Dear Cinephiles, “Time is what you make of it. Time is unbiased. Time is lost. Time flies. This situation has just been a long time. A really long time,” Justus Rich says about his family’s twenty year wait for dad to be freed from incarceration. Last week the...
Dear Cinephiles, “You can’t judge them by the way they look.” The big mistrust and division between our two political parties has been at the forefront of the news, alongside Georgia’s sudden, extreme political importance – and all year we’ve been hearing about...
Dear Cinephiles, “Look it, I thought I was supposed to be getting a change of scenery, and so far, I’ve been in a train and a room, and a car and a room, and a room and a room. Well maybe that’s alright for a bunch of powdered geegaws like you lot, but I’m feeling...
Dear Cinephiles, Richard Schultz: “Sir, there are people who will see this as the Justice Department restraining free speech, and there were people who see these men as martyrs.” One of the best movies of 2020 hands down is Aaron Sorkin’s head-spinningly timely and...
Dear Cinephiles, “One day, in a week, a month, a year, on that day when God willing, we all return to our homes again, you’re going to feel very proud of what you have achieved here in the face of great adversity,” says Lieutenant Colonel Nicholson in the...
Dear Cinephiles, Chief Bromden: “My pop was real big. He did like he pleased. That’s why everybody worked on him. The last time I seen my father, he was blind in the cedars from drinking. And every time he put the bottle to his mouth, he don’t suck out of it, it sucks...
Dear Cinephiles, “Heathcliff, make the world stop right here. Make everything stop and stand still and never move again. Make the moors never change and you and I never change,” exclaims Catherine in William Wyler’s 1939 adaptation of Emily Bronte’s gothic romance...
Dear Cinephiles, “I think the reason why Mommy left… was because for a long time… I kept trying to make her be a certain kind of person. A certain kind of wife that I thought she was supposed to be. And she just wasn’t like that,” explains Ted Kramer to...
Dear Cinephiles, “The only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball,” says Annie Savoy in the sexy, smart and humorous “Bull Durham” (1988). It happens to be in my opinion the best baseball movie – and a very entertaining film for...
Dear Cinephiles, “It doesn’t make sense to leave home to look for home, to give up a life to find a new life, to say goodbye to friends you love just to make new friends,” says Curt in the still splendid classic “American Graffiti” (1973) co-written and directed by...
Dear Cinephiles, “Oh, We’ll arrange it somehow. Whatever way we can and we’ll have such wonderful times together,” says Angela Vickers in the classic “A Place in the Sun” (1951). The scene in which she utters those words is one moment in cinema history that stops me...
Dear Cinephiles, “For the first time in the history of our country, a majority of our people believe, that the next five years, will be worse than the past five years. We were taught that our armies were always invincible and our causes were always just, only to...
Dear Cinephiles, “Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone, prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,” is a line from a poem by W.H. Auden that is read to express the character’s weariness in the irresistible “Four Weddings and a Funeral” (1994). It’s a rare...
Dear Cinephiles, “Is he ignorant or just plain evil?,” says Emily Tetherow about the guide Stephen Meek who has led several families into a disastrous journey through the Oregon desert in Kelly Reichardt’s “Meek’s Cuttoff” (2011). I usually tell my students that...
Dear Cinephiles, The movie I am recommending you today is total perfection. It’s a cinematic kiss. One that will wake you out of any malaise or dissatisfaction you’ve been under. “Best thing I know is to do exactly what you wish for a while,” Dr. Bonnachoven...
Dear Cinephiles, “And would you consider pride a fault or a virtue?” asks Elizabeth from Mr. Darcy. “Maybe it’s that I find it hard to forgive the follies and vices of others, or their offenses against me. My good opinion, once lost, is lost forever,” he answers. I...
Dear Cinephiles, I have this summer ritual of going to the Arlington with the staff and watching a big film on opening day – with the largest refillable tub of popcorn. We sit towards the front of the theatre – totally submerged in cinema. Summertime for most of...
Dear Cinephiles, My staff unanimously urged me to pick John Carpenter’s “Escape from New York” (1981) for today. Keep in mind this is the second Carpenter movie I have recommended and another one starring Kurt Russell. One of my colleagues enthusiastically proclaimed...
Dear Cinephiles, “I don’t know what it is.,” explains Nyles to Sarah. “It could be death. It might be a dream. I may be imagining you. You might be imagining me. This could be purgatory or a glitch in the simulation we’re both in, I don’t know. So, I decided a while...
Dear Cinephiles, “Doesn’t a country need to have someone in charge who can see it through these periods of crisis, a leader capable of guiding us through the bad seasons as well as the good?,” TV host Gary Burns asks the main character Chance Gardiner in the...
Dear Cinephiles, If you’re like me, attempting to stay optimistic and counting your blessings – any bit of positive news helps. Lo and behold I sat down to watch “The Vast of Night” this Saturday night – purely for distraction – and I got this rush of excitement –...
Dear Cinephiles, Sydney Poitier became the first African American to win the Academy Award for Best Actor in 1964 for “Lilies of the Field.” It is one of the gentlest movies I’ve seen in a long time – and I mean that in the best possible way. The film – simple...
Dear Cinephiles, “This land that would never be theirs. They worked until they sweated. They sweated until they bled. They bled until they died. Died with the dirt of this same 200 acres under their fingernails. Died clawing at the hard, brown back that would never be...
Dear Cinephiles, “Black Swan” (2010) has only gotten more essential than ever. When I recently sat down to see it again, I was jubilated to uncover deeper themes and ideas than when I first saw this dazzling psychological ‘horror’ film directed by Darren Aronofsky. To...
Dear Cinephiles, Tarantino movies are textured both in style and in storytelling. He’s obsessed with movies – and he creates works that are both a celebration – and their own unique astounding inventions. Every film he’s done he’s attempted to move the needle forward...
Dear Cinephiles, On a recent evening I wanted to see an old-fashioned action movie. Little did I know I was going to stumble into the ultimate movie for these trying days – “The Fugitive.” Unpredictably, I was relating so deeply with Dr. Richard Kimble who finds...
Welcome SBIFF Volunteers! 39th Santa Barbara International Film Festival February 7 – 17, 2024 Volunteer Orientation and Trainings: January 24th: Tributes Training @ 5:30PM-6:30PM January 25th: New Volunteers Kickoff Training @ 5:30PM-6:30PM...
Frequently Asked Questions BOX OFFICE/WILL CALL All purchases for the SBIFF are available for pickup at will call, orders will not be mailed. Ticketing Office at SBIFF’s Education Center 1330 State Street Suite 101 Monday, February 3 – Saturday, February...
10-10-10 SCREENWRITING AND FILMMAKING MENTORSHIP AND COMPETITION Sponsored by Click Here To Support SBIFF’s Student Filmmaker Mentorship Program Each year, SBIFF offers an outstanding, five month-long filmmaking program to 20 local students. We pair 10 high school and...
