On the opening night of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) held its own fabulous Opening Night Soiree at Petros Restaurant. At the event, the ADL presented its second annual Stand-Up Award to Strawberry Days, a poignant film written and directed by Wiktor Ericsson about a Polish family working in the strawberry fields in Sweden where they encounter bias, bullying, and labor exploitation.
Guests strolled ADL’s own red carpet and had their photos taken outside Petros, just across from the Arlington Theater where the Opening Film was shown later that evening. More than 100 guests mingled in the elegant covered courtyard and the inside dining room at Petros and dined on passed hors-d’oeuvres and a succulent buffet of Greek dishes. The casual, unstructured format allowed for plenty of socializing among guests who seemed like a big family, drawn together by ADL’s mission of combating hatred and bigotry.
Advisory Board Chair Daniel Meisel welcomed guests and shared how ADL has been around for more than 100 years and given its mission of fighting hate and bigotry, is very busy today. He explained that much of ADL’s work is with schools approaching “differentness” and “otherness” through story, with the idea that “to understand a different point of view, you need to do some listening.” So ADL wanted to host an award focused on how the art of storytelling can be applied to address the essence of “other.” The winner was selected by a panel of board members and staff.