SBIFF Turns 40: Out of the Fire into the Festival Fryer

The glittery path from Hollywood to Santa Barbara for the annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival got covered with ashes earlier this month from the devastating Los Angeles area wildfires that are still wreaking havoc on the greater community. The concept of rolling out the red carpet might have lost some of its luster, with the fiery color perhaps just a bit too reminiscent of the flames of the last several weeks. 

Announcements both local and Academy Award-related were delayed, schedules slowed down, and there was even a brief consideration of pulling the plug on SBIFF. But organizers wisely decided that there’s no doubt that the 40th anniversary of the festival is well worth celebrating, an artistic and entertaining elixir for our friends and neighbors here and to the south, and a chance for the film industry to escape the smoke and ruins to romp in our seaside burg once again on the American Riviera. The event that started four decades ago as a little weekend gathering to bring visitors to town in mid-winter has become an icon on the now crowded, year-round festival circuit. In the spirit of the entertainment industry’s credo “the show must go on,” SBIFF has put together a festival that will again be a singular highlight on both the cinematic and social calendar. 

The festival gets underway a day early this year, opening at the Arlington on Tuesday, February 4, with the U.S. premiere of Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, a French and English-language romantic comedy written and directed by Laura Piani that previously played at the prestigious Toronto Festival. Agathe is a charmingly clumsy young woman who works at the legendary Shakespeare & Co. bookshop in Paris and dreams of becoming a successful writer as well as experiencing a Jane Austen-like romance. But struggles with writer’s block and being single, both of which get a boost when she gets invited to the Jane Austen Writers’ Residency in England.

“It’s funny, clever and witty, and also romantic as well as beautifully shot,” said Claudia Puig, the film critic who took over as SBIFF’s Programming Director for the 2022 festival. “I think it’s going to be a big crowd pleaser, which is what you want in an opening night film. It fires on all cylinders, the kind of film an audience is drawn to that they might not see elsewhere, but that they end up completely enraptured and enchanted by. The entire programming team saw it and we were all just swooning.” 

The Closing Night film, A Missing Part, which plays at the Arlington on February 15, is also a partly French language film that gets its first U.S. screening after premiering at Toronto. Shot in Japan, the movie is about a French father who has been forcibly separated from his young daughter after a divorce from his Japanese wife due to the country’s custody laws, Puig said. The protagonist is a cab driver (Romain Duris, The Beat That My Heart Skipped) who has taken the job just to drive around hoping to eventually see his daughter. After nine years, she actually gets in the back of his cab one day, but she doesn’t recognize him. 

“It’s a very touching and oftentimes funny and heartfelt film, very well acted and beautifully directed by Guillaume Senez (whose two previous films won Magritte Awards, aka Belgium’s Oscars),” Puig said. “It’s a very artistic, Oscar-caliber film, the kind you might see at a really great art house theater. It ends the festival on a high note as a reminder that you’ve been watching top quality films.” 

In between, Puig said, are scores of “amazing” documentaries, features film, shorts from both the United States and around the world that should captivate, inspire and entertain audiences for the 10-day span. But what she’s most proud of is the fact that more than half of SBIFF’s movies have been directed by women.

“Fifty-two percent!” she exclaimed. “We’ve never had the majority of films directed by a woman before, and it’s very exciting for all of us.” 

Among the female-helmed highlights of the festival is Lilly, starring former Academy Award-nominee Patricia Clarkson (Pieces of April) as Lilly Ledbetter, the Alabama tire factory worker who tenaciously fought monolithic patriarchies for employment justice for women, resulting in landmark legislation. “It’s been getting standing ovations at other festivals, and the director is also a first-time filmmaker, which is very impressive,” Puig said. 

All God’s Children has drawn attention both because of its inspiring subject – chronicling an unprecedented endeavor to heal centuries of racism and antisemitism in Brooklyn communities by attempting to unite the congregations of the largest reform synagogue and the oldest black Baptist Church – and the tragic fact that its director, Ondi Timoner, a two-time winner of the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, just lost her house as well as footage and equipment in Altadena’s Eaton Fire. 

“She’s been the subject of lots of coverage (rather than the film she’s making) recently, but she’s still coming to town to talk about the movie,” Puig said. 

Beyond the screening rooms – SBIFF’s new Film Center at the former Fiesta 5 and, for the first time, its Riviera Theatre – the festival has a plethora of panels, tribute evenings and free seminars, starting February 5 with Modern Master honoree Maria star Angelina Jolie, one of the few award recipients who didn’t claim an Oscar nomination earlier in January. (By our count, 11 of the 20 acting hopefuls, along with a high percentage of writers, producer, director and “below-the-line” filmmakers are coming to SBIFF.) 

Another huge “get”: both Neil Young and the rock singer-songwriter’s wife, actress Daryl Hannah, will be on hand when the Hannah-directed documentary Coastal – a personal, behind-the-scenes road trip and musical journey of Young’s recent solo tour along the coast – premieres at the Riviera on February 7.

Some events are already sold out for single tickets. Visit www.sbiff.org to secure your passes and plan your festival.