Tag archives: movies

Focus on Film: Riviera Reaches Out
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 16, 2020

Film is a medium that lends itself perfectly to streaming and other methods of home delivery, perhaps a perfectly-placed panacea during the pandemic, entertainment-wise at least. No one needs an introduction to Netflix, Amazon Prime and the like, but perhaps some prodding is in order to visit our local cinematic specialists. The Santa Barbara International […]

Good Genes
By Richard Mineards   |   April 16, 2020

Montecito arborist Gene Tyburn is one proud dad. His documentary maker son Matt Tyrnauer‘s latest project Where’s My Roy Cohn?, the Svengali behind Joseph McCarthy and President Donald Trump, is currently airing on the Starz TV channel. Matt has made a number of notable documentaries while writing for Vanity Fair magazine, including 2009’s Valentino: The […]

Armie’s Back
By Richard Mineards   |   April 16, 2020

Montecito art and car collector Michael Hammer‘s actor son, Armie, 33, is reprising his role in the sequel to the hit film Call Me By Your Name with Oscar nominated Timothee Chalamet, 24. Director Luca Guadagnino, 48, who helmed the original 2017 drama, says both lead actors are keen to reprise their roles in the […]

Mountain Madness
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 5, 2020

Every year, approximately 375 films vie for just 80 slots in The Banff Mountain Film Festival, the most prestigious international presentation of short films and documentaries about mountain culture, sports, and environment that takes place every October in Banff, Canada. During the festival, a jury chooses the best films in such categories as Mountain Sports, […]

Film Festival Fever
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 5, 2020

With SBIFF barely six weeks gone, the time seems ripe for more film fests to find local favor, as three different offerings arrive in town this week. The fifth annual Santa Barbara Jewish Film Festival since the event was resurrected by the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara takes place March 11-15 at the New […]

Black History Month Gets Busy
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 6, 2020

Several local organizations are collaborating to celebrate Black History Month all throughout February. Santa Barbara Young Black Professionals, Coffee with a Black Guy, Black Rock Coalition (NYC), El Centro, Endowment for Youth Committee, African American Women in Santa Barbara County, Martin Luther King, Jr Committee of Santa Barbara, Black Lives Matter Santa Barbara, Juneteenth Santa […]

A Final Weekend of SBIFF
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 30, 2020

The red carpets have all been rolled back up, the klieg lights turned off, and filmmakers have gone on to the next festival along with their movies. But there’s still one final freebie for local film lovers before SBIFF calls it quits on its 35th festival. That would be the Third Weekend screenings, which although […]

Brad Pitt Tribute
By Lynda Millner   |   January 30, 2020

It had to be the biggest night ever for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) and I’ve been to all 34. This was the evening they honored Brad Pitt with the Maltin Modern Master Award. As I approached the Arlington Theatre the street had been blocked off and there were solid people clear across […]

Lost and Found
By Steven Libowitz   |   January 16, 2020

It’s easy to see why Katharine O’Brien calls her Montecito upbringing “a Cinderella Story.” The future filmmaker was just nine years old when her mother, Carla, a Santa Barbara native who had moved back home after years on the East Coast following a divorce from Katharine’s father, met Stephen Hahn, the distinguished billionaire art dealer […]

Get Cozy with Kanopy
By Kim Crail   |   November 14, 2019

The days are getting shorter. This time change has cleaned our clocks. Hibernation feels are finally here. The Montecito Library can help you out with those cozy, quiet nights in. Kanopy is a new on-demand video streaming service available to you for free with your library card. You can stream it like Netflix or Amazon […]

FestForums Living Legend Award
By Joanne A Calitri   |   November 14, 2019

Winning a Living Legend Award at the annual FestForums Santa Barbara is film director Penelope Spheeris. A not-to-miss three-day event is filled with a VIP Speaker Line-Up that includes Steve Baltin from Forbes Magazine, former World Surfing Champion Shaun Tomson, Skip Martin (Kool & the Gang, The Dazz Band), Jon Anderson (Yes), Grammy Songwriter Ray […]

The Great Fight
By Richard Mineards   |   November 14, 2019

Elaine Weiss, prize-winning journalist and author of the blockbuster book The Woman’s Hour, was fêted at a bustling reception at Tydes at the Coral Casino after speaking on The Great Fight to Win the Vote at Campbell Hall, part of the UCSB Arts & Lectures series. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is teaming […]

Surf Film Fest Surfaces
By Richard Mineards   |   November 7, 2019

Surf movies, especially those with a Santa Barbara connection, have been a popular sidebar at SBIFF for many years. This weekend the genre steps to a fest of its own with the first annual event celebrating the “Santa Barbara Surf Culture” on film. The two-day fest, slated for full 12-hour plus schedules on both Saturday […]

Riskin-g Memories
By Steven Libowitz   |   November 7, 2019

Montecito author and screenwriter Victoria Riskin will be on hand for a Carsey-Wolf Center Classics screening of one of her father’s beloved features, Meet John Doe (1941), another of writer Robert Riskin’s celebrated collaboration with famed director Frank Capra whose earlier teamwork produced It Happened One Night (1934) and Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936). […]

Remembering Robert
By Richard Mineards   |   November 7, 2019

On a personal note, I remember the legendary Hollywood icon Robert Evans, who produced The Godfather and Chinatown. Bob, who died at his magnificent Beverly Hills mansion aged 89, was also thrown into the spotlight when his fifth wife Love Story actress Ali MacGraw left him for actor Steve McQueen. He was also married to […]

Coming Full Circle with ‘Generosity of Eye’
By Steven Libowitz   |   October 10, 2019

Julia Louis-Dreyfus is no stranger to the camera as the actress has starred as Elaine in the iconic sitcom Seinfeld and the title character in the just-concluded HBO hit VEEP, as well as several feature films. She’s collected 11 Emmy Awards, a SAG prize and a Golden Globe. But perhaps her most personal work appears […]

From Hollywood to Landscape Design
By Beverlye Fead   |   October 3, 2019

Alida Aldrich was born in 1947 in Hancock Park, California to famed Hollywood director Robert Aldrich (Whatever Happened to Baby Jane, the Dirty Dozen and the Longest Yard); her mother was Grace Foster. Both were from Warwick Neck, Rhode Island, the tony enclave on the Narragansett Bay – across from Newport. Her parents were born […]

Everything’s Coming Up Sideways: Cult Wine Country Film Turns 15
By Gabe Saglie   |   September 5, 2019

Little known fact about the 2004 cult film Sideways: if George Clooney and Brad Pitt had gotten their way, the heartthrob pair would have seen their own names on the movie’s marquee. Director Alexander Payne turned them down, though, opting instead to cast lesser known names that wouldn’t steal the spotlight from the story or […]

Fun After the Sun: Fifties Flicks al Fresco
By Steven Libowitz   |   July 11, 2019

What could be more fun than spending a Friday evening with your friends watching a free classic film outdoors in a gorgeous garden setting? That’s basically the premise behind UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Santa Barbara County Office of Arts and Culture’s annual summer film series at the Courthouse Sunken Gardens downtown – a […]

A Class Act
By Richard Mineards   |   July 4, 2019

Michael DeVorzon, the son of Montecito dynamic duo Barry and Jelinda DeVorzon, is becoming quite the TV star. But you’d never know it. Michael, who attended MUS, Crane, Santa Barbara High and UCSB, appears in a ZipRecruiter commercial that has been airing regularly since October, 2017. There have been more than 23,000 national airings of […]