival's opening feature is the documentary, "Fast Lane Summer," which tells the story of a local drag racing team called the Free Mexican Air Force and their nitro-induced hot rod, the Foothills Flyer. Photo by: Courtesy to the Ledger Dispatch "Mississippi Son," a documentary about a musician coming home in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, will be one of the many films showcased at the Amador Film Festival. Photo by: Courtesy to the Ledger Dispatch

From Sept. 20 through 23, the first Amador Film Festival will take place in Sutter Creek. Presented by the Amador County Arts Council, the event will give audiences a chance to celebrate the art of film while getting a peek at independent projects that are still struggling hard to make their mark on the world.

The opening night feature is "Fast Lane Summer," a documentary that's been grabbing attention at film festivals around the nation. It also happens to be about Amador's own Free Mexican Air Force. If you've never hear of that quirky sobriquet, it comes from a Peter Rowan song and refers to local "gear-heads" who build and race top fuel dragsters. At the moment they have the distinction of being the county's only professional sports team, bringing their piston-pounding, tire-scorcher of a car known as The Foothill Flyer to various track competitions.

Headed by crew chief, Pete Jensen, the Free Mexican Air Force is mostly a group of chrome addicts obsessed with the by-gone era of drag-racing. "Fast Lane Summer" begins with a grainy film-collage of the sport's heyday in the 1960s before rolling its opening credits over a shot of downtown Sutter Creek.

The film has plenty of memorable moments, including Jensen's nitro-methane mixing hijinks, owner Mike Civelli's reflections on sacrifice, the father-son relationship between mechanics Skip and Travis Powell, and the under-riding sub-plot of whether rookie driver Jerry Kumre Jr. can really make the grade. At its heart, "Fast Lane Summer" is much more than a sports documentary, but rather it's the tale of a shared mania between friends - their stumbling synergy, their weakness for nostalgia and their bullet-proof determination to follow an obscure but addictive dream.

"Fast Lane Summer" was directed by Eli F. Bleich, a veteran of 1960s rock documentaries and a film editor for the likes of Martin Scorsese. It's won the Platinum Aurora Award for Best Sports Documentary. It also has been selected to appear at high-profile events like the New York Independent Film Festival and the Rome International Film Festival. For Jensen, one of the most special things about being involved with the project was sharing his hometown with viewers from all walks of life. "I'm very proud of the film in the sense that it's about our area," he said. "From the very start we felt that it should be shot in Sutter Creek and Amador. That's where the crew is from - that's what makes us who we are."

This lesson about the power of identity came to affect Bleich and his movie crew in ways they weren't expecting. When Bleich took on project he was coming fresh off the heels of a number of political documentaries. The only thing he really knew about the Free Mexican Air Force was that it was a small drag-racing outfit with limited funds, that was still able to compete nationally with multi-million dollar crews - all the while getting the most attention from magazines like Drag Racing, Gearhead and Garage. What Bleich didn't know was that the group's brazen foothill mentality was the defining characteristic of their success; and something his own film crew would find infectious.

"When we first met the producers, the big thing they said is that they had to be objective and keep their distance from us," Jensen recalled. "Well, once they were in Sutter Creek and forced to spend time with a bunch of goons like the Free Mexican Air Force, within three days they were at Bellotti's too, drinking and smoking and doing everything we did. We totally corrupted them, but it was fun to watch." Jensen added that the film crew got a taste of the attitude which allows the Free Mexican Air Force to ignore their wealthy rivals' attempts to dismiss them. "Ever since we've put the team together people have said that we don't have the money or resources to hang with the big boys - but us, being from around, we just do it anyway."

"Fast Lane Summer" will debut Thursday, Sept. 20 at 7:30 p.m. at Bellotti's Banquet Room, marking the official kick-off of the film festival. Over the next three days, screenings will take place at a number of locations in Sutter Creek, with audiences getting a chance to see a diverse set of films. The selections range in mood from comedies like "The Pre-Nup," the story of a rich man trying to get his fiancee to sign a reassuring agreement, to "Mississippi Son," an affecting documentary about the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina told through the voice of a Gulf Coast musician.

The festival is being directed by Mike Kerrigan, a member of the arts council who has extensive experience putting on film events in larger markets. Kerrigan was one of the original directors for the now-famous Temecula Valley International Film Festival. He's also lectured on various topics at the Virginia Film Festival.

Kerrigan hopes that the Amador Film Festival will become an exciting yearly event for the county and surrounding areas. "Because we're a first-time festival, it will take awhile to get if off the ground," Kerrigan said. "It can also take time in the beginning to convince big media groups to send their productions out: It usually takes three or four years, but once they know you have a regular audience, they're usually batting down your door to show their films."

The Amador Film Festival is operating on a modest budget, though the arts council has applied for county grant money to expand it in the coming years. For now, Kerrigan said the event will be a class-act thanks largely to donations from a few key sponsors. "The Griffin Company has been really supportive of the film festival. They're generously allowing us to use Bellotti's, Caffe Via d'Oro and other locations for showings. Another group that really made it happen was Gold Rush Ranch, who stepped up and bought the arts council all of the projection and sound equipment, which we can use for future film festivals and other events we put on."

Despite all the interest from local businesses, Kerrigan knows the only thing that can make the festival a true success in the end is support from the community. "I'm optimistic it'll become something really good over time," Kerrigan said. "Considering this county has never hosted an event like this before, it sounds like there's a lot of buzz. We seem to have touched a chord of what people want."

Tickets for the Amador Film Festival's opening night screening event at Bellotti's of "Fast Lane Summer," which includes a buffet supper, drinks and hors d'oeuvres are $15. Tickets for individual screenings throughout the rest of the festival are $5. An all-inclusive events pass can be purchased for $50. For more information about showings and tickets, visit www.amadorfilmfestival.com.