Welcome to the Movies

When Let Me Paint My World for You (a world premiere German-Swiss documentary) screens at 8 a.m. on February 5, it will be the first Santa Barbara International Film Festival film in a new era for the Santa Barbara moviegoers, marking the debut of SBIFF’s McHurley Film Center, a state-of-the-art, five-screen multiplex grander than any we’ve ever seen in this town. 

Ironically, days later, there’s another SBIFF world premiere (Feb. 9), of an American documentary called The Last Picture Shows, which filmmaker Rustin Thompson describes as “a journey into the American West on a search for traces of what was once a center of small-town life, the movie theater.” He says it’s “both a eulogy and an elegy for the threatened community experience of gathering in a dark place and watching a film together.”

Thankfully, at least in smallish-town Santa Barbara, that communal movie gathering experience just got a ginormous upgrade.

While the massive renovation of the former Fiesta 5 Theatre project turnaround was impressively fast-tracked — SBIFF acquired the lease in October 2024 and put the final finishing touches on the theater just in time for the 2026 festival this week — no corners were cut to create this elegant new space. The theater is not just spiffed up and red-carpet ready (with a literal tiled red carpet at the entryway), but it also boasts the film industry’s best projection and sound equipment, along with plush new seating, enhanced ADA accessibility, modern HVAC and restrooms, and even a rotating film-themed art gallery.

The ADA enhancements were particularly important to lead donor Nora McNeely Hurley, a longtime SBIFF supporter (she and her husband, Michael Hurley, are the “McHurleys” who have their name on the center) who began to lose her hearing several years ago.

“I have a cochlear implant. I went deaf about 10 years ago. … I think that’s one of the reasons I’m very sensitive to accessibility for people. One of the things we’ve done through the foundation (the Manitou Fund) is supply hearing loop technology for all of the theaters and venues where performances are held, so that people with hearing loss who use cochlear implants or hearing aids are able to attend the performances that they love so much, whether it’s music or cinema or even churches.”

The McHurley Film Center also allows SBIFF to expand its programming from 1,000 to 6,000 screenings annually, pledging as an organization that “every day, we will present an independent film, a foreign film, a retrospective or restoration, a documentary, and a family film.”

“I think this is going to be so fantastic for revitalizing the community, and especially with a focus on the arts that the Music Academy bought the building (the former Forever 21 store) across the street,” said Hurley. “I think it’s really exciting.”

The building itself is also exciting. There are going to be Easter eggs hidden everywhere in the design of the project, said Executive Director Roger Durling when he gave me a hard-hat tour of the building in the fall, before the official ribbon cutting on February 2.

“Each movie theater is going to have a feel for a movie palace or performing arts palace in town. So, like, when you walk into one, it’s going to recall the Arlington Theatre. Another one is going to recall the Marjorie Luke; another one, design wise, is going to look like Granada inside, and then the Riviera and the Lobero — it’s not going to look exactly like them, but you’re going to see the design echoes,” he said.

As a solid proof of concept, SBIFF has successfully operated the Riviera Theatre for nearly a decade, but, as McHurley said, “This new downtown location expands that vision dramatically as a gathering place for our community to be entertained, educated, and inspired.”

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival runs through February 14 and the new Film Center is not missing a beat afterward. Beginning on February 15 is a salute to the work of the late, great Robert Redford, with screenings of some of his most iconic films, including Barefoot in the Park, Ordinary People, The Natural, The Sting, The Way We Were, Jeremiah Johnson, The Candidate, Indecent Proposal, Out of Africa, and Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. 

The McHurley Film Center is located at 916 State Street. See sbifftheatres.com.