SBIFF to Honor Christopher Nolan, Greta Gerwig, Guillermo del Toro, Jordan Peele, and Paul Thomas Anderson as Outstanding Directors of the Year

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival announced today that Christopher Nolan, Greta Gerwig, Guillermo del Toro, Jordan Peele, and Paul Thomas Anderson will receive the 2018 Outstanding Directors of the Year Award. The Oscar® nominated directors will be celebrated individually for their filmsDunkirk, Lady Bird, The Shape of Water, Get Out, and Phantom Thread respectively. The individual honors will be followed by a joint conversation between the directors on their craft and the landscape of modern day filmmaking. The ceremony will take place on Tuesday, February 6th at the historic Arlington Theatre, and will be moderated by Scott Feinberg, Awards Columnist for The Hollywood Reporter.

"These directors have pushed the boundaries in their storytelling and created films that showcase the art of filmmaking at its best," stated SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling. "We look forward to honoring them for creating extraordinary cinematic works that redefine what cinema can and should be."

Last year's recipients included Ava DuVernay (13th) Barry Jenkins (Moonlight), Damien Chazelle (La La Land), Denis Villeneuve (Arrival), and Kenneth Lonergan (Manchester by the Sea).

In addition, the festival has announced that this year's Closing Night Film will be a series of documentary shorts that will have their World Premieres on the Santa Barbara stage. The lineup, featuring all local Santa Barbara filmmakers, includes Chris Price and Casey McGarry's Cascarón, Ryan Slattery's Crossing The Channel, Hallie Brown's Out Of The Ashes, Justin Gunn's A Solstice In Santa Barbara, John Klein's Soul Of The City, and Danielle Cohen's The Tipping Point.

This distinctive selection of films covers a wide range of special events, people, and places in Santa Barbara including Fiesta, the Summer Solstice Parade, the East Beach Grill, and Cold Springs Tavern, as well as local activism to combat climate change and an extraordinary swimmer who crosses the Santa Barbara Channel. The screenings will take place on Saturday, February 10th at 8:00pm at the Arlington Theatre.

The 33rd annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival will take place from Wednesday, Jan. 31 through Saturday, Feb. 10. The festival previously honored Judi Dench with its Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film. The festival has also announced that it will honor Margot Robbie and Allison Janney (I, Tonya) with its Outstanding Performers of the Year Award, Sam Rockwell (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri) with its American Riviera Award, Saoirse Roan (Lady Bird) with its Santa Barbara Award, Gary Oldman (Darkest Hour) with its Maltin Modern Master Award, Willem Dafoe (The Florida Project) with its Cinema Vanguard Award, and Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Gal Gadot (Wonder Woman), Hong Chau (Downsizing), John Boyega (Detroit), Kumail Nanjiani (The Big Sick), Mary J. Blige (Mudbound), and Timothée Chalamet (Call Me by Your Name) with the Virtuosos Award.

The Santa Barbra International Film Festival would like to thank the City of Santa Barbara's first responders and emergency authorities that have assisted with the relief from the fires and flooding that have recently devastated the city. Their bravery and sacrifice cannot be overstated in providing relief during what has been an increasingly difficult time for Santa Barbara. To support those affected in the immediate aftermath of the disaster please visit www.redcross.org, as well as http://cafirefoundation.org/ andhttps://www.directrelief.org/ .

For more information, and to purchase tickets, festival passes and packages, please visit www.sbiff.org.

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and educational organization dedicated to discovering and showcasing the best in independent and international cinema. Over the past 30 years, SBIFF has become one of the leading film festivals in the United States - attracting 90,000 attendees and offering 11 days of 200+ films, tributes and symposiums, fulfilling their mission to engage, enrich, and inspire the Santa Barbara community through film.

SBIFF continues its commitment to education and the community through free programs like its 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking and Screenwriting Competitions, Mike's Field Trip to the Movies, National Film Studies Program, AppleBox Family Films, 3rd Weekend and educational seminars. In June of 2016, SBIFF entered a new era with the acquisition of the historic and beloved Riviera Theatre. The theatre is SBIFF's new home and is the catalyst for program expansion and marks the first time that Santa Barbara has had a 24/7 community center to expand their mission of educational outreach.

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