Segueing from SBIFF 

What was a singly superb 39th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival ended with a bit of a downer as Annette Bening, announced as the winner of the inaugural Arlington Award – the fest’s newest and the last to be awarded this month – had to cancel the tribute event due to illness. (On the plus side, that made the daily pre-party for passholders at the Arlington courtyard a much smaller, more intimate affair.) 

Bening would have been the final float in a seemingly never-ending parade of Oscar nominees who showed up either to receive or present awards and participate in panels, giving us more than glimpses into their processes and the behind-the-scenes of what goes into making movies. Plus, of course, there were many wonderful films available for viewing from foreign countries and America’s hinterlands that will likely never sniff Academy Award attention but nevertheless raised our collective filmgoing consciousness. 

Academy members are likely aware that final voting for the Oscars begins today. The earlier awards shows continue to solidify the favorites’ positions, although there were some surprises. Oppenheimer was the big winner at BAFTA last weekend, securing seven trophies, including six for folks who the week before appeared at SBIFF. The fest had also featured the other two acting winners (The Holdovers’ Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Poor Things’ Emma Stone), but Killers of the Flower Moon, Maestro,and Barbie went home empty. Check this space again in two weeks for my annual SBIFF @ The Oscars preview. 

Even with SBIFF saying sayonara, special screenings continue in town, with a new venue for More than Just a Party Band, Robert Redfield’s career-spanning doc about Spencer Barnitz, showing February 24 at Alhecama Theatre, just across the street from Barnitz’ longtime digs… Another much-beloved festival takes over the Arlington for two days February 27-28 as the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour arrives for its annual screening of short films covering all things mountains and woodsy… And UCSB’s Pollock Theater maintains its movie star quotient, following up last month’s chat with Meg Ryan on When Harry Met Sally with a Feb. 29 appearance by husband-and-wife Joel Coen and Frances McDormand following a screening of 2021’s The Tragedy of Macbeth, directed by former and starring the latter. 

Back in SBIFF-land, you can also fight festival withdrawal by heading over to the Riviera to immerse in screenings of all the Oscar-nominated shorts in three installments covering animation, live action and documentary, most of which didn’t show at the festival itself, through February 29. Or secure a pass to the annual French Wave Film Festival returning to the Riviera in July, now on sale at a discount.