The Santa Barbara International Film Festival will run from January 30 to February 9, 2019. The Film Festival will feature 63 World Premieres and 59 US Premieres from 48 countries. The film festival’s director, Roger Durling, expressed after last year’s disastrous storms and mudslides, “After the tragedy last year we questioned whether to go ahead with last year’s festival, but we came to realize the importance of film as a way for people to gather in an equalitarian way to reflect, feel, and simply experience art together.”
Unless you’re going to the 91st Oscars, the only opportunity you will have to see all five of this year’s Best Director nominees together will be at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on January 31st. Roma’s Alfonso Cuaron, the Favourite’s Yorgos Lanthimos, Black Klansman’s Spike Lee, Vice’s Adam McKay, and Cold War’s Pawel Pawlikowski will be in attendance.
Other notable attendees will be Glen Close, Viggo Mortensen, Melissa McCarthy, Michael B. Jordon, Yalitza Aparicio, Sam Elliott, Elsie Fisher, Claire Foy, Richard E. Grant, Thomasin Harcourt McKenzie, John David Washington, and Steven Yeun.
