The 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) took place in downtown Santa Barbara these past few weeks, kicking off on February 4 with a screening of Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, a charming romcom directed by Laura Piani. 

Many prestigious awards were presented to actors, directors, films, and artists alike. Some of these included Angelina Jolie for the Maltin Modern Master Award, Timothee Chalamet for the Arlington Artist of the Year Award, Colman Domingo for the Montecito Award, multiple talented directors, like James Mangold and Brady Corbet, for the Outstanding Directors Award, breakthrough actors for the Virtuosos Award, innovators in their respective fields for the Variety Artisans Award, and Adrien Brody and Guy Pierce for the Cinema Vanguard Award. 

Among the celebrity tributes were screenings of films like Horizons: An American Saga-Chapter 2, panels with animation directors, writers, international features, producers, and women in the industry, a retrospective on Demi Moore, and student films. SBIFF showed a total of 185 different films created locally and internationally to bring to light smaller filmmakers, actors, directors, and writers. Some of these included All God’s Children, Carissa, Coup 53, Desert Angel, the closing night film A Missing Part, and many, many more. 

This year, more that 55% of the films shown were directed by women. “We need to lead the way by showcasing as much representation and diversity that we can in cinema,” said Roger Durling, executive director of SBIFF. 

“We want diversity, we want to represent different voices, different genres, and as many countries as we could possibly represent,” Durling says.“It’s always been important, since I took over the festival 23 years ago, to go on that route, to emphasize the international aspect of the festival.” 

Durling spoke at nearly every event and made sure the 40th annual SBIFF was an exciting one. Introducing a new Film Center in the center of downtown Santa Barbara, “It’s going to be an incredible refurbished building, state of the art,” Durling says. “And art reprogramming year round.”  

With respect for Santa Barbara’s sister city, Los Angeles, funds from the festival in partnership with Direct Relief are being sent in aid for the devastating fires. Donation stands and many hopeful remarks were placed around and in the festival. 

Wrapping up the festival, the message that Durling wants to be sent out is “the resilience and the love that emanates” from the festival, and the unification of people through film.