Tag archives: movies
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 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 […]
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). […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]



