Santa Barbara Film Festival Concludes Having Found a New Home

The 40th Santa Barbara Film Festival (SBIFF) wrapped up Saturday night with its closing night film, A Missing Part, at a full Arlington Theatre. It was perhaps a watershed year for the festival (excuse the awkward pun referencing both the inconsiderate rain and the toilets that malfunctioned).

SBIFF successfully moved to its new home, the SBIFF Film Center that was formerly the Fiesta 5 theater. It was a great interim venue, with the festival getting it into shape quickly with a thorough cleaning, new chairs and upgraded projection equipment. It worked really well having just one theater host the majority of the program, rather that running between the Metro and Fiesta 5.

Yes, the bathrooms were out of commission for several days. SBIFF Board President, Ernesto Paredes, jokingly referenced the audience having the opportunity to “go to the theater but not use the restroom,” noting that it’s a future, philanthropic naming opportunity.  So, I look forward to using the Josh Brolin urinal and Rob Lowe mirror next year. Film Festival staff quickly got portable urinals in place and the whole situation defused nicely.

The SBIFF Film Center will be a spectacular home for the festival next year after its renovation, bringing the theaters up to the state-of-the art audiovisual standards of the Riviera Theater.  As an aside, and as testament to the stellar operational management of SBIFF, regular programming seamlessly resumed at the Film Center on Sunday, including a David Lynch retrospective.

Speaking of which, the unstoppable Sean Pratt, Managing Director of SBIFF for 23 years, took to the stage this year to thank the SBIFF team which includes an astounding 80 interns and 600 volunteers as well as a large staff.  Sean was instrumental in getting the new venue up and running in record time.  In his remarks, he noted that perhaps the greatest achievement of the festival was the “community that we have all built” and “to remember what you saw, what you felt and remember that you did not see it alone.”

I thought the programming this year was particularly strong, especially in the documentary section.  At the risk of alienating emotionally tired audiences, the programming did not shy away from addressing difficult subjects and the turning-point times we are in.  Migrant experiences were captured in the films Desert Angel (about a singularly compassionate man who rescues migrants endangered during their crossing), Separated (about the deliberate, savage separation of children from their parents at the border during the first Trump administration) and Roads of Fire (about the $35 billion immigrant smuggling trade globally).

In a testament to the (still) socially engaged nature of the Santa Barbara community, Out of Plain Sight won the audience award.  The film investigates the dumping of DDT off the coast of Palos Verdes and its lingering impacts.  There was also an engaging panel of filmmakers, “Fight the Power:  Documentary Activism” discussing the role that documentaries may play in informing social and political discourse over the next four years.  Overall, the programming did meet its goal of having “something for everyone”.

Lastly, A Missing Part, was unusually substantive.  Closing night films can often be middling entertainments.  However, A Missing Part, a French film set in Japan, is a character driven mood piece that followed a white, French father’s search for his half-Japanese daughter.  The tone, cinematography and emotionally nuanced performances captured the dislocation and melancholy of ex-pats in a way reminiscent of Lost in Translation. Overall, it was a fine ending to a festival that engaged both mind and heart.  Now, on to doing laundry….