About the Festival
In 2014, the festival screened over 200 films, including feature films and short films, from different countries and regions. Besides screenings, the festival also contains different sections, including celebrity tributes, industry panels and education programs.
Where
Santa Barbara, CALIFORNIA USA
Next Festival
Website
http://www.sbiff.org
Festival Films
Room
ROOM tells the extraordinary story of Jack, a spirited 5-year-old who is looked after by his loving and devoted mother. Like any good mother, Ma dedicates herself to keeping Jack happy and safe, nurturing him with warmth and love and doing typical things like playing games and telling stories. Their life, however, is anything but typical--they are trapped--confined to a 10-by-10-foot space that Ma has euphemistically named Room. Ma has created a whole universe for Jack within Room, and she will stop at nothing to ensure that, even in this treacherous environment, Jack is able to live a complete and fulfilling life. But as Jack's curiosity about their situation grows, and Ma's resilience reaches its breaking point, they enact a risky plan to escape, ultimately bringing them face-to-face with what may turn out to be the scariest thing yet: the real world.
Run Time: 118 min Release: 2015
Director: Lenny Abrahamson
Stars: Brie Larson, Jacob Tremblay, Sean Bridgers, Wendy Crewson
Get on Up
On route to the stage, singer James Brown recalls a life with a turbulent childhood where music was his only constructive release for his passions. A chance demonstration of that in prison led to a new friend who helped get him out and into a musical career. With his fire and creative daring, Brown became a star who defiantly created new possibilities in show business both on and behind the stage in face of racism and conventional thinking. Along the way, James would also become a peacemaker who redefined and raised the African-American community's feeling of self-worth when it was needed most. However, those same domineering passions would lead James Brown alienating everyone around him as his appetites became ever more self-destructive. Only after he hit rock bottom with a serious mistake does Brown realize what he needs to do make his life as the Godfather of Soul truly worthwhile.
Run Time: 139 min Release: 2014
Director: Tate Taylor
Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Nelsan Ellis, Dan Aykroyd, Viola Davis
Gone Girl
On the occasion of his fifth wedding anniversary, Nick Dunne reports that his wife, Amy, has gone missing. Under pressure from the police and a growing media frenzy, Nick's portrait of a blissful union begins to crumble. Soon his lies, deceits and strange behavior have everyone asking the same dark question: Did Nick Dunne kill his wife?
Run Time: 149 min Release: 2014
Director: David Fincher
Stars: Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry
Obvious Child
For aspiring comedian Donna Stern, everyday life as a female twenty-something provides ample material for her relatable brand of humor. On stage, Donna is unapologetically herself, joking about topics as intimate as her sex life and as crude as her day-old underwear. But when Donna winds up unexpectedly pregnant after a one-night stand, she is forced to face the uncomfortable realities of independent womanhood for the first time. Donna's drunken hookup - and epic lapse in prophylactic judgment - turns out to be the beginning of an unplanned journey of self-discovery and empowerment.
Run Time: 84 min Release: 2014
Director: Gillian Robespierre
Stars: Jenny Slate, Paul Briganti, Gaby Hoffmann, Stephen Singer
Cake
The acerbic, hilarious Claire Bennett becomes fascinated by the suicide of a woman in her chronic pain support group. As she uncovers the details of Nina's suicide and develops a poignant relationship with Nina's husband, she also grapples with her own, very raw personal tragedy.
Run Time: 102 min Release: 2014
Director: Daniel Barnz
Stars: Jennifer Aniston, Adriana Barraza, Anna Kendrick, Sam Worthington
Citizenfour
A documentarian and a reporter travel to Hong Kong for the first of many meetings with Edward Snowden.
Run Time: 114 min Release: 2014
Director: Laura Poitras
Stars: Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, William Binney, Jacob Appelbaum
BFFs
When two straight friends go into couples therapy, they're so convincing that even they start to question their relationship.
Run Time: 90 min Release: 2014
Director: Andrew Putschoegl
Stars: Larisa Oleynik, Sean Maher, Richard Moll, Dan Gauthier
Barefoot
The "black sheep" son of a wealthy family meets a young psychiatric patient who's been raised in isolation her entire life. He then takes the naive young woman home for his brother's wedding.
Run Time: 90 min Release: 2014
Director: Andrew Fleming
Stars: Evan Rachel Wood, Scott Speedman, Treat Williams, Kate Burton
Boyhood
The life of Mason, from early childhood to his arrival at college.
Run Time: 165 min Release: 2014
Director: Richard Linklater
Stars: Ellar Coltrane, Patricia Arquette, Elijah Smith, Lorelei Linklater
Metalhead
A girl is caught between the life that took her brother and her own inability to strike out on her own. In her grief, she finds solace in the dark music of Black Metal and dreams of becoming a rock star.
Run Time: 97 min Release: 2013
Director: Ragnar Bragason
Stars: Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson, Sigrún Edda Björnsdóttir, Sveinn �lafur Gunnarsson, Thora Bjorg Helga
Short Term 12
A 20-something supervising staff member of a residential treatment facility navigates the troubled waters of that world alongside her co-worker and longtime boyfriend.
