The 40th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival will take place live in Santa Barbara, Feb. 4-15, 2025, the Film Festival has announced.
To celebrate its milestone 40th anniversary, the festival will run for 12 days. Attendees and A-list guests have a long tradition of returning to the American Riviera year after year, the Film Festival said.
“As we embark on our 40th year, we are proud of what we’ve accomplished and exhilarated for what is ahead of us,” said Roger Durling, SBIFF’s executive director. “We will be announcing a few surprises in the next few months. Onward and upward.”
Official festival events including screenings, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels, and celebrity tributes, will be held throughout the city, including at the Arlington Theatre.
Earlier in 2024, the 39th edition of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival celebrated an array of top award contenders such as Oscar winners Robert Downey Jr., Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Billie Eilish, Finneas, Ludwig Göransson, Emma Thomas, Cord Jefferson, Arthur Harari, Jennifer Lame, and Holly Waddington.
The program included 200-plus films from more than 48 countries. The festival drew filmmakers from as far as Turkey, India, Israel, and Sierra Leone, half of whom were women.
Festival passes for 2025 will go on sale in August at 25% off. The festival lineup and schedule will be announced January 2025.
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit arts and educational organization dedicated to discovering and showcasing the best in independent and international cinema.
Over the past 39 years, SBIFF has become one of the leading film festivals in the United States attracting 100,000 attendees.