S T O R Y
SBIFF WEEK 2
PAUL WELLMAN PHOTOS
C O V E R
MICHAEL B. JORDAN, FILMMAKER TALKS, AND CLOSING NIGHT
MID-FEST WRAPUP
I
BY JOSEF WOODARD
t can be said that the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) is fueled by three factors: the strong international aspect of its foreign-filmrich programming, the audience lure of Hollywood/Oscar-season buzz (actor tributes, panels with Oscar-nominated film artists), and, increasingly, the hometown advantage. Santa Barbara stories literally frame this 34th edition of SBIFF, with the opening night of Mimi deGruy’s inspiring film about her late husband, Mike, a celebrated nature filmmaker with an ocean obsession and a committed SBIFF organizer and energizer, who died in a helicopter accident in 2012, and Saturday night’s closing film, Spoons: A Santa Barbara Story, Wyatt Daily’s homage to area surfing greats. In between the opening and closing galas, the 2019 festival has lived up to its tradition of showcasing recent cinema from around the world, giving us a rare chance to see films we wouldn’t otherwise have access to on the big screen. Cinematic highlights of the festival’s first half included the Vietnamese The Third Wife, the Estonian Take It or Leave It, the Chinese Shadow (Zhang Yimou’s latest), the Argentine comedy MID-FEST CONTINUED ON P. 27 ¢
DIRECTORS, CELEBRITIES, FILMS, AND WEATHER
SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling (top), Marine Biologist Dr. Sylvia Earle (middle, left), Filmmaker Mimi deGruy (middle, right), Mimi deGruy with S.B. Middle School’s Teen Press (bottom)
GO TO INDEPENDENT.COM/SBIFF FOR YOUR FILM FEST COVERAGE & SCHEDULE UPDATES. INDEPENDENT.COM
FEBRUARY 7, 2019
THE INDEPENDENT
25