Santa Barbara International Film Festival
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The picturesque, sun-soaked corner of southern California which spawned the hit movie Sideways is laying on a veritable feast for cinema buffs this winter. 2010 marks the centenary of filmmaking in Santa Barbara, where the US movie industry planted roots before migrating south to Hollywood.
Even before the turn of the year, a new blockbuster, It’s Complicated, will beautifully showcase the gorgeous Spanish colonial city and surrounding countryside. The celebration continues with the 25th Santa Barbara International Film Festival in February, when Oscar contenders will gather on what’s known as the American Riviera for 10 days of screening, panel discussions and parties.
SantaBarbaraCA.com/filmtour is a new website dedicated to local film trivia, movie tour itineraries, a guide to locations for It’s Complicated, Film Festival information and a list of hotels with star-studded histories - including Charlie Chaplin’s Montecito Inn and the San Ysidro Ranch, where Laurence Olivier married Vivien Leight.
As home to California’s first major movie studio, the legendary Flying A, Santa Barbara was a modest hub to film's early pioneers during the silent era. But it wasn't until Cecil B. DeMille shot the sandscapes of Guadalupe in The Ten Commandments that it gained a reputation for starry locations. Since then, the region has been featured in classics such as Sunset Boulevard, Scarface, Of Mice & Men and Seabiscuit. More recently, Santa Barbara set the stage for the Oscar-winning, wine-infused comedy Sideways, as well as Pirates of the Caribbean III and There Will Be Blood.
In It’s Complicated, Meryl Streep, Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin cavort in a comedy about love, divorce and disintegrating relationships. In addition to residential scenes in posh Montecito, the film features downtown landmarks including the Santa Barbara County Courthouse and historic El Paseo outdoor shopping mall.
A Film Buff's Paradise: The Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Screening more than 200 films from around the world, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival will roll out the red carpet from February 4-14, 2010. State Street, the main drag, will form an urban hiking trail for filmgoers making their way between the city’s cinemas. A historic series of shorts filmed in 1910 will be screened in honour of the centenary, backed by a lecture at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Adding to the glitz will be high-profile celebrities including Sandra Bullock, Colin Firth, James Cameron, Peter Sarsgaard and Stanley Tucci. No doubt famous faces will be spotted every night in the city’s best Italian restaurant, Olio e Limone, which is highly recommended. Try the burrata, simply the best and creamiest piece of buffalo mozzarella imported from Italy you have ever tasted.
Free Santa Barbara Film Tour pocket guides and Sideways tour maps will be available to encourage travel into the gorgeous wine country outside the city. This particular Sideways fan can heartily endorse the Los Olivos Cafe in the lovely little village of Los Olivos and the Hitching Post steakhouse in less-inspiring Buellton which featured in that film. They are real restaurants with stupendous wine lists, not just movie locations, and it’s a shame they’re not really close enough to Santa Barbara’s posh hotels to drive back to the city after dinner. An affordable alternative is the Wine Valley Inn in the otherwise twee town of Solvang, just down the road from Buellton.
Contact tel: +1 805 963 0023, fax: +1 805 962 2524, e-mail:
Useful links
Montecito Inn, Santa Barbara
Read about Michael Jackson`s legacy - the New Noise Santa Barbara Music Festival
Read about Sideways Country on TheTravelEditor.com
San Ysidro Ranch, Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Santa Barbara, The American Riviera - Film Tour information
Wine Valley Inn, Solvang
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