SBIFF Film Talk

The Riviera Theatre is once again closed due to concerns about the spread of COVID-19, and online screenings of new arts films have also come to a close, or at least hasn’t ramped up again as the new closures aren’t in effect nationwide. So turning even more local, SBIFF has segued into a new online series of screenings and discussions between SBIFF programmers and filmmakers.

The series will focus at first on short films made by local directors and writers, with each weekly session featuring an online screening followed by a live virtual conversation with the filmmaker. Think of it as a localized twist of SBIFF’s wildly popular and influential Cinema Society screenings, which preview important upcoming films followed by Q&A sessions with directors, producers, writers and actors. SBIFF’s first installment of Film Talk takes place at 6 pm Thursday, July 23, with a discussion with Casey McGarry about his short documentary Grasshopper for Grandpa, which tells the story of the beloved restaurant and bar Jimmy’s Oriental Gardens and, through the tales of the popular watering hole, the history of Santa Barbara’s Chinatown. Visit https://sbiff.org/filmtalk for the screening link and the registration page for the Zoom chat.