Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Events Calendar

Opening Night Film: The Public

Wednesday, January 31, 2018, 08:00pm - 10:00pm

Opening Night Film for the 33rd Santa Barbara International Film Festival

The Public is an upcoming 2018 American drama film directed and written by Emilio Estevez, who also stars in the film alongside an ensemble cast including Alec Baldwin, Jena Malone, Christian Slater, Gabrielle Union, Taylor Schilling, Michael Kenneth Williams and Jeffrey Wright.

After learning that emergency shelters are at full capacity when a brutal Midwestern cold front makes its way to Cincinnati, Ohio, a large group of homeless library patrons led by Jackson (Michael Kenneth Williams) refuse to leave the downtown public library at closing time. What begins as a nonviolent Occupy sit-in and ragtag act of civil disobedience quickly escalates into a standoff with local riot police, led by a no-nonsense crisis negotiator (Alec Baldwin) and a savvy district attorney (Christian Slater) with lofty political ambitions, all as two librarians (Emilio Estevez and Jena Malone) are caught up in the middle of it.

See http://schedule.sbiff.org/film-festival/category/all for a list of all 2018 award presentations.

Wednesday, January 31, 2018