familia Filmica
If it weren’t for the Toronto Film Festival, the average American never would’ve heard of Y Tu Mam¡ Tambien or its talented and eye-pleasing star Gael Garc-a Bernal.
Year: 2006
Eastern Exposure
“I love the Cult Asian stuff,” said SBIFF program manager Cevin Cathell, who had a former life as a real film producer. “Maybe it’s because it comes out of cultures,” she said, picking her words carefully, “where the accent is on trying to be so homogenous and mannerly. Whatever it is, these are very strange films and almost all of them are beautiful.”
Toujours Auteur
Once it ruled the art house, or so it seemed. This was the French film, from Renoir to Resnais: movies that seemed uniformly aesthetic, handsome men and iconic female beauties in adult situations worthy of a nation that spawned Flaubert, Folies Bergre, and Emile Zola-yet riddled with contrasts.
Extra Inclusive
When it comes to showing the work of local filmmakers, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival has to be the most inclusive festival in the world.
Shop Talking
Looking at the matter of close encounters with the film medium and industry at the Film Festival, celebrity tributes are fine and good, and help give the festival publicity-generating glitz.
Adventures in Gearhead Paradise
From the Ocean Bottom to Mars with James Cameron – I’m on my way there now, right after these interviews are over,” said James Cameron about his home in Hollister Ranch, that paradise of cowboy surfers and rock poets like Brown and Crosby.
Earthly Delights
Last year, the Reel Nature series of the Film Fest was very much a “side” bar-all of its screenings were at the Museum of Natural History, which is decidedly off the fest’s downtown circuit.
Virgin Voyages
Any veteran film festivalgoer knows that the World Premiere designation before a film is a broad and uneven category. It’s no guarantee of quality, and may, in fact, be a tip-off for a film going straight to video, or worse. In the festival world-especially beneath the tightly curated upper echelon of festivals-world premiere may be a code word for “last stop before oblivion.” Suffice to say, some of the bleakest moments in our own Film Fest history have occurred at “world premiere” events.
By George, He’s Got It!
Roger Durling Chats Movies and Life with George Clooney. It’s been quite a year for George Clooney, from writing, directing, and acting in the acclaimed Ed Murrow vs. Senator Joseph McCarthy black-and-white epic Good Night, and Good Luck to his dedicated onscreen work – weight gain, bad injury, and all – in the controversial Syriana, a film about going to war over oil.
Quote of the Week
”Healthcare? Helthcare’s a mess and he brags about it. I sat with pharmacists in Santa Maria; a nurse broke down and cried it was so bad.”
–Congresswoman Lois Caps reacts to President George W. Bush’s State of the Union Address.
