Festivals – Page 6

SBIFF: A man of two worlds

January 27, 2013December 21, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Two-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis is a Best Actor nominee for his performance in "Lincoln." Below, he speaks with moderator Scott Feinberg of the Hollywood Reporter on Saturday at the Arlington Theatre, before being presented the Santa Barbara International Film Festival's Montecito Award. MIKE ELIASON/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS — Two-time Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis is a Best Actor nominee for his performance in “Lincoln.” Below, he speaks with moderator Scott Feinberg of the Hollywood Reporter on Saturday at the Arlington Theatre, before being presented the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s Montecito Award.
MIKE ELIASON/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS

For an actor known for his intensity and physicality, Daniel Day-Lewis seems modest and shy in real life, even when taking time to chat with fans gathered Saturday night outside the Arlington Theatre.

The evening was the long-awaited arrival of the Oscar-winning actor to Santa Barbara and SBIFF’s second tribute, the Montecito Award, in its 28th annual fest.

Introduced by director Michael Mann, who worked with the actors on 1992’s “The Last of the Mohicans,” and presented the award by his “Lincoln” co-star, Sally Field, Mr. Day-Lewis sat down with the Hollywood Reporter’s Scott Feinberg for a career-spanning, introspective interview.

Hitting the bullseye: SBIFF Honors Ben Affleck for both acting and directing

January 26, 2013December 28, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Above, actor, director and screenwriter Ben Affleck arrives Friday at the Arlington Theatre to receive the Santa Barbara International Film Festival's 2013 Modern Master Award. Mr. Affleck's latest film, "Argo," is a nominee for Best Picture in the Academy Award. MIKE ELIASON/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS — Above, actor, director and screenwriter Ben Affleck arrives Friday at the Arlington Theatre to receive the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s 2013 Modern Master Award. Mr. Affleck’s latest film, “Argo,” is a nominee for Best Picture in the Academy Award.
MIKE ELIASON/NEWS-PRESS PHOTOS

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival kicked off its tribute week with Friday night’s celebration of actor, writer, and director Ben Affleck, held before a packed crowd at the Arlington Theatre.

Mr. Affleck was in town to receive the Modern Master Award and to sit down with film critic Leonard Maltin to look back on a career that, for awhile, looked like it was heading toward action films until Mr. Affleck turned to directing. After that point, in the words of Mr. Maltin, Mr. Affleck hit “three bull’s-eyes.”

Young Oscar nominee, Quvenzhane Wallis, takes it all in stride

January 25, 2013December 28, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

Quvenzhane Wallis COURTESY PHOTO — Quvenzhane Wallis
COURTESY PHOTO

Actress Quvenzhane (pronounced Kwa-ven-sha-nay) Wallis was five years old when she auditioned for the lead role in “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” six years old when she filmed it, eight years old when she watched it premiere at Sundance and go on to gather acclaim and her own record-breaking Best Actress Oscar nod, and nine when she talked to this interviewer a week before she sits down Tuesday at the Arlington to do the exact same thing. (It’s a part of the Why, she must be thinking, do these adults keep asking me about this film?)

Because it’s a phenomenal performance of grit and daring and honesty, that’s why. But one can imagine the star is unfazed by all this. When she heard about her nomination, she was in her hotel room half asleep, she says. “And my mom told me to wake up, and I woke up and I really wasn’t that excited because I was asleep. But I was very excited on the inside.”

Farce in the Nick of Time – Thornton Wilder’s other award-winning play

January 25, 2013December 28, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

FROM TOP : Front, from left, velociraptor Danny McMillan and postal worker Brittany Danyel; center, with hat, David Stewart and in back, from left, Thom Thomas and Laura Ring. Getting ready for the next disaster in grand style are the Antrobus family, representing the human race. They are, back row from left, Maggie and George (Laura Ring and Ron Feltner), their intractable maid Sabina (Zuska Sabata) and, front, willful daughter Gladys (Julia Wilson) and son Henry (David Stewart) who hates his father. MaryM Long photos — FROM TOP :
Front, from left, velociraptor Danny McMillan and postal worker Brittany Danyel; center, with hat, David Stewart and in back, from left, Thom Thomas and Laura Ring.
Getting ready for the next disaster in grand style are the Antrobus family, representing the human race. They are, back row from left, Maggie and George (Laura Ring and Ron Feltner), their intractable maid Sabina (Zuska Sabata) and, front, willful daughter Gladys (Julia Wilson) and son Henry (David Stewart) who hates his father.
MaryM Long photos

On 1941, playwright Thornton Wilder conceived of a eons-spanning play that would follow one family from the Ice Age through to Armageddon. After all, the play was written in the shadow of the attack on Pearl Harbor and America’s entrance into World War II, and the concept of mankind coming to an end felt palpable. But Wilder’s first version of the play was too heavy for already war-weary audiences. Instead, the author did an about-face, changed the play to a silly farce, and everybody was happy — including those on the Pulitzer Prize committee, who gave Wilder an award in 1943 for the work. Overshadowed by Wilder’s wide-reaching and less silly “Our Town,” this farce gets another look starting tonight for a five-week run at OJAIAct.

