It’s the best time of the year for movie lovers.
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will make its return with its 40th anniversary.
The annual event will feature a slate of films from around the world, panels, and awards. This year the SBIFF will be presenting awards to Angelina Jolie, Ralph Fiennes, Zoe Saldaña, Timothée Chalamet, Colman Domingo, Adrien Brody, Guy Pearce and more.
The festival will begin on Feb. 4 and will run until Feb. 15. The full line-up of movies, celebrity tributes and panels can be viewed on the festival’s website.
Festival updates and the poster for the event were revealed during a press conference on Friday at the Sullivan Goss Gallery in Santa Barbara.
Roger Durling, the executive director of SBIFF, acknowledged the fires that devastated Los Angeles and said that the festival will be raising funds for Direct Relief aid to the region.
He added that there will be volunteers from Direct Relief at the festival collecting donations and there will be QR codes throughout the festival for people to donate as well.
“The goal of film festivals is about creating community, about bringing in people, about being a conduit for conversation, it’s a place to deal with emotion,” Durling said.
This will be the first year the festival will have a central hub. In the past, the festival would rent out theaters for the festival throughout downtown Santa Barbara.
Now the festival will be based out of the SBIFF Film Center, at 916 State St. The location was formerly the Fiesta Five Theater and SBIFF took over the lease late last year, with the support of the Santa Barbara City Council.
Another change to the festival is the use of the SBIFF Riviera Theatre, 2044 Alameda Padre Serra. Attendees who do not want to go downtown will be able to purchase a pass to watch movies at the Riviera, SBIFF says.
Durling also joined with artist Mary Heebner to reveal the poster for this year’s festival.
Heebner said that the collaboration came about when Durling interviewed her for an article about her art. He then asked her if she would be interested in designing an image for the festival.
“It’s wonderful, I feel very honored. I’m amazed at what Roger and his team have been able to pull off over these years and to watch the development of the whole process, I feel very honored to be a part of it,” Heebner said.
The final poster features a woman with the head of a bird flying above an osprey, which are native to the Santa Barbara area.
Heebner says her art is designed on antiquity and this one was based on a terracotta sculpture that dates back to before the Egyptian Dynasty. The painting is meant to represent a sense of renewal and the female figure, she said.
Tickets and passes for the festival screenings and events can be purchased at sbiff.org.
Attendees can also purchase a downtown parking pass that will grant access to three parking garages. The three lots are Chapala/Canon Perdido Garage (Lot 2), Granada Garage (Lot 6), and the Ortega Garage (Lot 10).
The pass costs $50 and can be purchased in person at the Downtown Parking office, located on the Anacapa Street side of the Granada Garage.