In Contention

Tag: Santa Barbara Film Festival

  • Sanata Barbara’s Kirk Douglas Award goes to… Michael Douglas!

    The press release, in part:

    In recognition of his contributions to the world of film, Michael Douglas will be bestowed with his father’s honor, the 2011 KIRK DOUGLAS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN FILM from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The 6th annual black-tie Gala dinner will take place at The Four Seasons Biltmore in Santa Barbara on Thursday, October 13, 2011.

    “The first time I saw Michael Douglas act was in a play at UC Santa Barbara, so it is fitting that a career that started here should be honored here” commented Kirk Douglas. “To tell the truth, I wanted Michael to be a lawyer. I secretly hoped he would be bad so I could tell him to forget it. He wasn’t. But as proud as I am of his achievements on screen, I am even prouder of the humanitarian work he has done for the United Nations and other organizations. I am very happy to give this award to my favorite actor/producer who also happens to be my firstborn son.”

    The tribute will stand as one of the most memorable events in SBIFF history as a film legend of one generation honors the next. Previous recipients of the award include such enduring stars as John Travolta, Ed Harris, Quentin Tarantino, and Harrison Ford.

    Also worth noting is that Michael Douglas was the Honorary Chair of the festival when it first began 27 years ago and he was also the very first Modern Master recipient. So, full circle and all that.

  • Santa Barbara fest announces acquisitons program

    The press release for this went out yesterday but I’m just now getting around to posting. In part:

    In 2012 the Santa Barbara International Film Festival will continue on its path to becoming one of the world’s most sought after and prestigious film festivals with the debut of its first ever Acquisitions Program, which will take place on the first weekend of the festival, January 27-29, 2012, it was announced today by SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling.

    The weekend long program will be run in association with Traction Media, a Los Angeles-based film production and sales company, and was created to allow the acquisitions community easy, industry-friendly access to films at SBIFF. Together, SBIFF and Traction will select the films to be presented in the program, and buyers will be afforded priority access to the chosen films. For more information, log onto www.sbfilmfestival.org…

    The Call for Entries is under way for the 2012 season. Films will be accepted until the drop deadline on December 9. All films can be submitted through withoutabox.com.

    I’ll once again be attending Santa Barbara fest in January this season, FYI. Always a nice interlude post-nominations.

    [Photo: Santa Barbara International Film Festival]

  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘King’s Speech’ marches on

    • “The King’s Speech” continued its cruise through phase two of the season with a widely unexpected Directors’ Guild victory…

    • … and scooped top honors at a surprise-free Screen Actors’ Guild Awards ceremony.

    • Following this brace of wins, this week’s Off the Carpet column said what we were all thinking: the race is over.

    • Meanwhile, in his Long Shot column, Guy concluded that the royal biopic was likely the film to beat all along.

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  • So this happened

    I was previously engaged.

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  • SANTA BARBARA: Rush toasted with Montecito Award, ‘King’s Speech’ cast receives ensemble honor

    Last night saw Santa Barbara’s tribute to “The King’s Speech” star Geoffrey Rush.  Looking suave with a cleanly shaved head (for his current role on stage in “Diary of a Mad Man”), Rush held court with trademark affable humor and tales of his comparatively brief Hollywood career thus far.

    I Tweeted this and that from the tribute, but more than anything I was reminded again how much I loved the criminally underrated “The Tailor of Panama.” Discussion naturally flowed from “Shine” to “The King’s Speech” and all points in between, an engrossing reminder of just how rich Rush’s work is no matter the role.

    In a recent interview with The Race’s Tim Appelo (which is, consequently, a great place to start for those who continue to diminish the the directorial attributes of “The King’s Speech”), Tom Hooper had a wonderful take on directing the actor…

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  • SANTA BARBARA: Women in the biz

    I really should take the time to write up Saturday’s women’s panel here in Santa Barbara, not least of all because it seems to have been neglected in most outlets.  It’s an undervalued annual program, always moderated with class by Madelyn Hammond and featuring some of the most formidable female talents working in the industry.

