Posted by Larry Gleeson

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF), presented by UGG®, will return for the 35th edition January 15 – 25, 2020. 200+ Films featuring over 120 World and US premieres, Industry Panels, Celebrity Tributes, and Educational and Free Community Programs will be held throughout Santa Barbara, including the Arlington and Lobero Theatres.

“We’re so grateful to all of our honorees, filmmakers, attendees, sponsors, press and volunteers for making the 34th edition our best yet. We’re adjusting our dates and we’re already looking forward to celebrating our 35th anniversary! – SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling.

Also announced today were the award winning films for the 34th Festival at a breakfast held in their honor at Belmond El Encanto. All awards were announced, culminating in the coveted Audience Choice Award sponsored by The Santa Barbara Independent, which went to Kasper Torsting’s In Love and War (I krig & kærlighed). The films were chosen by jury members Anthony and Arnette Zerbe, David and Sandy Wasco, Joe Medjuck, Katharine O’Brien, Leslie Zemeckis, Margaret Lazarus, Olivia Hamilton, Paul Brickman, Roger Avary, and Tamara Asseyev.

Congratulations to ALL the Winners:

Audience Choice Award sponsored by The Santa Barbara Independent: Kasper Torsting’s In Love and War (I krig & kærlighed)Best Documentary Short Film Award: Leslie Iwerks’s Selling Lies
Bruce Corwin Award – Best Live Action Short Film: Christopher Wollebekk’s My Brother Amal (Min bror Amal)
Bruce Corwin Award – Best Animated Short Film: Rachel Johnson’s Henrietta Bulkowski
Best Documentary Award sponsored by SEE International: Johnny Sweet’s Quiet Storm: The Ron Artest Story
Jeffrey C. Barbakow Award – Best International Feature Film: Bettina Oberli’s With the Wind (Le vent tourne)
Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema: Sam Friedlander’s Babysplitters
Nueva Vision Award for Spain/Latin America Cinema: Celia Rico Clavellino’s Journey to a Mother’s Room (Viaje al cuarto de una madre)
Valhalla Award for Best Nordic Film: Kasper Torsting’s In Love and War (I krig & kærlighed)
ADL Stand Up Award: Javier Fesser’s Champions (Campeones)
Social Justice Award for Documentary Film: Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei’s Laila at the Bridge

Three awards were handed out for short films. The Bruce Corwin Award for Best Live Action Short Film went to Christopher Wollebekk’s My Brother Amal (Min bror Amal). The Jury remarked “My Brother Amal displayed shining performances, brilliant directing and quite simply – it made us feel.“ The Bruce Corwin Award for Best Animated Short Film went to Rachel Johnson’s Henrietta Bulkowski. The Jury awarded the film “for it’s inventive story, craft and heart – it is a film that sticks in your mind long after you see it.“ Best Documentary Short Film was awarded to Leslie Iwerks’s Selling Lies. The Jury called the film “eye opening and chilling, Selling Lies clarified, disturbed and shifted our perspective.”

Sponsored by SEE International, the Best Documentary Film Award went to Johnny Sweet’s Quiet Storm: The Ron Artest Story. The jury remarked that “The power of this Doc cannot be denied, a testament to it’s subject and all involved. The gathering of top notch Interviewees and historical footage, the editing, camera, sound, all make for perfectly paced and gripping film.”Bettina Oberli’s With the Wind (Le vent tourne) is the recipient of the Jeffrey C. Barbakow Award for Best International Film. The Jury remarked that “With extraordinary moments of natural life beautifully captured, and equal portions dystopic nightmare, director Bettina Oberli’s eulogy for luddite optimism acknowledges that only part of us is sane and wanting for creation, while simultaneously exists an opposing primal need to burn one’s own house down until the foundations are blackened.”

Sam Friedlander’s Babysplitters took home the Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema. The Jury remarked that “Babysplitters was presented to the festival as a work in progress. Even so, we appreciated the strong comic timing, the good heart, and a  slew of laugh-out-loud moments.  With some editorial discipline, this has the potential to become a true comic treat.”

The Nueva Vision Award for Spain/Latin America Cinema went to Celia Rico Clavellino’s Journey to a Mother’s Room (Viaje al cuarto de una madre). The Jury remarked that the film “A very delicately composed film. Beguilingly simple in it’s reach yet totally engrossing. Beautiful to look at, beautifully acted.”

The Valhalla Award for Best Nordic Film was awarded to Kasper Torsting ‘s In Love and War (I krig & kærlighed). The Jury remarked that the film “Intricate tale of the anguish of war. Totally unpredictable, highly original. Amazing Photography, editing and acting.”

Sponsored by Santa Barbara and Tri-Counties ADL, The ADL Stand Up Award went to Javier Fesser’s Champions (Campeones). “Campeones champions the value of inclusion, which is a touchstone of ADL’s worldwide effort to embrace diversity, to foster mutual respect, and to fight hate,” said Regional Director, Cyndi Silverman. “This is also a film about community,” she continued, “and we are thrilled for our community to see it.”

The Social Justice Award for Documentary Film went to Elizabeth Mirzaei and Gulistan Mirzaei’s Laila at the Bridge. The jury remarked that “The filmmaker’s access to life and death events that unfolded right in front of our eyes, the personal force and dynamism of Laila fighting the powers that control money and drugs in Afghanistan on behalf of the addicts kept us riveted. Laila’s openness and deep understanding of addiction combined with the horror of the police keeping the addicts under a bridge and letting them die there was astounding.”

