It’s more than fair to say that the strengths of SBIFF, and its upward strides in the festival world, come partly thanks to the blessing of the deity known as Oscar. Timing is key, in that the festival is strategically situated between Academy Award nomination announcements and the big night. Santa Barbara’s proximity to Hollywood, combined with the festival’s bold artistic guidance mixed with crowd-baiting celebrities, help make it a prime cultural contender on the local calendar, and beyond.
Thus, this year’s Oscar nominees brought to town included Viggo (Green Book) Mortensen, Yalitza (Roma) Aparicio, Glenn (The Wife) Close, Melissa (Can You Ever Forgive Me?) McCarthy, and Michael (Black Panther) B. Jordan Also, this year, the “Outstanding Directors” gathering at the Arlington last Thursday was truly outstanding — the only time all five Best Director nominees gathered in a public setting (before getting together for official Oscar biz).
And then there are the Ones Who Got Away in the Oscar sweepstakes, the foreign film Oscar bids from countries far and wide, which didn’t make the nomination cut, but are well-worth the watching. That list this year includes two shining jewels which screened at the Lobero Theatre on Monday: Crystal Swan, from the post-Soviet nation of Belarus’ for the Oscar, and the Czech Republic charmer Winter Flies. Different as they are from each other, both films deal with the fragile yet rebellious, hope-powered nature of young adults and, stylistically, are fresh inspirations to our movie cliché-blurred senses.
