Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Events Calendar

SB Film Festival: Closing Night World Premiere "Middle Men"

Sunday, February 14, 2010, 07:30pm

Closing Night will feature the World Premiere of “Middle Men,” directed by George Gallo and starring Giovanni Ribisi, Luke Wilson, James Caan, Kelsey Grammar and Kevin Pollack. The film chronicles Jack Harris, one of the pioneers of internet commerce, as he wrestles with his morals and struggles not to drown in a sea of conmen, mobsters, drug addicts, and pornstars. Director and cast will be in attendance. Closing Night festivities take place at the historic Arlington Theatre and are sponsored by SB Independent and EOS Lounge.

Sunday, Feb 14 @ 7:30pm

***Press Release***

THE 7th ANNUAL 10-10-10 STUDENT COMPETITIONS BEGINS AT THE 25th SANTA BARBARA INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (which runs February 4-14) will present the 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking Competition for the seventh consecutive year. SBIFF will also continue the exciting 10-10-10 Student Screenwriting Competition which debuted in 2006. These events bring together student filmmakers and screenwriters with industry professionals in an effort to encourage and assist the next generation of filmmakers. The Kick-Off for the contest is on Tuesday, February 2, at 2:00 p.m. with a press conference at the Canary Hotel. Press is invited to cover; please RSVP to Beth Binker. The Screenwriting Competition sponsored by Business First Bank, Final Draft features 10 writers who were selected out of 28 submissions fromSanta Barbara high school and college students who submitted a 10-page sample of their best work - screenplay, stage play, or short story. The five best script samples were chosen from the high school level and five from the college level. The finalists were then assigned a storyline and an industry professional to mentor them during the writing of their screenplay. Finalists met with their mentor throughout the process, submitting their final draft on January 28.   The 10 student screenplays will be officially matched at the press conference with a category-appropriate filmmaking finalist from the 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking Competition. These 10 students, selected from 57 submissions, will direct a 10-minute film during the 10 days of the 25th Santa Barbara International Film Festival. On Sunday, February 14, at 1:00 pm at the Lobero Theatre, the 10 films will be screened and judged on both filmmaking and screenwriting criteria. A winner in each of the competitions will be selected from both the high school and college levels. The winning films will be shown at the Closing Night festivities later that evening at the Arlington Theatre. Finalists of the 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking Competition sponsored by Business First Bank and Final Draft: HIGH SCHOOL Erik Choquette           Santa Barbara High School Jorge Flores                 San Marcos High School Paul Leutheuser         San Marcos High School Samuel Foley              Santa Barbara High School Taylor Fisher               San Marcos High School
COLLEGE
Ali Sommer                    SBCC Chris Thompson          SBCC Jasmin Toutounchi      UCSB Josh Sexton                    SBCC Matt Holwick                Brooks Institute
Finalists of the 10-10-10 Student Screenwriting Competition sponsored by Business First National Bank, and Final Draft:
HIGH SCHOOL Dylan Douglas              San Marcos High School Erik Choquette              Santa Barbara High School Frances Rozhko            San Marcos High School Katie Elster                     San Marcos High School Stephen Amspoker      San Marcos High School COLLEGE
Koriayn Christensen    UCSB Ramsey Feaver              Brooks Institute Cora Hirashiki               UCSB Peter Manthei                Westmont Brittany Sandler           SBCC      The mentors for this year's 10-10-10 Competition are: SCREENWRITING MENTORS Glenn Leopold, a three time Emmy nominee, has written hundreds of animated episodes for such shows as Disney's Doug, The Smurfs, Scooby-Doo, Pink Panther and Sons, Fantastic Four and many more. Josh Conviser, an experienced mountaineer, gave up the mountains for the jungles of Hollywood to pursue a career in screenwriting. He is the Executive Consultant on Rome and published his first novel Echelon in July 2006. Jeff Arch is the Academy Award nominated writer of the blockbuster Sleepless in Seattle. He also has written and directed Complete Guide to Guys and penned and produced programs for television. Robert Lewis has worked as a film editor, director, and producer in a lengthy career that has included work on Gomer Pyle, USMC, The Mod Squad, Macmillan & Wife, and Guilty or Innocent, The Sam Shepherd Murder Case. Mashey Bernstein teaches writing and film at UCSB. In 2004 he instigated UCSB at Telluride, taking a class to the Film Festival there. His screenplay Orson at the Gate is currently under option. Rob Sternin and Prudence Sternin Fraser are best known for their work in television, where they have written, produced, developed or created over a dozen prime time series, from Who's the Boss? to The Nanny. Peter Seaman is responsible for writing the screenplays for classic films such as, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Doc Hollywood, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Last Holiday, and Shrek the Third. Teresa Tucker Davies has served as producer on films like Steal Big Steal Little,which she also wrote the story for, Chain Reaction, A Perfect Murder, Collateral Damage, and Holes. Glenn Gers an Emmy winning writer of the television movie Off Season. He has also written the screenplays for Fracture, Mad Money, and wrote the independent film Disfigured which premiered at the 23rd Santa Barbara Film Festival. FILMMAKING MENTORS Chuck Minsky has served on numerous films as cinematographer over the past fifteen years on films like, Pretty Woman, Raising Helen, The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagment, The Producers, Keeping Up With The Steins, and most recently Valentine's Day. Mike Stinson teaches and is the Chair of the Film Studies Department at Santa Barbara City College. Artie Schmidt is an Academy Award winning Editor of the films Forrest Gump, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. In his career Artie has been a part of some of Hollywood's greatest films like, Coal Miner's Daughter, Jaws 2, Back to the Future I,II and III, The Last of the Mohicans, The Birdcage, and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Perry Lang has worked on countless television shows as a director, he has directed on shows like, ER, NYPD Blue, Dawson's Creek, Alias, Everwood, Army Wives, Weeds, and most recently NCIS: Los Angeles.....just to name a few. ###

Sunday, February 14, 2010