Tag archives: Roger Durling

Pratt Takes Leading Role in Filmmaking
By Scott Craig   |   February 7, 2023

The Santa Barbra International Film Festival was a small local event when Sean Pratt began working for it two decades ago. Pratt, SBIFF managing director and Westmont adjunct professor, Roger Durling, SBIFF Executive Director, and their team have grown the festival from one featuring adventure-sport and nature films into one of the top 10 in […]

Cinema in Flux
By Lynda Millner   |   July 12, 2022

MClub (Montecito Bank & Trust) met at the Santa Barbara Club for a Lunch and Learn, featuring the executive director of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) Roger Durling. MClub director Maria McCall introduced Roger, who also teaches film at SBCC. For over 30 years the SBIFF has grown to be one of the […]

Great Reads for December
By Leslie Zemeckis   |   December 7, 2021

Whether “naughty” or “nice,” I’ve got something for everyone on your list for the holidays. First, Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Executive Director Roger Durling has a gorgeous coffee-table book called Cinema In Flux: A year of Connecting Through Film, filled with essays and mouthwatering photos of Durling’s movie recommendations, all started during the pandemic. […]

Grateful and Still Going Strong: 4 Questions with Rock Photographer Jay Blakesberg
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 17, 2021

San Francisco-based photographer Jay Blakesberg is a self-confessed Deadhead whose work has appeared everywhere from Rolling Stone, Guitar Player, Relix to Time, and Vanity Fair. Over a 40-plus-year career he has taken pictures of innumerable rock legends, including the Grateful Dead, Phish, Radiohead, Tom Petty, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, The Rolling Stones, and Tom Waits, to […]

Summer in Solvang
By Steven Libowitz   |   June 10, 2021

With the continued easing of pandemic restrictions, PCPA is returning after two summers to the Solvang Festival Theater, the charming outdoor amphitheater in the heart of the Santa Ynez Valley village. The stars will be live on stage as well as visible in the sky above starting in mid-July, when PCPA debuts an original production […]

Chaucer’s Choice
By Steven Libowitz   |   May 13, 2021

The population of western monarch butterflies — the majestic insects that migrate from nearby states to spend the cold months in groves of trees between Marin County and San Diego — has declined more than 99 percent since the 1980s, a dramatic drop that has sadly been verified by their disappearance from our own famous […]

“Climb”
By Lynda Millner   |   April 22, 2021

Who doesn’t like an inspirational story? Climb is a documentary of courage and determination that begins with Neil Myers, who lives in Santa Barbara. It had its world premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. It also won the best documentary in the Sweden Film Awards and has been selected for the Columbia Film […]

SBIFF is Here: Roll Out the Wheels
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 8, 2021

What does one say to welcome filmmakers, stars, and guests to the Santa Barbara International Film Festival this year, the 36th, which holds the strange honor of being the first-ever hybrid event in SBIFF’s history? While movies, tributes, and filmmaker Q&As will all stream online from April 1-10, the only live interaction between people from […]

Race Relations Past and Present
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 26, 2021

Earlier in February, UCSB Arts & Lectures hosted the MacArthur Foundation “Genius Award” playwright-actress Anna Deavere Smith as part of its virtual Race to Justice series. The university’s Department of Theater and Dance closes out the month with a production of Fires in the Mirror: Crown Heights, Brooklyn, and Other Identities, Smith’s groundbreaking one-woman show […]

‘The Shot’ Premieres
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 12, 2021

You could say that Robin Gerber has had a backwards career. After working as a lawyer in Washington, D.C., and then serving as a well-paid Congressional lobbyist for trade unions for 15 years, Gerber, experiencing self-described burnout, junked it all for a life as a writer for newspapers and magazines.  Then her mentor suggested she […]

A Great Montecito Neighbor is Making Stories Matter
By Sharon Byrne   |   December 31, 2020

Last Sunday, community godfather and Christmas Elf Dana Newquist organized the second Montecito-To-Unity toy and fundraising drive and caravan for delivery. A great group met up at the Upper Village in classic cars, ready to donate toys and funds for the second week in a row. Dana asked me to get up on the 1937 […]

Gerri French: Clinical Registered Dietitian and Nutrition Educator
By Leslie Westbrook   |   May 7, 2020

Q. What special memories do you have of Summerland? My fondest memories of the Summerland community come from when I first became a mother. Summerland is a wonderful family town and Summerland Elementary was (and still is) a wonderful school. Families would get together at The Nugget and at the beach. Cafe Luna was a hub, but […]

Focus on Film: Riviera Reaches Out
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 16, 2020

Film is a medium that lends itself perfectly to streaming and other methods of home delivery, perhaps a perfectly-placed panacea during the pandemic, entertainment-wise at least. No one needs an introduction to Netflix, Amazon Prime and the like, but perhaps some prodding is in order to visit our local cinematic specialists. The Santa Barbara International […]

Brad Pitt Tribute
By Lynda Millner   |   January 30, 2020

It had to be the biggest night ever for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) and I’ve been to all 34. This was the evening they honored Brad Pitt with the Maltin Modern Master Award. As I approached the Arlington Theatre the street had been blocked off and there were solid people clear across […]

SBIFF Welcomes Benjamin
By Richard Mineards   |   October 10, 2019

Santa Barbara International Film Festival has hired veteran Benjamin Goedert as its new development director. In his new role, Goedert will be responsible for generating funds to support the fest’s dynamic arts and educational programs through sponsorships, grants and donations. He moved to our tony town 11 years ago to attend City College where he […]

Grand Opening
By Lynda Millner   |   June 27, 2019

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) has expanded to include a 3,600 sq. ft. space at 1313 State Street to be called the Barbakow Family Center for Film Studies or just the Education Center. A place to create and learn thanks to Jeff and Margo Barbakow’s generous support. As executive director Roger Durling showed […]

Lights, Camera, Action
By Richard Mineards   |   June 6, 2019

Cinephiles were out in force when mayor Cathy Murillo opened the Barbakow Family Center for Film Studies, just a tiara’s toss from the Arlington Theatre. The 3,600 sq. ft. space, formerly the administrative offices of the Granada Theatre, now relocated to the theatre building a block or two down State Street, consists of seven classrooms, […]

Santa Barbara Film Fest
By Lynda Millner   |   February 14, 2019

The show business adage is never follow children or a dog. Glenn Close was definitely up staged by a dog at her tribute during the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF). I’m sure she didn’t mind since it was her own dog, Pip, who sneaked out of the green room and came prancing out on […]

Lights, Camera, Action
By Lynda Millner   |   February 15, 2018

Now that the Santa Barbara International Film Festival ((SBIFF) red carpet is rolled up and put away for another year, it might be fun to turn the clock back and remember how it was. Long before there was a SBIFF, Santa Barbara was the first film capital of the west and the largest in the […]