Big Sonia - big impact - Saturday at Shoreline CC

BIG SONIA is making a BIG impact! See how at the Seattle International Film Festival on Saturday, June 4 at 6pm at the Shoreline Community College Theatre, 16101 Greenwood Ave N, Shoreline 98133 (campus maps)

A pair of free tickets will be given to the first Shoreline Area News reader to respond here by noon Friday.

At 4'8", Sonia Warshawski can barely see over the leopard-skin-patterned steering wheel of her Oldsmobile. But at age 90, Sonia has a personality that towers over her Kansas City community, where she has tirelessly run her late husband's tailoring business for decades.

Every day she faces the threat of eviction, but Sonia has had experience with escaping finality: As one of the last remaining Holocaust survivors in Kansas City, she witnessed the unspeakable horror of her mother disappearing behind the doors of a Nazi gas chamber.

After being force-marched from one death camp to another, Sonia was finally liberated only to be shot accidentally through the chest — and yet she survived.

Today she still dispenses positive life lessons (known as "Soniaisms") to anyone who'll listen, and also speaks to local churches, schools, and prisons about the atrocities she endured as a teenager.

Husband-and-wife filmmakers Todd Soliday and Leah Warshawski (Sonia's granddaughter) tell Sonia's story in this moving and uplifting documentary that interweaves first-person narratives with memories from family and friends. "Big Sonia" may struggle to face her latest daunting challenge —retirement — but she's certainly doing it in style.

More information here.

This is a work-in-progress screening, which means you'll have a chance to give your opinion directly to the filmmakers and be part of the process of finishing the movie! Directors Leah Warshawski and Todd Soliday scheduled to attend the screening which is 6pm Saturday.

Free Sonia swag will also be given out!

Students can receive a discount at the box office with valid student ID. Tickets are discounted to $8 a piece (a savings of $5). Student tickets will be available at the door the day of the screening. Full price tickets may be purchased in advance. Group discounts can also be arranged with a group of 10 or more by calling 206-315-0701.