Yahoo Lifestyle Santa Barbara Film Festival Sets Robust World Premiere Program, Pledges to Aid in L.A. Fire Relief
Roger Durling can’t conceal his excitement for the 40th edition of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
The SBIFF director sees the need for a celebration of art as Los Angeles, 90 minutes or so to the south of Santa Barbara, begins to recover from devastating wildfires that destroyed large areas of the county.
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“It gives you a sense of togetherness, a sense of community, and that’s what we need right now. I have always found that in the most difficult times in my life, film festivals and films have always been a beacon,” Durling says.
SBIFF and Direct Relief are partnering in a response to the wildfires as well, accepting donations for relief and putting up a $100,000 matching grant. “We’re going to be printing limited edition 40th anniversary T-shirts, and then all the funds from the merchandise will go towards the Direct Relief fund,” he says.
This year the festival will add an extra day to celebrate its milestone anniversary and will screen 33 world premieres — with 52% of the films directed by women — as well as a robust selection of shorts.
The festival, which runs Feb. 4-15, opens with the U.S. premiere of “Jane Austen Wrecked My Life,” written and directed by Laura Piani, who will attend the screening and conduct a Q&A. The lineup includes films from 60 countries, including festival circuit faves such as “The Penguin Lessons,” directed by Peter Cattaneo (Spain, U.K.); “Balomanía,” directed by Sissel Morell Dargis (Denmark, Spain); “Democracy Under Siege,” directed by Laura Nix (Belgium, Luxembourg, U.S.); “Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight,” the directorial debut of actor Embeth Davidtz (South Africa); “The Good Teacher,” from Teddy Lussi-Modeste (France); and “Seeking a Haven for Mr. Rambo,” directed by Khaled Mansour (Egypt).
Fest closes with the U.S. bow of “A Missing Part,” written and directed by Guillaume Senez.
Stars scheduled to appear at SBIFF include Angelina Jolie (”Maria”), Ralph Fiennes (“Conclave”), Zoe Saldaña (“Emilia Pérez”), Timothée Chalamet (“A Complete Unknown”), Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce (“The Brutalist”), Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing”), Kieran Culkin (“A Real Pain”), Harris Dickinson (“Babygirl”), Selena Gomez (“Emilia Pérez”), Ariana Grande (“Wicked”), Clarence Maclin (“Sing Sing”), Mickey Madison (“Anora”) and John Magaro (“September 5”).
There are also free family films and free filmmaker seminars on the festival slate. The entire program can be found on the SBIFF app.
While the panels featuring the 2025 Oscar-nominated directors, writers, producers and animators are a huge draw, Durling says that his favorite part of the festival is the day it plays host to 5,000 elementary school students from north Santa Barbara County for a screening — this year, it’s DreamWorks Animation’s “The Wild Robot.” This event ties in with the festival’s year-round education and screening programs.
Durling notes that the SBIFF has done 60 Academy screenings since September “because we have about 200 Academy members locally.”
“You would imagine that after 20 years [at the festival], I would start getting tired, but it’s the opposite; I am so fired up,” Durling says, enthusing about the organization’s theaters – especially the Film Center space — and many education programs.
“When everybody thinks about Santa Barbara, they just think about the big tributes and the panels, which are Oscar-oriented. But behind the curtain, there’s quite a lot for cinephiles, and it’s a blast. We have six screens at our disposal for year-round programming. I think that the secret sauce to our longevity is the year-round programming.”
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