SBIFF Day 12 | Adventures in TBA Land
That's a Wrap on the 2025 Santa Barbara International Film Festival for Our Senior Arts Writer
'Out of Plain Site' Q&A | Photo: Peggy Grossman
Wisely, SBIFF opted to keep the final programming day slots open for TBAs — a chance to re-screen films which were so popular they sold-out houses earlier in the festival, along with a few artistic highlights. The list included the film which turned out to be the Audience Choice winner, a long-standing program sponsored by the Independent and a chance for viewers to weight in with voices and votes. Never mind the career critics among us or official jurors. The people have spoken: Out of Plain Sight wins the 2025 prize. (Read Callie Fausey’s story here.)
When I announced the Audience Choice award at Saturday morning’s SBIFF awards breakfast at the El Encanto, I sheepishly admitted to Rosanna Xia, the film’s onscreen anchor and co-director, that I had yet seen the film but would.
And I did, in the third sold-out screening of the festival, yesterday afternoon. And I was mightily impressed. More specifically, I shared in a common response to this much buzzed-about documentary by being at once maddened and saddened by its account of the lingering effects of DDT in our lives and the food chain.
