In The Last King of Scotland, Forest Whitaker becomes the notorious Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. We spoke a couple weeks ago about his role, Ugandan politics, and Santa Barbara. This is the extended version of that Q&A, which appears in an edited form in this week’s printed edition of The Independent.
Matt Kettmann lists all 17 films that he’s seen to date. Compare your notes with his, and make sure to talk back if you disagree.
Matt Kettmann meets Charlie LeDuff, realizes he’s drunk, and then watches his stellar doc The United Gates of America. What do the residents of Canyon Lake, California have to teach us all? Plenty.
AJR‘s Susan Paterno Uses Anti-SLAPP Motion to Defend Herself
With SBIFF’s Weekend One in the bag, it’s about time for a four-day retrospective of Indy photographer Paul Wellman’s best shots to date. Come inside and see what stars walked down the red carpet over the past few days.
For once, the traffic in Montecito wasn’t during the afternoon rush or comprised of Venturenos and Angelenos trying to make it home after a Santa Barbara workday or vacation. Nope, last night, the cars lining up onto 101 were jammed because the Olive Mill off-ramp served as the pearly gates to the film fest’s post-Will Smith-as-Modern Master-event bash at the Biltmore. See J’Amy Brown’s photos from the night inside.
Hundreds lined up to see Sacha Baron Cohen (pictured), aka Borat aka Ali G, on Friday at the Lobero. The British comedian behind this year’s mockumentary hit, Cohen is supposedly a tough guy to get to do interviews, but SBIFF managed to get him. And although he threatened to not do the gig if he had his photo taken, our photog managed to snag a shot as he left the building.
Welcome to The Indy‘s first report from the hard streets of the 22nd Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival. As you know, last night was Opening Night, which means a couple thousands folks got to see Factory Girl at the Arlington and then mosey on down to Paseo Nuevo, where the mall had been transformed into a debaucherous wonderland. What follows is a take on the night from Shannon Kelley Gould, some photos by J’Amy Brown, and some more thoughts — including a critique of the film fest trailer — by Matt Kettmann. Expect lots more to come.
Anna Davison no longer works for the Santa Barbara News-Press.
On Tuesday, January 23, News-Press owner Wendy McCaw’s attorney Barry Cappellosent a second letter to the Lawyers Alliance for Free Speech, the group of 50 or so well respected attorneys from diverse backgrounds and distinct practices who banded together last fall to help those whose speech has been silenced by McCaw’s legal threats.
