Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) head Roger Durling this week was named the program director for the American Pavilion (ampav.com) at the Cannes Film Festival. The Pavilion is the communication and hospitality area for Americans at Canneswhich Durling calls “the mothership of all festivals”where panels are held and press, celebrities, and fans hang out. “I can’t believe it,” said Durling, who’s steadily grown SBIFF’s cachet during his four years at the helm. “They actually called me. It’s a huge honor.” Since Cannes is in May, there’s no conflict with the late-January SBIFF. If anything, said Durling, “the profile of our festival is going to be enhanced.” He’s taking SBIFF PR pro Carol Marshall and programmer Jeremy Platt with him to France.

In a somewhat ironic legal motion, Santa Barbara County prosecutors unsuccessfully requested an attorney gag order in the Jesse James Hollywood murder trial. Despite the abundance of publicity leading up to and following Hollywood’s arrest, including the release of the major motion picture Alpha Dogon which deputy district attorney Ron Zonen worked as a consultantJudge Brian Hill ruled that all the pretrial attention has not been prejudicial.

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