Indie Film Gets Its Spotlight, Third Time Around

The third annual edition of the Santa Barbara Indie Film Fest hits our town September 19-21 at the small but atmospheric and historic Alhecama Theatre. Wisely, the festival — launched by locally grown filmmaker and cineaste Dave Haws — doesn’t officially use the boldly branded “SBIFF” (as in the venerable Santa Barbara International Film Festival) name as an acronym-moniker.

But Haws says his hope is that it can be considered an alternative or fringe festival to the SBIFF mothership, akin to the symbiotic relationship of the prominent Sundance festival to its grassroots upstart across town, the Slamdance festival. He sees the “dance” fests in Utah “as a model of how the two festivals can coexist.” 

Speaking about the origins of his festival project, Haws says, “I wanted to create a smaller and more intimate film festival than the bigger festival (SBIFF) here in town. They have grown to be one of the top film festivals in the nation, if not the world, and I wanted to focus on truly independent, local, and youth filmmakers that might get lost in the shuffle of the bigger festivals, and I want to give them a platform to showcase their work.

“Santa Barbara has a great arts scene, and I think that adding a small film festival like the S.B. Indie Film Fest is a ‘yin’ to the ‘yang’ of other festivals here in town. You won’t see Timothée Chalamet or Adrien Brody, but you will have a chance to sit down with the filmmakers of this festival and have a one-on-one conversation with them after their movie plays.”

Having visited last year, I was impressed with the festival operation, its vibe and the caliber and creative resourcefulness of films screened. Of the handful of films I caught among this year’s total 41 films in diverse genres and styles, the generally sturdy artistic trend continues. 

Of particular interest is Yvonne Huff Lee’s film Ownership, a cleverly constructed 30-minute short touching on themes of generational trauma surrounding slavery and various meanings of the term “ownership,” made with strong production values and a persuasive cast. Jack Serra’s Generation Well takes a rough-edged montage approach to the tale of recovery, and Patrick Pizzolorusso’s Battle of L.A. is a quirky but innocent and affable black-and-white retro-sci-fi short.

From the 805 filmmaker crop, Ryan W. Murphy’s Ventura Nights is a fascinating doc about the people, scenes, and machines in the subculture of dirt car racing at the Ventura County Fairgrounds, where one veteran comments that there’s “no place in the country where you can watch people race and watch people surf at the same time … that makes this place unique.” Janelle Christa’s Liminal is a noir-ishly literate tale of a carousing man’s descent. “In the liminal space,” he ominously intones in voiceover, “you meet your shadow. It’s you, but it’s not you. It’s everything you’ve ever denied, every dark impulse you’ve suppressed. Demons circle like vultures, but are they here to torment, or to teach?”

Although I didn’t catch the film, good buzz is afoot about the festival’s closing film, Santa Barbara–based Dutchman Jorrit van der Kool’s The Golden Hours, a coming-of-age feature starring local high schooler Aislinn Wilson. 

Local films are a strong component in the program, along with other local angles. Haws’s own passion for cinema dates back to a job he had at the Paseo Nuevo theater after graduating from San Marcos High School. “I fell in love with movies,” he says, “and I decided to pursue a career in filmmaking. I moved to L.A. and chased my dreams.” 

Subsequently, he has worked in camera and lighting departments on many films and television jobs, including 2009’s Star Trek, Little Fockers, and Deadwood: The Movie, and TV’s CSI: Miami. Recently, Haws served as producer and cinematographer on Committee Animal, a new film by Santa Barbara filmmaker Robert Redfield. Redfield’s popular and groove-machined documentary about Spencer the Gardener, More than Just a Party Band, screened at last year’s Indie Fest.

Still in its fledgling stage, the Santa Barbara Indie Film Festival is definitively a humble affair, with hopes for growth and expansion as it goes. Haws is eager to find sponsors and support from the city and elsewhere to nurture the festival’s future. 

As a final comment, he asserts, “I really want to push the message that this festival is very focused on independent, local, and youth filmmakers. They are the future of cinema, and I am here to promote and foster their growth. 

“In the future, I’d like to expand the festival by having filmmaker workshops and maybe even a summer cinema school for local high school, junior high, and elementary students sponsored by the festival. I love the art of cinema and would love to pass that love along to today’s youth.” 

Santa Barbara Indie Film Fest takes place September 19-21 at the Alhecama Theatre (215-A E. Canon Perdido St.). For the complete schedule and information, see sbindiefilmfest.com.