Sandra Bullock

OSCAR LOVES SANDY LOVES US: You could be forgiven for mistaking this past weekend’s Academy Awards for the 2010 Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Quite a number of film-fest honorees walked back out onto the red carpet Sunday with Oscars in hand, including best actress Sandra Bullock (shown here with her very own copy of the February 4 Independent) and Santa Barbara resident/best actor Jeff Bridges. Film fest director Roger Durling was not the least bit surprised, chalking up Bullock’s win to playing a real-life character, being a comedienne with acting chops, and striking box-office gold with The Blind Side. But then there’s “the clincher,” says Durling: “Sandra’s self-deprecation and humility, as displayed in this photo — and you have your reason why she was unbeatable.”