Jason Bateman, Hope Davis and Haley Ramm in Henry-Alex Rubin's "DISCONNECT" Courtesy of LD Entertainment
The 28th Santa Barbara International Film Festival (January 24-February 3), presented by lynda.com, will open the 2013 Festival with the U.S. Premiere of LD Entertainment’s Disconnect, directed by Henry-Alex Rubin and starring Jason Bateman, Hope Davis, Frank Grillo, Paula Patton, Michael Nyqvist, Andrea Riseborough, Alexander Skarsgård and Max Thieriot. Opening night will take place at the Arlington Theatre on Thursday, January 24, 2013, with director and cast expected to attend.
“Disconnect is a visceral and timely film experience - and an extraordinary way to start the 28th edition of SBIFF,” remarked Executive Director Roger Durling.
The festival, in its 28th year, has also announced today that it will honor Academy Award® nominated actor Leonardo DiCaprio with the American Riviera Award. DiCaprio, whose latest film Django Unchained was released to critical acclaim and box office success this Christmas, will be honored on Friday, February 1 at the Arlington Theatre.
“We are thrilled to be honoring Leonardo DiCaprio with the American Riviera Award, in a year where he has shown us another layer of his immeasurable talent” commented Durling. “His performance in Django Unchained reaffirms that he is the most relevant actor of this generation.”
The American Riviera Award was established to recognize an artist who has had a strong influence on American Cinema. DiCaprio will join an illustrious group of past recipients, including frequent collaborator director Martin Scorsese (2012): Annette Bening (2011), Sandra Bullock (2010), Mickey Rourke (2009), Tommy Lee Jones (2008), Forrest Whitaker (2007), Philip Seymour Hoffman (2006), Kevin Bacon (2005) and Diane Lane (2004).
DiCaprio, who began his career as a teenager in television commercials, has built a remarkable catalogue that goes back to now-iconic 90’s titles such as The Basketball Diaries, Total Eclipse, and Baz Luhrman’s Romeo + Juliet. His worldwide breakthrough came with the box office juggernaut Titanic, followed by lead performances in films like Catch Me If You Can, Gangs of New York, The Departed, Revolutionary Road, Shutter Island, Inception and J. Edgar. He has been nominated three times for an Academy Award® for his performances in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, The Aviator and Blood Diamond.
In addition to his acting work, DiCaprio has launched a production company, Appian Way. Under the Appian Way banner, he wrote, produced and narrated the acclaimed documentary The 11th Hour. Among Appian Way’s other productions are the aforementioned Shutter Island and The Aviator as well as The Ides of March, Red Riding Hood, Orphan and Public Enemies.
DiCaprio is well known for his dedication to the environment on a global scale, producing creative projects and spearheading numerous public awareness campaigns, as well as launching The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation. He currently serves on the boards of World Wildlife Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council and International Fund for Animal Welfare.
With DiCaprio receiving the American Riviera Award and Disconnect opening the film festival, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival is proud to celebrate both an actor and a film that are in touch with today’s social and global issues and needs.
Disconnect holds a mirror up to our community and our obsession with all things technical. The story introduces us to a vast collection of characters: A lawyer, an estranged couple, a widowed ex-cop and an ambitious journalist who are all strangers, neighbors and colleagues whose stories collide in this compelling drama about ordinary people desperate for a human connection.
Filmed with a somewhat voyeuristic style, Disconnect marks the first fiction feature from Henry-Alex Rubin, director of the Oscar-nominated documentary Murderball, and is produced by Mickey Liddell and Jennifer Monroe of LD Entertainment and William Horberg of Wonderful Films from an original screenplay by Andrew Stern. Disconnect, screened at the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival in 2012 and will be released nationwide by LD Entertainment on April 19, 2013.
Festivities for both of these events will take place at the Arlington Theatre. Tickets available now and can be purchased through www.sbfilmfestival.org or by calling 805-963-0023. Festival Passes and Packages are still available and sold exclusively at www.sbfilmfestival.org and 805-963-0023.
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is dedicated to the art of filmmaking, which seeks out and consequently offers a broad array of international and independent films, with a commitment to diversity. SBIFF, which attracts more than 70,000 visitors each year, endeavors to enrich the community both culturally and economically by presenting eleven days of films, tributes and symposiums, raising consciousness of film as an art form. SBIFF presents quality American and world independent films, Latin American and French sidebars as well as documentary cinema within the beautiful setting of downtown Santa Barbara, a premier tourist destination. SBIFF continues its commitment to education through its 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking and Screenwriting Competitions, Field Trip to the Movies, presented by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and educational seminars. For more information, log onto www.sbfilmfestival.org.
Chatelin Bruno 
