We’re at war, the economy is in the toilet, many are out of work and/or sick with no health care, and speaking of which, arguments over health care reached an all time low with the way people have conducted themselves, oh and did I mention you still haven‘t won the lottery?
With all the crap on the “news” the relentlessly chatty pundits shoving opinions in our faces, it’s a wonder we don’t all just take an elevator and jump out a high rise window. And do you want to know wh...
Winding Down
By
Kimberly Deisler
Could it possibly be day ten already? While the week was excruciatingly long in that everyone’s exhausted and choking with some kind of cough or cold, we’re finally here … on the last day of the festival.
Although most of the world considers this to be Valentine’s Day, those in Santa Barbara are celebrating the local sweetheart with Jeff Bridges Day by screening all of his Oscar nominated films, The Last Picture Show, Thunderbolt...
What Could Happen?
By
Kimberly Deiser
Being in the middle of an unrelenting winter, many of you can probably relate to this. Fifteen years ago, I was living where I’d spent most of my life, the Jersey Shore. Now before you go thinking I’m one of those booger-pickin morons on that stupid show giving my hometown a bad name, let me just say those people are NOT from the Jersey Shore and don’t get me started!
The latest nor’easter had snowed me in. Unable...
Poisoned Malice
By
Kimberly Deisler
At the risk of seeming self indulgent, this post is going to track my last two days in hopes of making a couple of points.
After screening 8: The Mormon Proposition, I was seething with such anger that had I run into a Mormon at that moment, I would have given ‘em a good slap in the back of the head. But I’ll come back to this in a minute.
...
“Will You Marry Him?”
By
Kimberly Deisler
And you thought you had a lot of friends on Facebook? One annoying aspect about working the film festival is how many actual friends, and those other pesky types who only “know” you when they want something, suddenly emerge from the woodwork when a particular guest or event appeals to them. Regardless of the level of intimacy, I honestly do try to accommodate as many people as possible, but there are those times when request...
Two Spirits
Many Broken Hearts
By
Kimberly Deisler
Never underestimate the power of film, how it seeps into your soul without permission and takes up residence. I just finished watching Two Spirits, a Lydia Nibley film and now my heart is aching, pounding with the loss of a boy I’ve never met, but whose spirit will live inside me all the days of my life.
This is my love/hate relationship with the film festival. From one venue to the next, from one genre to the nex...
Ten Stories Tall
By
Kimberly Deisler
Leave it to a funeral to bring out the best in everybody. Of course, you can’t forget holidays and weddings, but funerals are really when the volume turns up on family dynamics and interpersonal dysfunctions give way for the truth to pour out like an emotional tsunami.
Ten Stories Tall focuses on two families, with lives so entwined, you almost don’t know where one ends and the other begins. The two matriarchs have known each oth...
Rumor Has It
By
Kimberly Deisler
Apparently, film festivals actually screen films! I’ve been so swamped with the various ins and outs, that actually getting time to see a film is a luxury I don’t often have. However, there was something about the title 180° South-Conquerors of the Useless that pulled me in and I liken this cinematic experience to having sex for the first time … you know, when its with someone you actually like. Absolutely breathtaking.
...
By Kimberly DeislerMy husband is annoyed with me. Not for the usual reasons husbands get upset with wives, like spending too much money or the house being messy. He’s upset with me because I keep updating that clause in our marriage. You know the one, the NCIHBIIDCC or the No Chance In Hell But If It Did Celebrity Clause where upon you’re not allowed to cheat on your spouse with anyone other than a celebrity and that celebrity has to be on the list, a list of only five na...
Ok, so if you know me and you’ve been following my blog on Santa Barbara, you’re probably wondering why I’ve been so ‘mild’ thus far. (I love using ‘thus’ in a blog) Well, that’s because, while all the events are exciting in themselves and have a collective energy that rivals something you’d find at an amusement park, frankly, I’ve been pacing myself … until today. Inspiration By Kimberly Deisler In the ten years I’ve been working this festival, the writers panel, ...
If you think you’re surprised about Sandra Bullock’s career choices and how they add up to the recent accolades of this award season, you’re not alone. No one is seemingly more surprised at this unexpected whirlwind than she.One by one Bullock fielded red carpet questions about her career in the self deprecating spirit of “who’da thought?” As she struggles to digest the notoriety, perhaps in the vein of the “Little Engine That Could,” Bullock says she’s not one who takes on pro...