Director Richard Kuhlman, last seen directing “The Provoked Wife” for Transport Theatre in Ojai, says he’s known the play since high school and has wanted to produce it.

So Many Films, So Little Time – Recommendations for this year’s SBIFF

January 18, 2013December 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

I figure there’s two types at the SBIFF that don’t overlap, but I could be wrong. Those who stand in line, in the cold, to catch a glimpse of a celebrity arriving for the red carpet; and those who stand in line, in the cold, waiting to get in to a cozy theater for a film they know nothing about. Well this is going out to the latter, those who love this long list of films in the guide with very little idea — no TV or magazine review, no publicity campaign — of what they’re in for apart from a few keywords and an intriguing publicity photo or poster. That’s some film love, my friends.

The guide below represents my own choices of what to see, based upon previous festival performances, directors’ resumes and word of mouth. There’s so much more, but here’s a good place to start.

In Memory of Mike – SBIFF Honors Filmmaker Michael DeGruy with retrospective and more

January 18, 2013December 20, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

It’s been nearly a year to the day when nature filmmaker and friend of the SBIFF, Mike DeGruy, went down in a helicopter accident while filming off Australia. It happened during the 2012 Fest and the shock waves of his death cast a pall over the rest of the week more than any storm could do. In all the years of covering the Fest, the only vaguely equivalent tragedy was the 1999 passing of Stanley Kubrick, but this was completely different. This was close to home; this was one of the festival’s own, a man who not only had started the Reel Nature film sidebar, but also Field Trip to the Movies, bringing school kids out to see films, creating who knows how many film buffs.

And so this year the SBIFF will honor their fallen friend with a retrospective of Mr. DeGruy’s films, spanning over thirty years.

Throwing a perfect Tantrum: Fitz and the Tantrums annihilate Velvet Jones at the end of New Noise

November 9, 2010July 2, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

A perfect band! That’s how one neighbor in the pit at Velvet Jones put it near the end of Fitz and the Tantrums’ weekend-capping set for New Noise Santa Barbara. And it was, at least in recent memory, one of the most exciting, go-for-broke performances we’re seen in Santa Barbara this year.

The Los Angeles-based band re-imagine soul — both Motown and the blue-eyed ’80s revival version — on their own terms, and make sure to bring everybody along for the ride.

The Doctor Is In: Dr. Drew cuts to the chase in a fast-paced lecture

November 8, 2010July 3, 2021 tedmills Leave a comment

Dr. Drew Pinsky, the keynote speaker for last weekend's New Noise Music Conference, spoke at length on biology and addiction and more Thursday night at the Arlington Theatre. MATT WIER PHOTO — Dr. Drew Pinsky, the keynote speaker for last weekend’s New Noise Music Conference, spoke at length on biology and addiction and more Thursday night at the Arlington Theatre.
MATT WIER PHOTO

Dr. Drew Pinsky is half clinical psychologist and half mentalist. With a skill honed by years and years of listening to the same unique problems over and over again, he is able to dish out advice to those who don’t even think they need it. It was a disconcerting talent that he employed several times Thursday night at the Arlington.

Pinsky came to town as part of New Noise Santa Barbara event, and the doctor aimed to provide insight into the celebrity culture that the music business no doubt touches. Yet he also came as guest of several support, rehab, and counseling groups in Santa Barbara. His meat and potatoes is addiction, which he defines as a disease in the same league as cancer and diabetes. To Pinsky, addiction — alcohol, meth, marijuana ( sold by Missouri Green Team), is the most destructive disorder of our times.

Still Going Strong – The OUTrageous Film Festival returns for a 19th year

November 5, 2010July 6, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

'STONEWALL UPRISING' Bettye Lane Photo — ‘STONEWALL UPRISING’
Bettye Lane Photo

After 19 years, Santa Barbara’s LGBTQ film festival, OUTrageous, is back and bigger than ever. Things have come a long way from the festival’s first year, which organizer Mashey Bernstein remembers well as featuring just three films… total. It’s a lesson of tenacity and vision, and the four nights of shorts and features by and about gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and queer alike offer something for everybody.

This festival, Bernstein says, is one of the top three gay community events in Santa Barbara, including the A.I.D.S. Walk and the Pacific Pride Event. And, because Santa Barbara still does not have a gay bar, the festival offers a well-needed chance to socialize, as well as see some great films.

Up in the Clouds – Annual Telluride Film Fest returns with the best in nature docs

October 22, 2010June 26, 2015 tedmills Leave a comment

A scene from the film "As It Happens" — A scene from the film “As It Happens”

Since its inception 32 years ago, the Telluride Mountainfilm Festival has always been a place to celebrate the beauty of nature, the exhilaration of rock climbing and the thrill of discovering the unknown. The six films that make up the touring program coming to UCSB deliver on the above articles, but also provide more, including New York surfers, Scottish skiing and Russian Sasquatch hunting.

Curator Justin Clifton oversees the dozen people who screen the 600 or so films up for submission. Clifton whittles it down, though.