Run Time: 96 min Release: 2013
Director: Destin Daniel Cretton
Stars: Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Stephanie Beatriz, Rami Malek
Dallas Buyers Club
Dallas 1985. Electrician and sometimes rodeo bull rider Ron Woodroof lives hard, which includes heavy smoking, drinking, drug use (primarily cocaine) and casual sex. He is racist and homophobic. While in the hospital on a work related injury, the doctors discover and inform him that he is HIV+, and that he will most-likely die within thirty days. Ron is initially in angry denial that he would have a disease that only "faggots" have, but upon quick reflection comes to the realization that the diagnosis is probably true. He begins to read whatever research is available about the disease, which at this time seems to be most effectively treated by the drug AZT. AZT, however, is only in the clinical trials stage within the US. Incredulous that he, as a dying man, cannot pay for any drug which may save or at least prolong his life, he goes searching for it by whatever means possible. It eventually leads him to Mexico and a "Dr." Vass, an American physician whose license was revoked in the US because of his AIDS related work against US regulations. Dr. Vass leads Ron to a cocktail of other drugs, some vitamins, he believes are more effective in treating the symptoms, since the virus, as Ron learns, will always be in the system of those who have been exposed to it. Ron begins to smuggle these drugs not approved by the FDA into the US, not only for his own use but for sale to other HIV+ persons. In this venture, he goes into an unlikely partnership with a HIV+ transgender woman named Rayon, who he met in the hospital and who has greater contact with AIDS patients through the gay community. As they try to work both above ground to get the meds to those that need them and underground to avoid detection by especially the FDA, Ron comes up with an idea to circumvent the fact of selling the drugs - which are not considered drugs yet since they are not FDA approved - directly to the HIV+ population, which then should should not be against the law. Richard Barkley and Dr. Sevard, the FDA's lead man on the file and one of Ron's doctors respectively, the latter who sees clinical trials as the only way to determine the efficacy of drugs despite the fact that Ron and others would have probably died already without these drugs, try to stop Ron and Rayon at every turn. Caught in the middle is Dr. Eve Saks, another of Ron's doctors, who understands why policies are in place, but who can sympathize with Ron, Rayon and others - all her patients, directly or indirectly - in their situation.
Run Time: 117 min Release: 2013
Director: Jean-Marc Vallée
Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Denis O'Hare
Lee Daniels' The Butler
As Cecil Gaines serves eight presidents during his tenure as a butler at the White House, the civil rights movement, Vietnam, and other major events affect this man's life, family, and American society.
Run Time: 132 min Release: 2013
Director: Lee Daniels
Stars: Forest Whitaker, David Banner, Michael Rainey Jr., LaJessie Smith
For a Woman
The story of the marriage between Michel and Lena, as told by their daughter Anne, with reflections on the mystery of abiding love.
Run Time: 110 min Release: 2013
Director: Diane Kurys
Stars: Benoît Magimel, Mélanie Thierry, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Sylvie Testud
Inside Llewyn Davis
A week in the life of a young singer as he navigates the Greenwich Village folk scene of 1961.
Run Time: 104 min Release: 2013
Director: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Stars: Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Justin Timberlake, Ethan Phillips
Nebraska
An aging, booze-addled father makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.
Run Time: 115 min Release: 2013
Director: Alexander Payne
Stars: Bruce Dern, Will Forte, June Squibb, Bob Odenkirk
Blue Is the Warmest Color
Adele's life is changed when she meets Emma, a young woman with blue hair, who will allow her to discover desire, to assert herself as a woman and as an adult. In front of others, Adele grows, seeks herself, loses herself and ultimately finds herself through love and loss.
Run Time: 180 min Release: 2013
Director: Abdellatif Kechiche
Stars: Léa Seydoux, Adèle Exarchopoulos, Salim Kechiouche, Aurélien Recoing
Fruitvale Station
This is the true story of Oscar, a 22-year-old Bay Area resident who wakes up on the morning of December 31, 2008 and feels something in the air. Not sure what it is, he takes it as a sign to get a head start on his resolutions: being a better son to his mother, whose birthday falls on New Year's Eve, being a better partner to his girlfriend, who he hasn't been completely honest with as of late, and being a better father to T, their beautiful 4 year old daughter. He starts out well, but as the day goes on, he realizes that change is not going to come easy. He crosses paths with friends, family, and strangers, each exchange showing us that there is much more to Oscar than meets the eye. But it would be his final encounter of the day, with police officers at the Fruitvale BART station that would shake the Bay Area to its very core, and cause the entire nation to be witnesses to the story of Oscar Grant.
Run Time: 85 min Release: 2013
Director: Ryan Coogler
Stars: Michael B. Jordan, Melonie Diaz, Octavia Spencer, Kevin Durand
Greenwich Village: Music that Defined a Generation
Explores the music scene in Greenwich Village, New York in the 60's and early 70's. The film highlights some of the finest singer/songwriters of the day.
Run Time: 92 min Release: 2013
Director: Laura Archibald
Stars: Susan Sarandon, Kris Kristofferson, Judy Collins, Carly Simon
Compliance
At a fast food restaurant, the manager, Sandra, is having a bad day. Suddenly, she gets a phone call from a man claiming to be a police officer who has a complaint that one of her young female employees has stolen from a customer. At the orders of this authoritative sounding stranger, Sandra takes the apparent accused, Becky, to a back room to search her before she is picked up. Once there, the phone scammer manipulates the gullible personnel into participating in Becky's sexual humiliation that grows more twisted with every new sucker on the phone. Only when one final person has the conscience to revolt do they realize the crime they were tricked into, which the real police are hard pressed to solve.
Run Time: 90 min Release: 2012
Director: Craig Zobel
Stars: Ann Dowd, Matt Servitto, Dreama Walker, Pat Healy