Focus on Film 

Longtime Santa Barbara resident Andy Davis, director of such classic films as The Fugitive and Under Siege, will be on hand for a free screening of his well-received 2003 dramedy Holes (first feature film of mercurial actor Shia LaBeouf) on Sunday morning, September 28, at SBIFF’s Riviera Theatre. A conversation with Davis about the movie and more will be followed by a reception with light bites, where the affable director is sure to be willing to talk more. Visit www.sbiff.org. 

UCSB’s Carsey-Wolf Center’s new season gets underway on Thursday, October 2, with a free CWC Global screening of the 2024 Cuban film Chronicles of the Absurd (Crónicas del absurdo). The documentary details how up-and-coming actress Lynn Cruz became the subject of a systematic campaign of social annihilation, trials, police raids, state security interrogations, and intimidations after she was cast by independent filmmaker Miguel Coyula in his dystopian film Corazón Azul. Chronicles recounts the story through secret audio recordings, visualized through stop motion animation, still photographs, and paintings by Cuban expressionist artist Antonia Eiriz. Coyula joins moderator Cristina Venegas (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for a post-screening discussion.  

Visit www.carseywolf.ucsb.edu/pollock-events/cwc-global-chronicles-of-the-absurd.