Tag archives: Oscars

SBIFF Salutes Oscars, Screens Theater
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 24, 2026

As often happens, select Oscar-winning movies head back to theaters in the wake of the awards, but now a number of them will be playing in SBIFF’s own McHurley Film Center downtown. Re-opening on the big screen on Friday, March 20, are One Battle After Another, whose five award-winners (six Oscars) were all part of […]

SBIFF at the Oscars 
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 4, 2025

A throng of actors, writers, directors, producers and other folks will stroll up to the stage to receive an Oscar on Sunday night at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. A large percentage of these will almost assuredly have spoken directly to us about their films on stage just a few weeks earlier at the Arlington […]

Further Focus on Film: Life after SBIFF
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 25, 2025

Maybe the best remedy for SBIFF withdrawal symptoms is to dive right back into the movies, perhaps particularly ones that are up for Academy Awards. Many of the nominated features can be seen at cinemas around town, but unless you’re an Academy member, chances are you haven’t viewed the vast majority of short films up […]

Innovative and Engaging: This Year’s Animation Films are a Hopeful Sign for the Future
By Christopher Matteo Connor   |   February 18, 2025

People are screaming it from cinema’s rooftops: it’s been a banner year for animation — critically and at the box-office. And this year’s Oscar nominated animated features are reaffirming that animation is more than just something to keep the kids occupied as the adults do whatever adult things adults do. It always has been. Take […]

Tacos with a Side of Statue
By Richard Mineards   |   November 26, 2024

Carpinteria TV host Conan O’Brien is hosting the next Oscars. Announcing Taco Bell’s new Cheesy Chalupa Supreme, O’Brien then said: “In other news, I’m hosting the Oscars.” He told his fans at the weekend. It will be his first time as Oscars host. He has emceed other high profile shows like the Emmy Awards in […]

A Golden Oscars Bash
By Richard Mineards   |   March 26, 2024

Society gadabout Rick Oshay and La Boheme dancers founder Teresa Kuskey teamed up with Scott and Karen Davis to host an Oscars bash at Rick’s Montecito estate while the 96th annual event was shown on giant TV screens around the gardens decorated with giant figures of the awards trophy. Among those noshing on the canapés […]

Alumna’s Studio Wins Oscar for ‘Last Repair Shop’
By Scott Craig   |   March 26, 2024

This month, as we celebrate the remarkable achievements of women, the legacy of Ruth Kerr, who co-founded Westmont in 1937, continues to shape lives with a vision ahead of its time. She encouraged women to embrace the world beyond the idyllic Montecito campus, inspiring them to pursue their dreams and make a difference on a […]

Segueing from SBIFF 
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 27, 2024

What was a singly superb 39th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival ended with a bit of a downer as Annette Bening, announced as the winner of the inaugural Arlington Award – the fest’s newest and the last to be awarded this month – had to cancel the tribute event due to illness. (On the […]

The Zone of Interest
By Christopher Matteo Connor   |   February 20, 2024

Jonathan Glazer’s new Oscar-nominated film, The Zone of Interest, has finally hit SB screens, and if you’ve yet to check it out, it’s a definite must-see. But be warned: it’s a difficult watch. Rudolf Höss, the commandant of Auschwitz, lives – quite literally – next to the largest and most notorious of concentration camps. There, […]

Gettin’ SBIFF-y with It
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 6, 2024

Get ready, Santa Barbara. It’s time to roll out the red carpet and rev up for 11 roaring days and nights of film screenings, seminars, panels, actor tributes and other awards, plus parties, as the 39th annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival takes over the town. Start stocking up on sleep and shore up your […]

Oscar & SBIFF: Friends Forever
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 22, 2022

Let’s get this out of the way: there is no way that we have the space to cite even a single sentence from each of the Academy Award nominees who set foot on the stage at the Arlington Theatre during the 37th annual SBIFF – but here are a few pithy comments: Will Smith (commenting […]

The Lone Ranger
By Richard Mineards   |   March 22, 2022

The flagship Ranger, which is familiar to many for leading the annual Parade of Lights at Yuletide, has rejoined the Classic Yacht Association’s Southern California fleet. Originally the vessel was readmitted to the association in 2020, in time for the 20th anniversary of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum, but the pandemic delayed her rededication ceremony. […]

Oscar Goes to Santa Barbara
By Steven Libowitz   |   March 3, 2022

Academy Award aficionados and other Oscarologists will have a field day at SBIFF ‘22 all within the fest’s first few days. All five nominated directors (including Steven Spielberg!) appear at the Arlington on March 3, followed by Kristen Stewart on March 4, the now nine-strong Virtuosos Award in the wake of the Writers’ (with eight […]

Talking Baseball in Tokyo
By Steven Libowitz   |   April 21, 2021

Veteran journalist and author Robert Whiting is one of only a few Western writers to have written a regular newspaper column in the Japanese language. The author of several highly successful books on Japan and the city where he has lived on and off for more than half a century include the best-selling You Gotta […]

In Passing: Alan Kozlowski – 1948-2020
By Montecito Journal   |   September 24, 2020

Alan Kozlowski passed away peacefully the morning of September 17 with loved ones by his side. Alan lived a most extraordinary life. Born in Hayward, California in 1948, Alan grew up in the Bay Area spending many of his early days on the streets of Haight-Ashbury. Although he eventually created a multi-million-dollar Hollywood post-production company […]

SBCC Helps
By Richard Mineards   |   May 7, 2020

The Santa Barbara City College Foundation has sprung into action to support students facing multiple challenges resulting from the current health crisis, including loss of paid work, and homeschooling of children. “When a crisis hits, philanthropy has a unique role to play,” says foundation CEO Geoff Green. “Community-based organizations can immediately move resources to help […]

Puppy Power: Collective Confers Jazz-plus
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 21, 2019

Trying to pigeonhole Snarky Puppy into a single genre would be a fool’s errand, but suffice it to say that the three-time Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn-based collective that features a revolving cast of up to 25 musicians makes music that’s at once heady, heart-centered, and headed for the dance floor, an amalgam they call “music for […]

‘Guest Artist’ a Blast from the Past
By Steven Libowitz   |   February 7, 2019

Guest Artist is the 10th of 18 plays written by famed actor-author-director Jeff Daniels that he has premiered at his Michigan-based Purple Rose Theatre Company, but only the second to be adapted into a movie. The 2006 work has only been produced a few times elsewhere, but the play still resonates for Daniels, who looked […]

Walk to Remember
By Richard Mineards   |   January 17, 2019

Montecito TV titan Oprah Winfrey, Kenny Loggins, and actor Rob Lowe paid tribute to the 23 people who lost their lives and many who lost everything a year ago, as our tony enclave was ravaged by catastrophic mudslides. Oprah, 64, was among hundreds of local residents taking part in the first anniversary vigil, walking from […]

Smugness on Parade
By Montecito Journal   |   March 15, 2018

The Hollywood crowd must be asking why the Oscar’s ratings continued to decline again this year? Why is it that more people don’t want to watch a bunch of glitzy starlets with boob jobs and drunk on their own self-importance trying to impress each other? Could it be that they can’t help themselves from using […]