Clockwork Red
by
Kimberly Deisler
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival soared to new heights as it kicked off its 25th season with an Opening Night that ran like clockwork. “Flying Lessons,” locally shot in Santa Inez, was the opening film and its stellar cast … and then some … walked the red carpet in true festival style. Local press were stacked like sardines to glean as much information as possible from cast members that included Director, Derek Magyar; ...
Kinky Hump Day
aka
Getting the kinks out on a Wednesday
So, here I am at Hotel Santa Barbara on 533 State Street, also known as the HUB of the film fest. Whataya need? We’ve got it here. Although not today! Well, not yet anyway, we’re still working out the kinks. An annual realization that, despite all attempts of organization, coordination, and conversation, keeps us grounded with the reality that we’re not above Murphy’s Law rearing its ugly head.
Working in...
It goes something like this. Seven years running, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival has made dreams come true with a themed student competition that pairs industry professionals with student filmmakers. Appropriately, this year’s theme is Twenty-Five.
Final Draft and Business First Bank sponsored the competition with The Riordan Foundation providing a grant. To start, both high school and college student writers submit a ten page sample of their best work be it sta...
Like any good archeologist, uncovering treasures is paramount to a successful excavation and award winning filmmaker Tom DiCillo has managed to dig up and sift out never-before-seen-footage of one of the most iconic, influential rock bands in history, The Doors.
Narrated by Johnny Depp, “When You Are Strange,” uses footage shot between 1965 and 1971, the year Morrison was found dead in his Paris apartment at age twenty-seven.
"Tom DiCillo's 'When You're Strange' is a met...
In recent years Fantasy Football has been catching on at a fever pitch. An Internet thing, you get to pick any player from any team in any position to be on your imaginary fantasy team.
On Thursday, February 4 the Santa Barbara International Film Festival hits the ground running with a line up that only seems possible in a fantasy, Internet or otherwise. Once again, Executive Director Roger Durling has accomplished the seemingly surreal in good ‘gets’ for the festival’s 25t...
One of the great things about the Italians is they know how to stop time when it comes to eating. Meals typically take three to four hours, starting first with an appetizer like an antipasto, followed by a hearty soup, a decent salad, the primi usually some kind of pasta, the secondi which is your main course and then a light dessert of maybe cheese, cookies and fruit because frankly, who can move after all of that?
I mention this because my last movie experience felt exactly the same ...
Being a long time Monty Python fan, I thought I was ready for Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus but I was wrong. From the first frame to the last, I was taken for a ride I thought could only be produced from the consumption of some really strong brownies or sugar cubes. “What must it be like to be in Gilliam’s head?” I wondered. “Crowded!” I concluded.
While the story isn’t something new, guy vs. devil, the journey was extraordinary. Its probably better not...
AFI DigiFest will take place at the Mann Chinese 1 Theatre in Hollywood on November 4 and 5.
Now in its third year, AFI DigiFest provides a unique, behind-the-scenes look at how storytelling is adapting to an ever-widening array of new screens and platforms. The event is open to the public and admission is free.
"This has been a banner year for new media innovation," says AFI Digital Content Lab Director Suzanne Stefanac. "We're seeing forward-thinking writers...
Marking its fourth year, AFI PROJECT: 20/20 is an American Film Institute international initiative designed to enhance cultural exchange and understanding, by bringing together filmmakers and their films from the US and abroad.
AFI PROJECT: 20/20 represents an unprecedented cultural diplomacy effort that is supported by the U.S.'s cultural agencies--the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS...
Last night the AFI hosted a star studded, red carpet affair introducing the world to Clarice "PRECIOUS" Jones, directed by Lee Daniels. A film that will "split you open," is due to open later this week.
Audience members, the likes of which made me feel like I was crashing a private party for all the cool kids, included Olivia Wilde, Lisa Edelstein, Mary J. Blige, Nick Cannon, Sidney Hicks, Gayle King, Paula Abdul, Jamie Foxx, Eva Longoria Parker, Will Smith, Forest &...
Known for
its assorted cartoon characters, acting wannabes and celebrity look a-likes,
Hollywood Boulevard at Halloween seems like any other day only more so. The
bustling street felt like a traffic accident where the action is fast but seems
like slow motion as ghouls, goblins and the scantily clad, wandered the streets
like Cinderella at crunch time.
In the midst of all this activity, as if quietly perched in the eye of the
storm, lies a sophisticated collection of ...
