Film Artists in the House, in the Flesh

Film Artists in the House, in the Flesh

This Year’s Glittery List of Tribute Evenings at the
Santa Barbara International FilmFestival Includes
Timothée Chalamet, Angelina Jolie, Zoe Saldaña, and a
Rich ‘Virtuosos Award’ Cast

By Josef Woodard | February 5, 2025

Read more of our 2025 SBIFF cover story here.

No small part of the magic and allure of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) comes in the form of celebrities and behind-the-scenes artists arriving in town, in the flesh and in the building. Arlington Theatre tribute evenings have always played a central role in making SBIFF newsworthy in forums, film, and celebrity media (and socials) far beyond the 805.

And on the 805 front, tributes — which often serve as both promotional ops for recent releases and “this is your life” career overviews replete with film reel montages — bring out a broader range of the public. The tribute-goers may or may not be so inclined to sink into the newly opened festival headquarters of the SBIFF Film Center for gorging on actual festival film programming. There’s nothing wrong with just wanting to see what Angelina Jolie or Ariana Grande looks like in person, after all!

A quick glance at the long list of artists toasted over SBIFF’s now four decades embodies a glittering and artistically meritorious slice of modern cinematic life. Among the multitudes visiting SBIFF were Cate Blanchett, Martin Scorsese, Denzel Washington, Clint Eastwood, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Daniel Day-Lewis, Penélope Cruz, Isabelle Huppert, Javier Bardem, Bill Murray, Johnny Depp, Julianne Moore, and countless others. (See the complete list at bit.ly/3EiDuiI.)

This year’s tribute roster again represents many of the finest (and often Oscar-nom-kissed) films of the past year. For celebrity lure value, young and old will flock to catch Timothée Chalamet, on the heels of his triumphant performance as the young Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, and pop star/actress Grande, of Wicked fame, not to mention Zoe Saldaña, the Oscar-nominated star of the Oscar-nom Emilia Pérez. Saldaña, of mega-grossing sci-fi films starting with “A” — the Avengers and the Avatar franchises — has made a splashy impression in the art film world this year. Not to mention, she’s also a Montecito resident.

The symbiotic role and timing of SBIFF with the Oscar machinery is no accident. The festival has, under enterprising executive director Roger Durling’s watch over nearly a quarter-century, become an important stop in the hoopla and promotional fervor leading up to the Academy Awards’ big night. Along with the availability of screen stars, the timing allows access to major figures for the festival’s routinely high-powered, still-to-be-announced Writer and Director panels, along with the Variety Artisans Award evening.

Two of this year’s tribute subjects have dared to fill the shoes of mythic musical artists, and succeeded in their well-researched efforts. Angelina Jolie’s powerful return to a starring film role finds her impressively playing the grand and tempestuous diva soprano Maria Callas, in Maria, earning the Maltin Modern Master Award honor, on February 5. Chalamet’s transformation into Dylan in his still-formulating early days in A Complete Unknown, a project that gained depth through the pandemic-triggered delay, has won mostly high praises (and some grumbling from Dylan purists). Chalamet receives the Arlington Artist of the Year award on February 11 at the Arlington.

Famed British actor Ralph Fiennes, who memorably played a concentration camp commander in Schindler’s List, is earning high praises for his role in a vastly different leadership role — as the organizer of a Pope-seeking mission in the Vatican in Conclave. Fiennes will be given the Outstanding Performer of the Year Award on February 6.

An apt double-play tribute lands at the Arlington on February 13 for a Cinema Vanguard Award evening celebrating Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce, the embattled duo in the crosshairs of Brady Corbet’s stunning film The Brutalist. Playing, respectively, a Jewish architect regaining his bearings after a WWII concentration camp experience and a power-mad and sadistic patron, Brody and Pearce account for one of the most electric pairings from the 2024 film harvest.

Adrian Brody (left) and Guy Pearce | Credit: Courtesy

An unusually star-studded Virtuosos Award panel settles onto the Arlington stage on February 8, including film stars with major musical cred in tow, Grande and Selena Gomez (from Emilia Pérez). Other acclaimed performers and attention-getting newcomers to be feted are the dynamic and fearless Mikey Madison, from the inventive comic thriller Anora; tour de force–maker Kieran Culkin, from A Real Pain; Babygirl’s Harris Dickinson; Karla Sofía Gascón (Emilia Pérez), Clarence Maclin (Sing Sing), and John Magaro (September 5). The starlight continues, as Oscar nominees Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here) and Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice) were added to the Virtuosos just this week.

In a late-breaking and local-colored addition to the SBIFF list, on February 7, actor-director (and Padaro Lane resident) Kevin Costner will have the U.S. premiere of the second installment of his four-film western epic Horizon: An American Saga — Chapter 2, which had its international premiere at the Venice Film Festival after the film’s planned August U.S. release was scrapped. The first “chapter” of the film screens for free at the Arlington at 2 p.m. that day, with the ticketed Chapter 2 premiere to follow at 6 p.m., along with a Q&A with Costner afterward. As a bonus, a screening of a behind-the-scenes doc about the project’s shooting, Beyond the Horizon, will screen at the SBIFF Film Center on February 13 at 8:20 p.m., followed by a Q&A with Costner and the doc’s director, Mark Gillard.

Last but hardly least during SBIFF’s 12-day run this year, Colman Domingo — given an Oscar nom for his work in Sing Sing — receives the Montecito Award on the festival’s penultimate night, February 14. Domingo, the veteran of increasing and deserved acclaim, garnered rave notices for his history-rectifying biopic Rustin as well in The Color Purple in 2023, and continues his upward career mobility with Sing Sing, actually made in 2023 but just released this year.

The tale of the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing prison blends professional actors, with Domingo as its star, along with actual former inmates involved with the program.

As part of the rich SBIFF Cinema Society screening series, which runs year-round at the Riviera, Domingo appeared at a screening in early December, followed by a Q&A where he recalled of his hectic 2023 work schedule: “I was shooting The Color Purple when I was prepping [Sing Sing], and then I was going back to do pickups of Rustin right after. So, I literally only had 18 days. We shot this movie in 18 days! I couldn’t prep the way I usually do. But I also realized I needed to lean into something different, which was I was working with men who had the lived experience of having this program affect them. And they were coming in in a very raw way. They’ve never been on a film set before or anything. And I had to sort of lean into where they were.

“And actually, I believe I started to find many similarities between myself and the character that I was playing in trying to find that man who lives in me, someone who very well could be wrongly accused of something, and then go into prison, and then trying to find art, use art to hang on to their humanity and find light in those dark places.”

Drawing on art to find light in dark places (such as the historic moment we’re presently experiencing under the current commander-in-chief) may be critical to our mental and spiritual health. SBIFF is one bold supplier of light, 40 years into its ambitious adventure.