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Thursday, March 19, 1998

Festival celebrates outbreak of daring films in the 1970s

FILM: Santa Barbara leaves the surfboards behind to go for the glitz

By Lonnie Harris

Daily Bruin Contributor

Though it is located a scant 100 miles north of the geographic center of the film industry, the city of Santa Barbara is not often associated with the glitz and glamour of Hollywood. Whereas Tinseltown is commonly thought of as the point around which celebrities and gala premieres orbit, Santa Barbara is mainly content with its reputation as a quiet beachside resort, where surfing is a more likely pastime than composing a screenplay.

But for the past two weekends, all of this changed, when the city of Santa Barbara hosted its 13th Annual International Film Festival. Bringing in new films from over 20 different countries, the festival is quickly becoming one of the nation's largest and most prestigious showcases for independent and foreign films.

As with any event in the film world, the Santa Barbara Film Festival was overrun with celebrity appearances during its two week tenure in the city's small but pleasant downtown area. Anyone walking down Cabrillo or Carrallo Street was likely to spot at least one recognizable face, from Sinbad to Pierce Brosnan. Many were there to speak about their latest projects, and some were there just for the chance to soak up some sun and see a few new movies.

The theme of this year's festival was "The Magnificent 70s." According to the festival's artistic director Renee Missel, this theme was "inspired by film critic Charles Champlin and his book 'Hollywood's Revolutionary Decade: Charles Champlin reviews the films of the '70s.'"

Champlin himself made many appearances during the 10 days, and took these opportunities to discuss the importance of this decade to the history of filmmaking. According to Champlin, the 1970s was the most radical and experimental decade in American Cinema, mainly due to the abolition of the restrictive Hays Code for film censorship in 1968. Once movies could include more adult material, including sexual references, drug-abuse themes and even homo-eroticism, a new generation of daring filmmakers stepped into the spotlight and produced vibrant, original works.

One of these filmmakers was John Schlesinger, who screened his 1969 Academy Award-winning masterpiece "Midnight Cowboy" for the festival in the exclusive Riviera Theater. After the film, Schlesinger, in a staged interview with Champlin, discussed the benefits of being a filmmaker working during the '70s.

"Movies like 'Midnight Cowboy' can never be made today, at least not by a major studio," Schlesinger said. "We should celebrate good films, and this year there have been a lot. Movies such as 'Good Will Hunting,' 'L.A. Confidential' and 'Ice Storm' elevate the industry from all this studio garbage."

Other 1970s talents who were honored in Santa Barbara included screenwriter Robert Towne (for his screenplay of Roman Polanski's 1974 classic "Chinatown") and Julie Christie (for her acting in the 1971 Robert Altman work "McCabe and Mrs. Miller").

The festival, in addition to recognizing the work of 1970s filmmakers, included salutes to actress Jodie Foster and actor Bob Hoskins on separate occasions. Foster was presented with the Modern Master Award, followed by a screening of her Academy-Award winning performance in "Silence of the Lambs." Hoskins held a large Q&A session following a screening of his newest film, "TwentyFourSeven," which is set for release later this year.

The majority of events during the festival were not, however, ceremonies. Instead, over 80 new movies were screened for both the press and the general public. The theaters located along Santa Barbara's large commercial State Street were overflowing with excited local residents and press from all over the nation, waiting anxiously to get a sneak peak of some new films before they arrive in theaters nationwide.

Some of the more notable projects premiered at the festival were John Sayles' new movie, "Men With Guns" (the director's first film entirely in Spanish), Richard Linklater's ("Dazed and Confused" and "Slacker") nonfiction western "The Newton Boys" and "The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit." This last film is notable both for its all-star (and almost entirely Latino cast) as well as its screenwriter, science-fiction auteur Ray Bradbury.

Bradbury himself, along with the film's stars Joe Mantegna and Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez, appeared after the screening to discuss working on this project. All were glad that they could finally make a film that would appeal both to children and adults, and which could also find a broader audience for Latino performers.

"Working on this film has been one of the best experiences of my life," Bradbury says. "I was honored to be able to work with such a fine group of actors and make a film of such high caliber."

In addition to these major projects, the festival also featured documentaries and shorts. Michael Moore, whose first documentary "Roger & Me" won him both instant notoriety and an Academy Award, presented his latest feature "The Big One" to a sell-out crowd on Saturday night. The film mainly follows his new book "Downsize This!" and tells the unfortunate stories of people who have been subject to corporate downsizing.

Among the many shorts screened over the 10-day period in the Fiesta Theater, in the middle of the massive State Street complex, were "Hamburger Helper" from director Greg Webb and "Culture" from directors Josh Gordon and Will Speck. These and other short films explored such diverse topics as politics, love, war and annoying secretaries.

By the time the Festival ended late Sunday, with a screening of the Tom-Cruise-produced film about runner Steve Prefontaine, "Without Limits," hundreds of films had benefited from the exposure. For films which may never had been screened for large crowds, this was the perfect chance to gain mass appeal. As well, for other films which are likely to do quite well at the box office, the festival provided a head start for the spring season.

As the sun set on the picturesque Santa Barbara coastline, some of the event's attendees and organizers took time to reflect upon the event which had ruled the city for two weeks. Most of the event's organizers felt that this was an especially good year for filmmaking, and that this was reflected in the event.

"There are a couple of films here at the festival that have been very touching and meaningful for me," critic Champlin says. "Sometimes, the excellence of art is as moving as what exactly that art is talking about, and this was especially true of most of the films I saw here in Santa Barbara."