This week, we invite you to our latest cover show exhibit, called Covering 40 Years … of SBIFF. The collection includes more than 50 large prints of cover stories that the Independent published about the festival every year, including the 15 years where the paper ran back-to-back covers. The exhibit reveals how much newspaper design has changed since 1986, and features the extended series of illustrations that graced the Indy’s cover for many years.
In addition to the covers, there are a handful of sidebars to explore, including a display of the many interviews that the Indy’s staff conducted with top actors and directors, such as Cate Blanchett, Glenn Close, Michael B. Jordan, Forest Whitaker, Javier Bardem, and Leonardo DiCaprio. There is a section on SBIFF’s longtime commitment to showing and promoting Santa Barbara’s own filmmakers, and a retrospective of the Meet the Makers series of mini-magazines that the paper published for a few years.
Covering 40 Years … of SBIFF is an extension of the original exhibit Covering 40 Years, which the Independent produced at the Santa Barbara Central Library’s Faulkner Gallery earlier this spring. This exhibit will be on display until November 25, 2026 during the film center’s business hours.