    This year’s group consisted of “Toy Story 3” producer Darla K. Anderson, “Alice in Wonderland” costume designer Colleen Atwood, Skywalker Sound Vice President and general manager Gloria Borders, “Waiting for Superman” producer Lesley Chilcott and “Winter’s Bone” producer Alex Madigan.

    The immediate thing that sticks out is how so many of the panelists are producers, and Borders was quick to note as much.  “You don’t see that many women that are visual effects supervisors or editors or sound mixers,” she said.  “Women are really good producers.  We’re really good at getting people to get along and walk in the same direction.”

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  • SANTA BARBARA: Nolan crowned as Modern Master

    “He no longer challenges our ideas about film,” actor Leonardo DiCaprio said of Christopher Nolan tonight, before presenting him with the Modern Master Award.  “He has helped define them.”

    It was a great bow on a fine evening meant to celebrate the director’s work over the last decade.  The Modern Master designation is Santa Barbara’s highest honor and, despite an unexpected Oscar snub for Best Director from the Academy last Tuesday afternoon, this is certainly the year to single him out in such a light.

    Pete Hammond served as moderator for the evening as he queried Nolan on his brief if dense career to date.  It was shrewd to note that “Following” in 1998, a $6,000 movie that grossed $40,000 and “Inception” in 2010, a $160 million movie that grossed $800 million worldwide, only have 11 years separating them.  The director’s latest “has been successful on its own terms, not on Hollywood’s,” Hammond said by way of introduction.  It’s a good way to put it.

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  • SANTA BARBARA: Ladies love cool James

    Last night saw the presentation of the Outstanding Performance of the Year honor to “127 Hours” star James Franco at Santa Barbara fest, and it’s one of the best tributes I’ve seen here.  But it didn’t start out that way.

    Franco was late getting out of Los Angeles, where he was rehearsing for next month’s Oscar telecast.  The result was he was a half-hour late to the Arlington Theatre and the whole program was nearly an hour late getting started.  No biggie for me.  I was in the Chopin Lounge drinking, probably too much (as usual).  But I imagine there was some grumbling out in the audience.

    Nevertheless, when Franco showed up, he nailed it.  It turns out he expected to show up and accept an honor then split, failing to realize that it was a career retrospective of sorts.  So he was a bit caught off guard by things.  But Leonard Maltin, who served as moderator for the event, provided a great balance, and the lack of preparation on Franco’s part really added to the intrigue of the conversation.

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  • SANTA BARBARA: Writers on writing

    Today saw Santa Barbara’s annual “It Starts with the Script” writers panel, moderated by Anne Thompson.  Participating were Michael Arndt (“Toy Story 3”), Lisa Cholodenko (“The Kids Are All Right”), C. Gaby Mitchell (“Get Low”), David Seidler (“The King’s Speech”), Scott Silver (“The Fighter”) and Aaron Sorkin (“The Social Network”).

    I was a little late to the event but it was an, as always, spirited discussion about the nuts and bolts of the screenwriting process.

    Seidler, Silver and Sorkin were the three tasked with writing scripts (each of them original, interestingly enough, give or take a “book proposal”) detailing real individuals.  Thompson asked for their various experiences with that.  Silver recalled the first screening of the film for members of boxer Micky Ward’s family, and how he expected sparks might fly.

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  • CINEJABBER: SBIFF

    I’m bouncing from this to that in Santa Barbara this afternoon. iPhoning this in. But here’s your weekly open thread.

  • SANTA BARBARA: Bening receives American Riviera Award

    The 26th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival kicked off a week of tributes tonight with the presentation of the American Riviera Award to “The Kids Are All Right” and “Mother and Child” star Annette Bening (with hubby Warren Beatty in tow). The award is given annually to an American actor “who has had a strong influence on American Cinema,” as the literature states.

    Bening, it turns out, is a very good choice for such an honor. And in the year of an Oscar-nominated performance in Lisa Cholodenko’s “The Kids Are All Right,” it’s just the sort of stop along the circuit that could help steer the momentum away from a certain critically-favored young starlet.

