French-Accented Screen Time Courtesy of Santa Barbara International Film Festival

A fond cultural memory from the Before Times will be rekindled when the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s (SBIFF) French edition of its mid-year “The Wave Film Festival” happily descends on the Riviera Theatre, from July 14 (Bastille Day) through July 20. What began almost a decade ago, with separate short festival events focusing on cinema from specific countries, is finally picking up where it left off, when COVID restrictions intruded on best-laid plans three years ago.

Stewart Short, the curator and organizer of the mini-festival, explains, “The Wave has always been an audience favorite in previous years, so, with the Riviera open again, and with audience sizes reaching a point that allows us to bring back programming like this, we are thrilled to bring The Wave back to the Riviera this summer.”

During the SBIFF’s main festival early in the year, the international purview always ushers in at least token representation from the cinema of France — often featuring some comic-relief French froth. But the French Wave Festival offers a more intensive overview of contemporary French cinema.