The creative minds behind some of this year’s best big-budget and independent films will share their experiences and anecdotes with audiences during the panel series at the 22nd Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival. Creative challenges and successes will be unearthed during several panels over the two weekends of the SBIFF.

The series kicks off at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 29, with “Directors on Directing,” which takes place on Saturday, January 27 at 11:00 a.m. Moderated by producer and co-host of AMC’s “Sunday Morning Shootout” Peter Bart, scheduled to participate are Alejandro González Iñárritu (Babel), Todd Field (Little Children), Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton (Little Miss Sunshine), and John Lasseter (Cars). The panel takes place at the Lobero Theater and is sponsored by Variety.

Next up is the ever-popular “It Starts With the Script,” the screenwriters panel at 2:00 p.m. Moderated by Hollywood Reporter columnist Anne Thompson, participants include Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine), Guillermo Arriaga (Babel), Todd Field (Little Children), Zack Helm (Stranger Than Fiction), Aline Brosh McKenna (Devil Wears Prada), William Monahan (The Departed), Peter Morgan (The Queen / Last King of Scotland), and Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking). Also taking place at the Lobero Theatre, the panel is sponsored by Pacifica Graduate Institute.

Starting off the day on Sunday, January 30, at 11:00 a.m., also at the Lobero Theatre, is the “Movers & Shakers,” panel bringing together top producers to discuss their craft. Moderated by Los Angeles Times columnist Patrick Goldstein, the panel will include Judd Apatow (Talladega Nights), Albert Berger (Little Children), Steve Golin (Babel), Graham King (The Departed), Lawrence Mark (Dreamgirls), Jay Roach (Borat), and Ron Yerxa (Little Miss Sunshine). The panel is sponsored by iO Film.


The insights continue during the Fest’s second weekend with some of the most creative women working in film today with “Creative Forces: Women in the Biz” on Saturday, February 3, 11:00 a.m. Moderated by Madelyn Hammond, Senior Vice President of Sales, Marketing, and Retail for Landmark Theatres, participants so far include Adriana Barraza (actress, Babel), Sharen Davis (Costume Designer, Dreamgirls / Pursuit of Happyness), Virginia Katz (editor, Dreamgirls), and Cecilia Peck (Director, Shut Up And Sing). The panel takes place at the Lobero Theatre and is co-sponsored by the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History and Sandy Stahl and supported in part by Girls Inc.


“Scoring the Film” will take place at 2:00 p.m., also at the Lobero Theatre and moderated by film critic and KUSC Radio host Jim Svejda and so far includes composers Gustavo Santaolalla (Babel), Mark Isham (Bobby) and Mychael Danna (Litle Miss Sunshine / The Nativity Story)…with more to come!

As part of their focus on the environment, on Wednesday, January 31, from 7-9 pm at the Marjorie Luke, the SBIFF will feature a panel entitled “Location, Location, Location,” on the greening of Hollywood; creating environmentally sustainable media production practices to building green consciousness in the media industries and their audiences. The panel, presented by the UC-Santa Barbara Department of Film and Media Studies and the Environmental Media Initiative of the Carsey-Wolf Center for Film, Television and New Media, will include Ed Begley, Jr. (actor and environmental activist and star of Living With Ed, a new eco-reality show with wife Rachelle Carson, on HGTV); Debbie Levin (President of the Environmental Media Association); Shelley Billik (VP Environmental Initiatives Warner Bros.); Matthew Cooper (Entertainment and Environmental Attorney and Production Legal Consultant to Lord of the Rings); Mark Shelley (Executive Director, Sea Studios, Producer of Strange Days on Planet Earth); Gary Petersen (national leader on sustainability issues appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, which commissioned the recent UCLA Institute on the Environment Report card on environmental practices in the entertainment industry); Gretchen Lewotsky (VP of Pulblic Affairs and Environmental Operations, Fox Entertainment); and Amy Lemisch (Director of the California Film Commission).


The Santa Barbara International Film Festival, set to run January 25 through February 4, 2007, is a non-profit organization dedicated to enriching local culture and raising consciousness of film as an art form. The SBIFF presents quality American and world independent films, Latin American and Asian sidebars as well as documentary cinema within the beautiful setting of downtown Santa Barbara, a premier tourist destination. The SBIFF is also committed to education through its Student Filmmaking and Screenwriting Competitions, Field Trip to the Movies, and educational seminars. With a projected audience of over 60,000 viewing more than 200 films over its eleven-day run, SBIFF attracts an affluent local and national consumer base, while maintaining strong ties with the entertainment industry in nearby Los Angeles.