    Festival director Roger Durling offered a lovely introduction to Bening, one of his most heart-felt to date, before turning it over to a package featuring her work over the last three decades. The reel was cut to Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and Robert Palmer’s “Simply Irresistible,” with a pivotal scene from Cholodenko’s film dividing the two different assemblages. And it did a great job of reminding you just how versatile Bening is, but also how many of the characters she has portrayed on screen are cut from the same frail cloth.

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  • CINEJABBER: Find a happy place

    Catch up with the idea behind these weekend posts here.

    Three more days.  And then it’ll be five more weeks.  This season is unrelenting.

    It’s also more of a mud-slinging affair behind the scenes than I’m used to.  At least people are more vocal about the mud-slinging than normal (because let’s face it, Oscar campaigns are a bit dirty by necessity).  All eyes are pointed toward inevitability, and inevitability so seemingly secure that it would actually be an embarrassment for the frontrunner to come up short at this point.

    But I’m not going to talk about that.  I’ll save that mumbo-jumbo for the Oscar columns.  Cinejabber is for solace.  And brain leakage.  So let’s see…

    I’ve been pushing through my final predictions and have to say the most troubling categories are below-the-line areas, as usual.  Best Original Score is the biggest head-scratcher, while Best Costume Design is a little troubling, too.  But I’m inching toward that place of, “Screw it, that looks good enough.”

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  • Geoffrey Rush to receive Santa Barbara’s Montecito Award

    The press release, in part:

    The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will honor Academy Award® winning actor Geoffrey Rush with the Montecito Award at the 26th edition of the Festival, which runs January 27– February 6, 2011…The Tribute will take place Monday, January 31, 2011, at the historic Arlington Theatre.

    The Montecito Award was created in recognition of a performer who has given a series of classic and standout performances in his/her career, and has previously been presented to Julianne Moore, Kate Winslet, Javier Bardem, Naomi Watts and Annette Bening, who was the very first recipient in 2005. Geoffrey Rush stands tall within a rare and genuine class of actors, able to command the screen in each and every one of his roles. Ranging from the comedic to the dramatic, Rush’s vast and eclectic body of work illustrates him as one of Hollywood’s most versatile actors.

    “I feel like Royalty’s coming to SBIFF,” remarked [festival executive director Roger) Durling. “Having been an admirer of everything Geoffrey Rush has done (including his Tony-winning performance in Exit The King), we’re truly blessed to get to celebrate him this year where he once again reminds us in The King’s Speech that he’s one of our greatest actors.”

    [Photo: The Weinstein Company]

  • Kidman to receive Santa Barbara’s Cinema Vanguard Award

    The press release, in part:

    The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will honor Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman with the Cinema Vanguard Award at the 26th edition of the Fest, which runs January 27 -February 6, 2011, it was announced today by SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling. The Tribute will take place on Saturday, February 5, 2011 at the historic Arlington Theatre.

    The Cinema Vanguard Award was created in recognition of an actor who has forged his/her own path – taking artistic risks and making a significant and unique contribution to film. The award has previously been awarded to Christoph Waltz, Vera Farmiga, Stanley Tucci, Peter Sarsgaard, Kristin Scott Thomas and Ryan Gosling.

    “Honoring Nicole Kidman is so exciting for us here at SBIFF,” comments Roger Durling. “Her work is immensely diverse and with this year’s heart-wrenching and brilliant performance in ‘Rabbit Hole’ – a project she helped develop as well – it is exactly who we should be celebrating with the 2011 Cinema Vanguard Award.”

    [Photo: Lionsgate]

  • James Franco tapped for Santa Barbara’s Outstanding Performance of the Year Award

    Odd, I was just having a Twitter discussion about who might receive this honor from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and my honest guess was James Franco.  Lo and behold, he’s been tapped for the honor.

