This Is 40

A Seasoned Critic-Reporter on the SBIFF Beat Ponders 40 Years in the Santa Barbara Festival Trenches

By Josef Woodard Fri Jan 24, 2025 | 12:31pm

There I was, a twentysomething cinephile and budding film critic in Santa Barbara, having been hopelessly addicted to movies since adolescence. These were the Olden Times, when celluloid ruled the cinematic land, long before the advent of streaming brought worlds of film into the proverbial living room. In those days, watching films required “going out” and “being there” in brick-and-mortar theaters.

In Santa Barbara, the art-house prospects boiled down mostly to heading up to the Riviera Theatre, or out to UCSB’s focused film series at Campbell Hall, programmed by the indefatigable Roman Baratiak, or over to the new screen in town — Victoria Street Theatre.

Suddenly, visionary film programmer Phyllis de Picciotto planted the seed that changed the cinema game in town. She and a clutch of idealistic organizers and financiers created a little festival that could, and the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) became a thing destined for greatness. Imagine the excitement of staying in our sylvan town and gobbling up films from around the world in a concentrated time frame; then heading over to the Arlington to take in a “this is your life” tribute to James Stewart, live and wise and in person. What a wonderful life SBIFF offered.

Fast-forward 40 years, and SBIFF has grown up, exponentially, and especially under the watch and avid vision of Executive Director Roger Durling over the past 23 years. I know about the entire festival history and plotline, having covered SBIFF every year since its birth, and am looking forward to once again diving into the happy rabbit hole of cinephile overload beginning February 4.

Today, SBIFF looms over the city’s cultural calendar as a high and gathering point for locals, film folks, glittery celebs, and global guests. There’s also the all-important tourist factor, a central rationale for the city’s support for an off-season event drawing people to hotels and eateries.

Over the years, I have proudly worn the press hat for the Santa Barbara Independent and its ancestor the News & Review, as well as a few years for the Los Angeles Times, Santa Barbara Magazine, and occasionally The Hollywood Reporter. I’ve grown accustomed to and fixated on the SBIFF beat, and learned about its patterns and changes — including the strength of its foreign film roster versus uneven American offerings, and the major shift of including Oscar-timed showcases of awards season hopefuls. The balance of aesthetic and Hollywood dynamics gives the festival a different allure for different demographics.

Once in the zone, I’m a festing fool, watching around 50 films during a given festival and taking in as many tributes and panels as possible. And I’m not alone. The hardcore SBIFF die-hards make up a roving, loose-knit tribe.

Randomly trolling through a mountain of notes and stories over the years, memories percolate into view.

I have sometimes championed edgy or experimental films not always appreciated by many other folks, such as David Cronenberg’s wicked showbiz satire Maps to the Stars; Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover; Lars von Trier’s groundbreaking Dogville (a special “Centerpiece” film screening in 2004); and the dark-horse indie quirk from 1991, The Dark Backward. My thumbs-up appraisal of that film in the L.A. Times wound up being quoted on the film’s VHS/DVD box, which may or may not have made the Times’ critical forces happy.

Josef Woodard soaking up all the film festival has to offer back in 2010. | Photo: Josef Woodard

I fondly recall special series, such as a focus on Taiwanese master Hou Hsiao-Hsien and the 2001 program with daily noontime screenings of films in Krzysztof Kieślowski’s Bible-inspired Decalogue series.

And, in the comical hometown notes department, who can forget Parry Gripp’s hilarious video tribute to the all-important crowd traffic manager (which, ironically, was then the tireless current festival managing director Sean Pratt): “I’ve. Got. A … megaphone!” (link).

As much as the current incarnation of the festival represents what SBIFF means to the community and the world, and the particular microcosm of the expanding film festival universe, it helps to understand where it has been. De Picciotto spent a dozen years at the helm and, in 1998, passed the directorial torch to Renee Missel, a film producer (Nell, Resurrection) who launched a producers panel as part of the festival.

“So many people ask me, ‘What does a producer do?’ They don’t understand. They always have great stories and they’re very gregarious. So, I thought, why not? Producing, directing, writing — the three go together,” said Missel.

Next was UCSB graduate and Slamdance cofounder Jon Fitzgerald, who put in just one year on the job. His 2003 program included visits from Todd Field, riding high with his acclaimed In the Bedroom, as well as Terry Zwigoff (Ghost World).

In that rough and transitional period in SBIFF’s history, Fitzgerald shared, “This festival should, first and foremost, be about finding the best films you can possibly find. My opinion is that if you have solid programming, people will come. It all starts with the films. More and more industry will come each year, and more and more international recognition will come.”

Enter the ambitious, charismatic Durling, whom Board President Arnie Kassoy introduced at the Arlington Theatre opening night as “the Energizer Bunny.” Fair enough — the ambition and energy continue to this day.

In a 2008 interview with Durling, he summed up his approach to SBIFF: “I’m as much a film geek as you can get, when it comes to highbrow stuff. But that’s not what makes a film festival successful, and brings sponsors and press.” Subsequently, the careful cocktail of international cinematic art, glitz, and Oscar-anointed spotlight ops has been honed and refined to a winning formula.

Josef Woodard at Sullivan Goss at the 2025 press conference for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival | Photo: Ingrid Bostrom

Just in time for the big 4-0, SBIFF has attained a house of its own, turning the multiscreen Fiesta 5 into the HQ SBIFF Film Center, where we’ll be spending most of our screening hours, along with visits to the Riviera, used for SBIFF for the first time. Meanwhile, the expected sparkling roster of awards-yearning celebs will appear under the faux stars of the Arlington Theatre, including Timothée Chalamet, Angelina Jolie, Ralph Fiennes, Zoe Saldaña, Selena Gomez, Ariana Grande, Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce, and Colman Domingo. It’s an impressive lot, and no doubt the director and writer panels will be well-stocked with names of the moment.

As Durling said last week, “The role of film festivals is about creating community, about bringing people together, as a conduit or conversation and as a place to deal with emotions. We’re not alone during the film festival. The process is to bring people together, not just to entertain and to distract, but to actually create community. At a time like this, our role has even strengthened.”

In the past, part of the precious charm of gorging on the SBIFF film program was the fact that many of the films seen there — apart from those later picked up for art-house distribution — were on a fleeting “watch it while you can” basis. That scenario has changed radically into the streaming era. On the other hand, the film festival experience seems all the more special in the sense of living up to an essence of cinematic culture — pulling us out of our home theater caves and into big-screen-beaming sanctuaries, with fellow humans in real time and no bathroom breaks. Plan accordingly.

See you at the Film Center, Riviera, and everywhere else SBIFF lands over its 12-day spread. I’ll be the guy with the notepad and slightly dazed, confused, but in-his-element countenance, eagerly seeking recommendations about what to watch next. See sbiff.org for a complete schedule.