Virtuoso Award, Panels, and More Highlight Day at SBIFF

SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL - FEBRUARY 4th HIGHLIGHTS

Screening of The Constitution:

The Constitution's director and co-scriptwriter, Rajiko Grilic, joined fest-goers at the Metropolitan Metro 4 Theatre for an intimate Q&A following the screening of his film. Grilic shared with the audience that he and his co-scriptwriter took 6-8 months developing the characters. They then spent 2 ½ years to produce the script, which became published as a book in Croatia and is now being turned into a play. Grilic also talked about how a lot of his inspiration was drawn from his real life. When discussing the setting and characters of the film he said, "It's actually where I live. I know how they live and I know how they hate each other. I know how suddenly they will change. Playing with all of this was part of my plan. Everything was somehow close to my life."

Producers Panel:

Los Angeles Times chief awards columnist Glenn Whipp moderated the esteemed "Movers and Shakers" Producers Panel. Oscar nominated Todd Black (Fences), Angie Fielder (Lion), Jordan Horowitz (La La Land),Theodore Melfi (Hidden Figures), David Permut (Hacksaw Ridge), Adele Romanski (Moonlight), Aaron Ryder (Arrival), Kimberly Steward (Manchester by the Sea), Arianne Sutner (Kobu and the Two Strings), and Julie Yorn (Hell or High Water) participated in the lively 90 minute conversation in front of a full house at the Lobero Theatre.

As they compared notes on their challenges and successes in the business, the topic of women in entertainment took precedence as there was an astounding equal number of women and men on the panel. Producers Jordan Horowitz, Theodore Melfi and Adele Romanski felt they had a responsibility to hire women on their projects in front of and behind the camera.

For the filmmakers and students in the audience, encouragement was given by the producers to get out there and make movies, to persevere and take a chance.

Writers Panel:

The Producers Panel was followed shortly by the esteemed Writers Panel on Saturday afternoon, which included screenwriters Taylor Sheridan (Hell or High Water), Eric Heisserer (Arrival), Rhett Reese (Deadpool), Theodore Melfi(Hidden Figures), Phil Johnston (Zootopia), Mike Mills (20th Century Women), and Luke Davies (Lion), several of whom are nominees at this year's Academy Awards®.

The panel, moderated by Anne Thompson, kicked off with a discussion about how they came to work on their respective projects, and roughly how long each screenplay spent in development before going into production. The panelists also explained that they typically remain involved with their films long after the screenplay has been completed, and play key roles during production and eventual release. The afternoon concluded with the panelists sharing updates on their upcoming projects, as well as their thoughts on the future of cinema.

Virtuosos Award:

The streets outside of the Arlington Theater were a buzz as fans gathered to catch a glimpse of some of their favorite actors being honored with the Virtuosos Award, which was created to recognize a select group of talent who've distinguished themselves through breakthrough performances in film this past year. This year's honorees included Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Simon Helberg, Stephen Mckinley Henderson, Janelle Monáe,Ruth Negga, Dev Patel and Aaron Taylor Johnson. Christopher Lloyd was on hand to present each of the honorees with their award. Earlier in the evening, entertainment correspondent Dave Karger (Today Show, Access Hollywood, and Turner Classic Movies) sat down with each of the honorees for a candid conversation to a packed house.

Mahershala Ali on his character Juan in Moonlight: "I was just blown away by the fact that who you see [on screen] was essentially on the page. There was enough there for me to put flesh on that. I had a number of situations where I'm looking to add something to it to make the guy human if I can. He was that on the page."

Naomie Harris on what she learned from her character Paula in Moonlight: "I learned that anything is possible. I really scared myself with this role. I really did not think I could find her at many points and I thought, 'Why did I say yes?'" But ultimately anything is possible. I think the most important thing as an actor is to provide a non-judgmental space within your-self. That is what allows any character to come to you."

Simon Helberg on being cast in Florence Foster Jenkins by Kathleen Chopin after working with her on a previous project: I got an e-mail from her from what I thought was from a Nigerian prince [laughter] because it had Meryl Streep's name and question marks like 'would you consider reading this?' I went home and was crying reading this because I play the piano as well...this was meant to be."

Stephen Mckinley Henderson shared that his three dreams have all become a reality after filming Fences: The first was to meet Muhammad Ali, the second to perform in an August Wilson play and the third to work with Denzel Washington. He added, "Just stay on the train and it's going to come to the station."

Janelle Monáe on her music career to the big screen: "I've always considered myself not to just be a singer or an actor, but more so an artist storyteller. I want to continue to tell universal, unique, untold stories in unconventional ways. That's my model that I live by. One of the things I love about being an artist is that you can use different tools and different mediums."

Ruth Negga on how Loving is relevant to the current times: "What I love about our film is that maybe people like me will be educated about the fact that this exists. This is a very important thing in our lives, not just for Americans. This is not just a black story. This is not just an American story. It's my story. It's the world's story."

Dev Patel on getting in the right headspace for Lion: "It was a process of introspection. I spent a lot of time isolated traveling the trains across India. You're going to these orphanages alone and he [Garth Davis] made me keep a diary, which I had never done before. That makes you really confront some things inside yourself. Danny Boyle had always said something to me when I did Slumdog Millionaire that it's very easy to come in and display attributes and to do that. But to be still and let the camera enter you through your eyes, that's difficult. I have bounds of nervous energy so I've always had that inside my head."

Aaron Taylor Johnson candidly shared that his scenes to push Jake [Gyllenhaal] affected him emotionally and physically. While on set late one night in the Mojave Desert, which is about 3-hours from where Aaron resides, he asked to be driven home. Unfortunately production had no drivers going out that way and was advised to stay overnight. He was so shook up that he phoned a friend to pick him up to go home. He went on to share the following for the first time: "I needed that comfort and that security. I needed to spend one night back at home to be nurtured back almost."

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