The Santa Barbara International Film Festival held the 39th award show this year. The Forge had the honor to attend the Variety Artisans Awards on February 11. Along with many people attending, we saw nine people accept awards, some of whom have won an Oscar or Grammy. The nine awards were given for editing, composing, designing, hairstyling, makeup, design, visual effects, songwriting, cinematography, recording mixers, and production design. During the event, many were excited to specifically see the songwriting award that was being presented to Billie Eilish and Finneas for the Barbie movie. 

The people awarded were Billie Eilish and Finneas for Barbie, Stephane Ceretti for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, Ludwig Göranssin for Oppenheimer, Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer for Barbie, Kazu Hiro for Maestro, Jennifer Lame for Oppenheimer, Rodrigo Prieto for Killers of the Flower Moon, Michael Semanick for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, and Holly Waddington for Poor Things. Each person was interviewed by Senior Artisans Editor Jazz Tangcay of Variety. Each person answered questions in an individual interview first before group interviews at the end. The nominees talked in great detail about what went on when creating their pieces. The group interview caused each nominee to bond about their favorite rainy day movies, and caused laughter to erupt in the theater when sharing specific memories. The Variety Artisans Awards will continue to bring excitement to the festival each year. This was the 10th annual Variety Artisans Awards at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and people can’t wait to see who will be nominated for this award in the future.

The Variety Artisans holding their awards [Image Credit Sabrina Cruz]