Film Unites | A Healthy Downpour of Film Festival Action, in Progress

Film Unites | A Healthy Downpour
of Film Festival Action,
in Progress

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival,
at Its Mid-Point, Is a Rich and Varied
40th Birthday Celebration

by Josef Woodard | February 13, 2025

“I think we can all recognize that weird, uncomfortable current that runs through us when a film grabs our soul, our sense of reality, our sense of fantasy, and all the stuff that we’re not conscious of. I live for that, as an actor, or as a member of the audience — what we can feel, what we can communicate and witness together.” 

That eloquent acceptance speech by Ralph Fiennes, granted the Outstanding Performer of the Year award for his role in Conclave, offered a thematic thesis for the 40th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF).

Handed the trophy by Conclave director Edward Berger, Fiennes said, “I value the transformative power of art — low or high art — the art of storytelling, that mysterious moment when a story links us.” He spoke articulately, as he had all evening, about the power of art and storytelling to unite us, while doing just that for the full house of film fans.

He waited a beat, then concluded: “Thank you again, and enjoy the rain.”

Yes, the rains did arrive in the first wave of the festival program, and just in time. What better excuse to hunker down in the inside sport of watching films from around the world and filmmakers, live and in person? But to the larger point Fiennes makes, the engagement in the art of cinema — especially as a public big-screen event involving a gathering of friends and strangers — is a precious cultural boon. It’s well worth staging major festivals about, and it circles around the mantra-like phrase we hear emanating from longtime SBIFF head Roger Durling, in his pre-film introductory trailer, not to mention emblazoned on the special 40th anniversary T-shirts: “Film Unites.”

Of course, film also divides — in a healthy way. Tastes vary according to life mileage, demographics, and other factors, but that’s what makes a willfully diverse, well-rounded festival such as SBIFF so vibrant and multi-serving.

One of the distinctive factors marking SBIFF this year is an inspiring housewarming. With the recent acquisition of the SBIFF Film Center (formerly the Fiesta 5), there is a new festival hub in town, where most of the film programming takes place (along with the wise addition of the prized Riviera Theatre up on the scenic-view-endowed Riviera). For veteran fest-goers, the transition felt a bit odd, after decamping at the previous home of the Metro 4 for many years, but the Film Center is a major step forward and upward, and two blocks closer to the Arlington.

And at the Arlington, star power has been flitting through town in the form of tributes and panels, including the buzzed-about Virtuosos Award night, aimed at emerging talent, young and not-so-young. This especially starry crop included Ariana Grande (Wicked), Selena Gomez (Emilia Pérez), Mikey Madison (Anora), Fernanda Torres (I’m Still Here), Monica Barbaro (Joan Baez in A Complete Unknown), Sing Sing’s Clarence Maclin, John Magaro (September 5), and The Apprentice’s Sebastian Stan.

Kicking off the tribute portion of the festival on February 5 was Angelina Jolie, in the news (but, alas, not Oscar news), for her portrayal of Maria Callas in Maria. As Jolie explained to host Leonard Maltin, in her younger years, “I was really dark, and I think a lot of people related to my work because of that. The darkest moment was when I became famous … celebrity is a silly thing.”

Fast-forward to the tail end of her acceptance speech, she uttered a line that seemed pointed and all relevant in the current political climate: “We can’t seek to impose systems at the expense of humanity.”

Beyond the Arlington confabs of filmmakers, including the ever-popular Writers Panel and two intriguing new panels — Animation and International Directors — there have been many Q&A sessions after screenings this year, thankfully, putting a face and voice to what we’ve witnessed in the canned medium of film. Feisty actress Melissa Leo spoke about the striking and complicated film about Black experience in America, The Knife. Musician Nick Kelly won points for friendly audacity by bringing along a bicycle and guitar to the Film Center after the screening of his film The Song Cycle, about his adventure biking on a tour to the Glastonbury Festival. The importance of taking small steps to combat climate change, or at least bring awareness of our carbon footprint, is a sub-theme of the trip and the film.

In the Q&A, Kelly commented that “as you get older, as you somehow managed to not become the next U2, and are just demographically unlikely to do that, you can kind of feel, ‘Is there any point at all to what you do?’ Are you just fooling yourself? I started to think that was kind of a parallel about how we feel about climate change and how, even not as artists but as humans as we get older, we feel useless and not able to add much. I don’t believe it, and I think it’s really important. There aren’t enough young people to fix this problem.”

One of the under-sung “stars” of the first half of the festival was Gints Zilbalodis, the Latvian creator of the remarkable and innovative animation film Flow, up for Oscars in both animation and international film categories, and on the SBIFF panels for both. At the Arlington, he talked about the rapidly changing and evolving art of animation as an expressive palette and technology. “Now that you can render reality so easily — I made Flow with free software [Blender] and on PCs — where else can you go?” he wondered. “It is similar to the arrival of photography, which helped inspire painters to explore abstraction. It’s easier to sell a story based on realism, but when it’s more stylized and abstract, things get more interesting.”

This year’s film programming, selected by a team led by critic Claudia Puig, is 185 titles strong and with 52 percent directed by women. It’s a strong crop on the evidence so far, starting at the beginning: Opening night’s film Jane Austen Wrecked My Life was one of the better opening night films and a good omen for what was to come (not always the case in SBIFF’s history). The roster, with crowd pleasers including Shepherds, Hakki, and the lovely adaptation of Finnish writer-illustrator Tove Jansson’s subtle and deep book The Summer Book, featuring Glenn Close, in an understated command performance.

Shared moments with avid filmgoers might touch on memorable moments from particular films, such as a simple shot of two white crocodiles in the simmering and strange Indonesian thriller Crocodile Tears, or the entirety of the Kafka-esque madhouse/hotel in Mr. K, logically starring the delightful, eccentric Crispin Glover.

Politics, a subject that is so oppressive in the real world at present, made its presence known in the reel life in town, in films such as the fine Prague Spring drama Waves and especially in Errol Morris’s thorough examination and righteous damnation of the family separation policy at the border, Separated.

As for the most “filmic film” I caught, I was quite blown away by the clever nonlinear narrative design (shades of Pulp Fiction, minus the laughs) and coolly detached vision of the Lithuanian film Drowning Dry, but I soon learned that not everyone was so impressed. Such is the subjective nature of film appreciation, a central force in the experience of a dense festival such as this. We agree to disagree, if necessary. Speaking of subjective impulses, the bone-deep Neil Young fan in myself and others make watching Daryl Hannah’s beautiful road-show film Coastal a blissful thing from start to finish.

Still to come in the final days of SBIFF @ 40 are tributes to The Brutalist’s Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce (Feb. 13), Colman Domingo (Feb. 14), and the closing night screening of the French film A Missing Part. On the film screening grid, take note that Saturday’s schedule is jam-packed with “TBAs,” a happy thing for catching up on some of the more popular films missed the first time around. 

Scrolling through my copious notes and barely readable scribblings over a handful of days and nights spent in theaters, my Top 10 list of the festival in motion (as of Monday morning) goes something like this: Drowning Dry, Hakki, Coastal, The Summer Book, Shepherds, The Wolves Always Come at Night, Separated, Mr. K, Waves, My Father’s Daughter.