For a decade, with a mandated pandemic break, the distinctive small but substantial French Wave Film Festival has served as a midsummer treat for art cinema fans. Consider it a mid-season mini-feast landing between the major events under the banner of its hosting Santa Barbara International Film Festival.
Come next year, the French Wave Film Festival will head downtown to take over the multi-screen SBIFF Film Center, currently undergoing elaborate and elegant renovation. For now, the seven-day, 11-film event from July 11 to 17 holds court in its traditional home base, the state-of-the-art Riviera Theatre.
As is the tradition, the curation of the festival — by SBIFF programmer Stewart Short — brings handfuls of impressive and important French films of recent vintage. The list represents a variety of styles and genres and often bearing the glittery imprimatur of prestigious awards and nominations.