    The press release, in part:

    The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is proud to present James Franco with the Outstanding Performance of the Year Award on Saturday, January 29, 2011.  He will be honored for his compelling performance in Danny Boyle’s 127 Hours at the 26th edition of the Fest which runs January 27-February 6, 2011…

    “A truly exceptional actor who embraces the character and lives the story to tell it,” comments [festival executive director Roger] Durling, “James Franco eases onto the screen, seducing the audience no matter if he is the hero, the villain or the victim.”…

    Franco will join an illustrious group of previous Outstanding Performance Award recipients, including Colin Firth (2010), Penelope Cruz (2009), Angelina Jolie (2008), Helen Mirren (2007), Heath Ledger (2006), Kate Winslet (2005) and Charlize Theron (2004).

    More SBIFF awards announcements as they come.

  • Nolan tapped for Modern Master Award in Santa Barbara

    Pete Hammond originally reported this news yesterday and the press release dropped shortly thereafter, but “Inception” director Christopher Nolan will receive the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s highest honor — the Modern Master Award — in January.  Here’s the release, in part:

    Established in 1995, [The Modern Master Award] was created to honor an individual who has enriched our culture through his/her multi-faceted accomplishments in the motion picture industry. Nolan joins an illustrious group of past recipients including Michael Douglas, Jodie Foster, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Diane Keaton, Sean Penn, Jeff Bridges, Peter Jackson, George Clooney, Will Smith, Cate Blanchett, Clint Eastwood, and James Cameron.

    “Every one of Nolan’s films has set a new standard for the film community, with Inception being the latest example,” comments [SBIFF Executive Director Roger] Durling. “Nolan was the natural choice for this year’s SBIFF’s Modern Master Award.”

    Standing out as one of the greatest minds in cinema, Nolan consistently pushes the boundaries of both filmmaking and storytelling. Demonstrating great versatility throughout his career, he has masterfully taken on the challenges of film as a director, writer, producer, editor, and cinematographer. His films have achieved immense success at the box office, drawing some of the largest profits in history, while at the same time they are recognized and renowned for being intellectually sophisticated and a challenge for all audiences alike.

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  • Harrison Ford to receive Santa Barbara’s Kirk Douglas Award

    The press release, in part:

    In recognition of his contributions to the world of film, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is honored to present the fifth annual KIRK DOUGLAS AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN FILM to the legendary Academy Award-nominated actor/producer Harrison Ford…

    “I’m delighted to give this award to Harrison Ford,” commented Kirk Douglas. “It’s always a pleasure to honor these young actors who do so well.”

    Ford’s impressive body of work contains 43 feature films, 12 of which have each grossed over $100 million, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

    Ford’s upcoming film Morning Glory is slated to be released November 12, 2010. Set in the hilarious and dysfunctional world of morning television, Ford plays legendary TV anchor Mike Pomeroy, who is brought on to save a failing news show where he comes into conflict with his co-anchor Colleen Peck (Diane Keaton). Ford will also star alongside Daniel Craig in the upcoming film Cowboys and Aliens, directed by Jon Favreau.

    [Photo: Top News]

  • WEEKLY WRAP: ‘Slumdog,’ Sundance, Santa Barbara

    It slipped my mind to do this yesterday, but here’s the week that was:

    • “Slumdog Millionaire” steamrolled through the week’s precursors, taking the Producers Guild Award…

    • … before landing top honours at the SAG Awards, which we live-blogged for your pleasure.

    • Still on “Slumdog,” a potential smear campaign against the film was duly foiled.

    • No surprise, then, that this week’s Off the Carpet column declared the race pretty much over.

    • The Academy settled “The Reader” producers’ dilemma by breaking its ludicrous “three-nominee” rule.

    • Meanwhile, some are wondering whether Harvey Weinstein’s tactics could harm the film’s chances, particularly in the Best Actress race.

    • Away from the Oscar race, gritty urban drama “Push” cleaned up at Sundance.

    • The Santa Barbara fest carried on, with an interesting screenwriters’ forum among the highlights.

    • Still at Santa Barbara, Danny Boyle, Kate Winslet and this year’s six Virtuoso stars were among those celebrated.

    • Could “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” really go 0-for-13 on Oscar night?

    • Finally, rounding off a very “Slumdog”-flavoured week, be sure to check out our interview with the film’s brilliant craftsmen.