On Culture | The Film Festival We Didn’t Know We Needed

This edition of ON Culture was originally emailed to subscribers on February 16, 2024. To receive Leslie Dinaberg’s arts newsletter in your inbox on Fridays, sign up at independent.com/newsletters.

ON the (Big) Screen

Brad Pitt presents the SBIFF Outstanding Performer of the Year Award to Bradley Cooper. | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

From sitting at the Arlington just a flutter away from Brad Pitt to Greta Lee’s hilarious quips, Mark Ruffalo’s kind heart, Robert Downey Jr.’s adorable energy, Bradley Cooper’s passion for films, and Martin Scorsese’s incredible stories, to name but a few high points, people keep asking me what my favorite night of SBIFF has been so far, and it’s impossible to choose because they’ve all been so unique. But one thing that sitting in the theater night after night has convinced me of is that we need a second film festival to highlight all of the older films that the celebrity tributes tease us with. Wouldn’t it be fabulous if we could go watch, for example, Silver Linings Playbook, Less Than Zero, Taxi Driver, and Spotlight on the big screen once again? Not to mention some of the lesser-known works discussed that I, for one, never caught the first time around. The fabulous SBIFF team will have earned a very well-deserved break next week, but once March comes along, I think we should start rallying for this idea in the future!

In the vein of celebrating films from the past, plans are in the works for the Granada Centennial Festival Weekend April 12-14. There are many announcements to come (including when the theater will be able to reopen after some unfortunate water damage) but the kickoff on Friday night is a tribute to the theater when it was a Warner Brothers movie palace, and they will screen two movie blockbusters — Sherlock Jr., a 1924 silent comedy with Buster Keaton that played at the Granada that year; and Star Wars: A New Hope, first presented in 1977, which did a 15-week run at the theater. To purchase tickets for the double feature (they’re just $19.24 in honor of the Granada’s opening date), please visit: ticketing.granadasb.org/19067.

ON the (Small) Screen

The 2024 SBIFF Virtuosos Awards honorees at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

Another SBIFF observation, particularly highlighted in the Virtuosos Awards last weekend — where America Ferrera (Barbie, played a memorable role in Ugly Betty), Greta Lee (Past Lives, plays a stunningly different character on The Morning Show), Charles Melton (May December, first caught our attention in Riverdale), Da’Vine Joy Randolph (The Holdovers, is almost unrecognizable in Only Murders in the Building), and Andrew Scott (All of Us Strangers, was so memorable in Fleabag) were honored — is how many film actors now move seamlessly from the big screen to the small screen and back again, producing high-quality work in every format. It used to be common that TV actors would get their big film break and never look back, but today’s top performers go back and forth to wherever the good parts are. Plus, along with streaming has come the evolution of the limited series and shorter season orders all around, which leaves more flexibility for actors to pursue additional projects.

Among the many stellar star-studded television shows I’ve been enjoying recently are Expats, with Nicole Kidman (currently streaming on Amazon Prime), and Shrinking, featuring a hilariously curmudgeonly Harrison Ford (on Apple+).

ON the Stage

Natalie Merchant returns to the Bowl on May 23. | Photo: Shervin Lainez

Opening this week at the Marian Theatre and running through March 3 is PCPA’s production of Henry V, which director Mark Booher described as “William Shakespeare at the height of his poetically expressive and rhetorically persuasive powers. … Shakespeare isn’t only telling a famous story of a famous king; he is playing with and celebrating the art form of theater itself.” See pcpa.org for tickets and information.

Back by overwhelming demand (and I’m so happy because I was out of town the first time around), Jacob Collier returns to the Arlington Theatre on May 19, with special guest Kimbra, as part of his Djesse Vol. 4 North America Tour. Click here for more info on the show that Brandi Carlile described as “mind-bendingly beautiful music.”

Natalie Merchant (of 10,000 Maniacs fame) is coming to the Bowl on May 23, with tickets now on sale here. Other recent announcements are Brazilian music maestro Sergio Mendes at the Granada on May 24 (click here), and the Gypsy Kings (Aug. 15) and Bonnie Raitt (Sep. 18) at Vina Robles Amphitheatre (click here).

ON the Podium

RuPaul comes to town April 18. | Photo: Courtesy

So many great speakers are coming our way, including novelist Abraham Verghese (Feb. 21) and poet Amanda Gorman (Apr. 30), who I wrote about here, and the other just announced Arts & Lectures giant “get,” none other than RuPaul, on April 18, when the pop culture icon will discuss his highly anticipated new memoir, The House of Hidden Meanings. Get tickets and more info on Arts & Lectures shows here.

ON the (Comedy) Stage

Chelsea Handler comes to town August 17. | Photo: Mike Rosenthal

Also announced this week, comedian Chelsea Handler is bringing her show to the Santa Barbara Bowl on August 17, and tickets go on sale at the box office today. Keep an eye out for my interview with comedian Brian Regan this week as well. He’ll be playing the Arlington on February 22, and you can get tickets and more info here. I’m also really looking forward to seeing one of my SNL favorites, Colin Quinn, at the Lobero on May 14 (tickets are now on sale here).

Volume 10: Satellite of Love comes out February 19. | Photo: Courtesy

ON the Page

Keep an eye out for Santa Barbara Literary Journal’s Volume 10: Satellite of Love, which comes out on February 19. Editrix Angela Borda (a k a Silver Webb) told me, “It is basically an honorary poetry anthology of S.B.’s Poets Laureate. We have Perie Longo as the guest editor of poetry for it. And we have the poems that Sojourner [Kincaid Rolle] gave us before she passed away. In fact, the issue is dedicated to her.” And it has more than just poetry, as Angela and associate editor Maryanne Knight write, “Beyond the poetic, Volume 10: Satellite of Love was inspired by Lou Reed, and we hope to show homage to some of his electric creativity with fiction offerings by Fred Nadis, Jennifer Gunner, Lorelei Armstrong, Jeanine Clarke, Jeremy Gold, Jesse Krenzel, Shira Musicant, Dennis Russell, and Frederick Williams. Available at local bookstores. See santabarbaraliteraryjournal.com for more info.

ON the Calendar

Spencer Barnitz is the subject of the documentary More than Just a Party Band | Photo: Robert Redfield

Explore the life and times of Santa Barbara’s favorite troubadour, Spencer Barnitz, front man for the band Spencer the Gardener or Spencer from The Tan, as old-timers like me still think of him. Anyway, the popular documentary More than Just a Party Band — which provides a great look back at S.B. life in the ’70s and beyond — screens on Saturday, February 24, at the historic Alhecama Theater. Purchase tickets here, and view the trailer here.

For a complete calendar of events this week and beyond, visit independent.com/events.