An End of the World : SALLY POTTER RETURNS WITH HEARTFELT ‘GINGER & ROSA’

Alice Englert and Elle Fanning Nicola Dove photos
Alice Englert and Elle Fanning
Nicola Dove photos

For those who attended SBIFF’s “Virtuosos” evening this year, they would have seen Elle Fanning, younger sister of Dakota, receiving an award for her breakout role in Sally Potter’s “Ginger & Rosa.” This was an odd choice among many, as nobody save those in the UK and the film festival circuit had seen it. (And those who did see the clip at that evening at the Arlington … forget everything! It was a spoiler!!)

So now it has come to town and the film is accomplished, but with some problems. Sally Potter’s more experimental side – starting with her early, hard-to-see work and her career making “Orlando” – has been set aside for this more personal tale, drawn from her memories of growing up a radical at the birth of the nuclear protest movement.

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SBIFF honors six Virtuosos of 2012 at the Arlington

The Virtuosos Award evening at the Arlington Theatre Tuesday night brought in six actors who had breakout roles last year in everything from indie features to big-budget Hollywood films.

It was the kind of evening that showed the Santa Barbara International Film Festival brings in not only superstars, but also actors who may turn out to be stars in their own right. See for example, previous years’ honoring of Marion Cotillard and Viola Davis.

The six for this year, each interviewed in separate 20-minute segments, were Ann Dowd, Elle Fanning, Ezra Miller, Eddie Redmayne, Omar Sy and Oscar-nominated Quvenzhané Wallis

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