A Cinematic Spin | Covering ‘40 Years… of SBIFF’

Celebrating four decades of working together to elevate film culture in Santa Barbara, the SBIFF Film Center has a cinematic spin on the Santa Barbara Independent’s 40th anniversary celebration with a very special new exhibit — Covering 40 Years… of SBIFF — in the Naomi & Ben Bollag Gallery showcasing the newspaper’s historic film fest coverage since 1986.

This comprehensive collection includes more than 50 large prints of cover stories that the Independent published about the festival every year, including the earliest, grooviest days of the festival. 

Showcasing the impressive array of top actors and directors that have been part of both SBIFF and the Independent, the exhibit is also a visual peek into how much newspaper design has changed since 1986, and spotlights the extended series of illustrations that graced the Indy’s cover for many years. 

The 40-year relationship is still going strong, as longtime arts writer Josef Woodard shared, “the Independent’s first-ever issue featured a page of SBIFF’s selected poster for its second annual fest in 1987. Then, starting with that ’87 affair, the paper devoted at least one cover story per year toward promoting the cinematic showcase.” He should know, Woodard’s been covering the festival for the Indy since day one and continues to be an essential part of our coverage.

In addition to the covers — featuring people like Martin Scorsese, Michael Douglas, Sandra Bullock, Nicole Kidman, Christopher Plummer, George Clooney, and Penelope Cruz — there are a handful of sidebars to explore, including a display of some of the many interviews that the Indy’s staff conducted with big names in the world of film such as Cate Blanchett, Glenn Close, Michael B. Jordan, Forest Whitaker, Javier Bardem, and Leonardo DiCaprio. 

There is also 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. 

Going through the gallery with Ben Bollag, who made a recent $2 million donation to SBIFF, he said that his family’s commitment is to help the revival of State Street. “The reason why we chose the Film Center, is our recognition of the great work SBIFF has achieved to bring art and culture thru films to Santa Barbara to the point that our wonderful city is now recognized as an important destination in the world of movies.”

Previous exhibits in the Naomi & Ben Bollag Gallery include The Visual Legacy of Barbara Boros, the late graphic designer who developed the iconic SBIFF logo as well as 18 posters for the organization. The gallery also previously showcased David and Sandy Wasco’s Academy Award–winning work on the film La La Land.

The Santa Barbara Independent 40th anniversary exhibit, Covering 40 Years… of SBIFF, will be on display until November 25 in The Naomi & Ben Bollag Gallery at the Film Center, with free admission daily from 2-8 p.m. In addition, Santa Barbara Independent staff will be at the Gallery (916 State Street) to greet visitors on 1st Thursday, November 5, from 5-7 p.m.