The Audience Choice Award sponsored by the Santa Barbara Independent went to Kasper Torsting’s In Love and War (I krig & kærlighed). 1917: A Danish soldier fighting under the German regime fakes his own death to escape the horrors in the trenches and return to his wife and son—only to find that everything has changed.

ABOUT THE SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and educational organization dedicated to discovering and showcasing the best in independent and international cinema. Over the past 33 years, SBIFF has become one of the leading film festivals in the United States – attracting 95,000 attendees and offering 11 days of 200+ films, tributes and symposiums, fulfilling their mission to engage, enrich, and inspire the Santa Barbara community through film.

Sponsors of the 34th SBIFF include: UGG®, Toyota Mirai, Belvedere Vodka, City of Santa Barbara, Amazon Studios,  ADL, Montecito Bank & Trust, IMDbPro, Union Bank, Driscoll’s, Santa Barbara Vintners Foundation, Bentson Foundation, SEE International, Manitou Fund, Patagonia, Winchester Mystery House, Netflix, Mary Beth Riordan, Lynda Weinman & Bruce Heavin, Volentine Family Foundation, and many more supporting through trade.

SBIFF continues its commitment to education and the community throughout many free educational programs and events. In June 2016, SBIFF entered a new era with the acquisition of the historic and beloved Riviera Theatre. After a capital campaign and renovation, the theatre is now SBIFF’s new state-of-the-art, year-round home, showing new international and independent films every day.

Posted by Larry Gleeson

Virtuosos Award presented to Sam Elliott, Claire Foy, John David Washington, and more

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (February 6, 2019) – The 34th Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) continued its tribute series with the presentation of the Virtuosos Award presented by Ugg, which recognizes a select group of talent whose noteworthy performances in film have elevated them into the national cinematic dialogue.

This year’s honorees included: Yalitza Aparicio (Roma) Sam Elliott (A Star is Born), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade) Claire Foy (First Man), Richard E. Grant (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie (Leave No Trace), John David Washington (BlacKkKlansman) and Steven Yeun (Burning).

Prior to being presented with their awards, each honoree engaged in a one-on-one discussion with Turner Classic Movies host Dave Karger. The one-on-one discussions were followed by a panel discussion, also moderated by Karger.

The evening was full of warmth and laughter and the the utmost appreciation for legend Elliott, who received a standing ovation upon taking the stage.

The most memorable moment of the evening took place during the full panel when Karger asked each honoree to name an actor with whom they feel they would have an amazing rapport. Washington immediately responded with “Beyoncé,” put down the microphone, and pretended to walk away. The entire panel and audience broke out into laughter. After a few moments of contemplation, Yeun, Grant, Foy, Fisher, and McKenzie decided to give the same answer as Washington. Elliott, however, continued to hold out and when he gave his answer it caught everyone by surprise. “I’d like to work with Claire Foy,” he finally said. The audience cheered and applauded and Foy exclaimed with a smile, “Good god. Oh my god. I actually think I’m blushing.

Additional highlights from the evening include:

Steven Yeun on the ambiguity of Burning:

When asked about people’s reactions to the film – particularly the ending, which is very ambiguous – Yeun told Karger: “To me Director Lee’s films have always been a way of reflecting the world back at the viewer. I think what we were all trying to go for was an openness…to tell you a story that you kind of direct, that you impose what these people are and what they did.”

John David Washington on how he came to work with Spike Lee:

Washington recounted how Spike reached out to him with the project out of the blue. “It was almost like we were working already,” he mused. “I got a text message from a number I didn’t recognize, and it read, ‘Yo this Spike. Call me.’”

Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie on acting:

McKenzie spoke at length about acting as a profession, which included noting how: “It’s not just putting on a performance; it’s not faking; it’s being; it’s sharing true emotions; and it’s an opportunity to make a difference and to tell really important stories.”

Richard E. Grant on working with Melissa McCarthy:

Grant said it took “3.5 nanoseconds” for him to know that working with Melissa McCarthy would be great. “We met on a Friday, two years ago in New York in January, and we had two hours together to talk through the scenes in the movie,” he recalled. “I asked her if she was a method actress and she said no; and she said, are you a method actor, and I said no. So we started talking about wigs, and teeth, and costumes, and where our characters lived, and grew up, and what their sex lives were, and then we’re off and running.” He joked: “We started shooting on a Monday and she’s have my twins in August.”

Claire Foy (First Man) on channeling emotion while acting:

“I feel that I never want to cheapen someone’s real life experience,” she told Karger. Instead of thinking back to a moment in her own life in order to channel a particular type of emotion into a scene, Foy asserted: “I find it moving enough or heartbreaking enough to just think about what someone was going through.”

Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade) on eighth grade vs tenth grade:

Fisher filmed Eighth Grade immediately following her actual eighth grade year in school. She is now in tenth grade and when asked what a film about tenth grade might look like, she contemplated: “Eighth grade is kind of just chaos – it’s like war. But tenth grade is like two summers after the war, where you can still have PTSD from it but you’re a little cooler now.”

Sam Elliott (A Star is Born) on realizing the scope of his role in the final version of the film:

Elliott didn’t realize how substantial his role was in the film until he saw the film at the Toronto International Film Festival. Prior to the screening in Toronto, he had seen a second assembly where, in his own words, “the relationship between Stefani and Bradley was fully blown, the music was fully developed, but the supporting cast really had gotten hit hard in the edit.” Upon seeing the film in Toronto, Elliott recalled: “That was one of the things that got me. Oh, I really am in this movie.”

Stay tuned for more on the hottist ticket in town, the 34th Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Until then…..I’ll see you at the movies!

(Sourced from sbiff.org press release)