Our city’s largest cultural event, the annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF), opened on Wednesday, March 2, with a slate of films drawn from a larger pool of submissions than ever before. According to SBIFF’s new director of programming, Claudia Puig, the festival received approximately 5,000 applications from filmmakers in 54 countries. The result of this unprecedented demand for inclusion is a schedule that’s packed with excitement and a series of screenings that stretches from 8 in the morning until late in the evening every day between March 2 and closing night on March 12.
Known worldwide as a critical stop on the road to the Oscars, this year’s SBIFF fulfills that role to an extraordinary extent. At least 12 Academy Award nominees will appear this year, and every recipient of the festival’s celebrity tribute awards is coming to town with a nomination.
Check out some photos from our opening night coverage as well as the Outstanding Directors Awards, and check out our latest cover story at your latest newsstand or here. You can find our full SBIFF coverage here.
Support the Santa Barbara Independent through a long-term or a single contribution.
