Calling All Film Lovers

Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Is a Fabulous Feast

By Leslie Dinaberg & Josef Woodard
February 5, 2026

After months of preparation and anticipation, the 41st edition of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is finally in the house — a beautiful new house — with the opening of the SBIFF McHurley Film Center at 916 State Street. The festival has always brought a vibrant buzz of excitement to downtown Santa Barbara, but it’s even more exciting with the opening of a grand, state-of-the-art movie palace this year. There’s also no shortage of starry tributes, excellent panels, educational programs, and oh so many films from oh so many places.

There’s a Julian Schnabel Retrospective and the U.S. premiere of his new film, In the Hand of Dante, as well as 46 world premieres and 80 U.S. premieres from 50 countries — with 50 percent of all films directed by women.

Among those films are four features from Santa Barbara filmmakers: Joshua Pomer’s surf film Eternal Stoke; Dale Griffiths Stamos’s university campus drama Imbalance; Amy Wendel’s Relatively Normal, about a teenager and her dysfunctional family; and the mysterious, magical, music journey of Kerrilee Gore’s Stand By, Mother.

All of this and so much more comes to Santa Barbara February 4-14. We can’t wait to see you at the movies!

The Stars Come Out to Shine at SBIFF

The Dazzling List of Tributes at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival Includes Ethan Hawke, Adam Sandler, Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn, Benicio Del Toro, Stellan Skarsgård, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Hudson,
and an Impressive Cast of ‘Virtuosos’