For the Love of Film
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Executive Director Roger Durling Shares
Some Insights on the 40th Edition of SBIFF
By Leslie Dinaberg | February 5, 2025

Read more of our 2025 SBIFF cover story here.
As the 40th anniversary of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) hits the town this week with an impressive lineup of celebrity star power and cinematic diversity, Executive Director Roger Durling is even more excited about another milestone: For the first time ever, SBIFF will be using its own facilities to screen the majority of films at the festival.
“The biggest new thing is that we have our own venue, which I can’t believe that even me saying that OUT LOUD is real,” said Durling, with his trademark Energizer Bunny enthusiasm. “For the whole history of the festival, we’ve been dependent on renting venues [and they’re still renting the Arlington], but now we have a home and we have a place. It’s ours. That, to me, is the biggest thing and the fact that it’s the 40th anniversary and we have a home is surreal. I’m pinching myself.”
The SBIFF Film Center (formerly the Fiesta 5 multiplex) has been spruced up and operating beyond Durling’s dreams for several months. “It’s been cooking with gas,” he said. “It’s so insane, the turnout … I thought it was going to be gradual, but people have really been loving it.”
He’s quick to add that they’re just getting started in terms of upgrades. “We spruced it up. But a year from now, it will be incredibly more spruced up. It’s gonna be a jewel. Imagine the Rivera Theatre times five, downtown.”

The Riviera is indeed a gem — with the best sound, seats, and screen in Santa Barbara by far — and this year, SBIFF is using the theater for the festival for the first time. For those who only want to see films there, there will be 55 showing from February 4 to 15, with approximately five screenings per day, and SBIFF has a new Riviera Pass that grants moviegoers first admission to all of them. There will be filmmaker Q&As there along with the screenings, said Durling.
Also new this year is having the Marjorie Luke Theatre as the home of the free AppleBox family movies, including February 8 screenings of Inside Out 2 (10 a.m.) and Flow (2 p.m.), and February 15 screenings of Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (10 a.m.) and The Wild Robot (2 p.m.). “I just love that location for families from the Eastside,” said Durling.
Daytime at the Arlington Theatre will also be primarily reserved for free film screenings, followed by filmmaker Q&As. See sbiff.org/free-films for the schedule, which is still being added to. Already on the bill are Horizon: An American Saga–Chapter 1, on February 7 at 2 p.m. (with a ticketed evening event featuring Chapter 2 followed by a Q&A with director/star Kevin Costner); A Complete Unknown, on February 11 at 2 p.m.; and Emilia Pérez on February 12 at 11 a.m.
In light of the tragic wildfires in and around Los Angeles, SBIFF is partnering with Direct Relief this year to raise funds for those affected — they have already secured a $100,000 matching grant — and is dedicating this year’s festival to the City of Angels, including the creation of a limited-edition commemorative T-shirt, the proceeds of which will go toward wildfire-related assistance. The slogan for that T-shirt is “Films Unite.”
As a reporter and SBIFF audience member for the majority of Durling’s 24-year tenure at the helm, one of the things I’ve seen evolve the most over the years is Durling’s skill as an interviewer. “When I first started doing the Q&As, I was so nervous,” he said, “because I knew that I was asking skewed questions, things that are out of the norm. Then what started happening was the reaction of the artist. They were like, ‘Wow, I’ve never been asked this. It’s a really interesting approach.’ I think eventually, the response started building my confidence.”
He continued, “My confidence has been built to the point that I just own it. I was so insecure; taking over the film festival was such a big undertaking. And I lacked a lot of confidence. But for all the lack of confidence that I had, I believed 100 percent in that I knew how to do things. … I totally knew what needed to be done, and I stuck to my guns. I still stick to my guns.”

It’s a vision that’s paid off. The 2025 SBIFF will showcase 33 world premieres and 74 U.S. premieres from 60 countries with 52 percent of films directed by women, along with celebrity tributes, panel discussions, and free community education and outreach programs.
Among the always-worthwhile industry panels this year is a new one on animation, which Durling will moderate on February 5 at 5 p.m. at the SBIFF Film Center. “That’s my baby,” said Durling of the new panel. “It’s been an incredible year in animation, a banner year,” he said, mentioning films such as Flow, Inside Out 2, The Wild Robot, and Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, all of which will be screening for free as part of the AppleBox family programming.
Durling is also particularly proud of the Variety Artisans Award, which takes place on February 8.
“People’s awareness of below-the-line work … that’s the part that it’s always fascinated me about film. It is a team effort that gets a film done. And everybody has always been infatuated with the director or the big star, but all these artists, you know, it’s a collaborative work, and the artist is part of that. … I think that in the past few years, people are starting to understand that, and I’m glad that we’re able to celebrate that aspect of film.”
Last year’s award honored Billie Eilish, a huge draw for a young crowd. “There were all these screaming teenagers freaking out about Billie Eilish,” said Durling. “But then we placed Eilish not at the front of the program but later in the program, and they had to sit through listening to costume designers and production designers. And I kept hearing, ‘That was so cool. Not just Billie, but we learned all this other stuff about filmmaking.’ It was great.”
He continued, “That was incredibly rewarding. The same thing with the panels, in general, when we took over the festival and we started growing these panels, you know, they were small in attendance, and now they’re at the forefront, the most important. Which leads me to: I see this festival as an educational tool, not just directly to students, but to everybody. That’s always been the driving force. How can we use the festival to educate people and field trip to the movies — we’re bussing 4,000 kids, prioritizing Santa Maria area, the Title I schools up there, bussing them for 45 minutes, and a lot of the kids, it’s the first time they see a film in a big theater. For them to listen to filmmakers talk about their work is extraordinary.”
He added, “We also have a Film Studies program where we fly in and house and take care of 30 students from colleges across the country, and we have a curriculum for them. We prioritize students that don’t have access to a big city or a big film festival, or don’t have a film studies program at their college. And this year, because it’s the 40th, we went from 30 to 40 students.
“It’s like using the festival as a classroom setting.”
Spreading that love of movies truly is what it’s all about.
For the complete list of films and events see sbiff.org. And check our daily reports online at independent.com/category/arts-entertainment/sbiff frequently as additions and updates will occur throughout the festival February 4-15.
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