SBIFF - Will Smith - Modern Master Award

Actor/singer Will Smith was presented with the SBIFF's Modern Master Award at The Arlington Theater during the 22nd Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The award was presented to Smith:

. . . Because of his major contributions to art and society as a whole. Will Smith has proven at an early age that he’s a force to be reckoned with in the film industry – he’s a Modern Master for the 21st century. We are truly delighted to honor him with this award.
-- Roger Durling, SBIFF, Executive Director

Jada Pinkett Smith

The night started out with film critic Leonard Maltin interviewing Smith in a relaxed setting. Above was a large screen displaying short clips from Smith's admirable body of work both in TV and film. Having no loss for words, Smith kept the audience entertained for nearly 2 hours giving insightful and often heart-felt thoughts about his transition from his comedic role as The Fresh Prince of Bel Air on television to his strong performances on film. He is both a brilliant comedic actor (Men in Black, Hitch) as well as a convincing dramatic actor as he has proven in such films as "Muhammad Ali", and most recently "The Pursuit of Happyness" of which he has been nominated for an academy award for best actor.

Will being interviewed by Leonard Maltin

Chris Gardner who Will Smith portrayed in "The Persuit of Happyness" was also at the award ceremony and briefly spoke about the film and

Chris Gardner

how Smith was the perfect actor to portray him after he "tested" Smith by asking, "Do you want to go over the script or talk about these two guys?" ("These two guys" being Gardner and his son.) Will Smith chose to talk about Gardner and his son and what they went through as they struggled to make a living in the early 80s. "It was then that I knew that Will Smith was the perfect actor to for this role," Gardner said.

Toward the end of the evening Roger Durling took the stage and introduced Tom Cruise, a long time friend of Smith's to present the award. Though planned it was somewhat of a surprise since Cruise was absent from the red carpet. Cruise spoke for about 10 minutes and presented the award to Smith.

Leonard Maltin, Will and Jada Smith, Tom Cruise (who presented Will with the Modern Master Award)

Smith spoke about his love for making films and how it's a team effort to be able to make something out of nothing - referring to his fascination with special effect and science fiction. He humbly thanked everyone for his award and was then joined by his wife Jada Pinkett Smith, and Tom Cruise for photographs.

Throughout the evening Smith spoke often about how our thoughts shape the world. "What we think is so important. Our thoughts shape our lives." We can decide to make this world a better place day by day."

From how this evening ended the world feels to be a slightly better place.