On Friday night, Tommy Lee Jones was in town to accept the American Riviera Award. Andy Davis, who directed Jones in “The Fugitive,” was here to present. In addition to snagging interviews with each, we also managed to get a behind the scenes peak at went went on from the stage of the Arlington Theater.
Wednesday evening was about as star-packed as they come. Young Hollywood’s elite were at the Lobero Theater to accept the Virtuosos Award. Ivan Reitman (Director - Ghostbusters and Disturbia) presented the award to Casey Affleck (The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford), Marion Cotillard (La Vie En Rose), James McAvoy (Atonement), Ellen Page (Juno), and Amy Ryan (Gone Baby Gone).
Tuesday Ryan Gosling was awarded the first annual Independent Award by the SBIFF. On hand to present was the director of “Lars and the Real Girl,” Craig Gillespie. In addition to chatting with Gosling and Gillespie, Melanie had a quick chat with Roger Durling and “Summerhood” director, Jacob Medjuck.
Monday night was short and sweet on the red carpet. Although Woody Harrelson was scheduled to walk the red carpet, a miscalculation of traffic got him into Santa Barbara too late. Julie Ramos did manage to speak with honoree, Javier Bardem about his role in No Country for Old Men.
Sunday night was the premiere of the highly anticipated surf documentary Bustin’ Down the Door. The line of locals waiting to get a seat stretched all the way through the courtyard of the Arlington Theatre and down the block - to date, the longest line we’ve seen at this year’s SBIFF.
We managed to snag interviews with director, Jeremy Gosch, and surf icons Shaun Tomson and Rabbit Bartholomew. The surf community has waited a long time for this film, let’s see what the buzz was about!
The Modern Master award is the highest honor from the SBIFF, and Cate Blanchett was on hand Saturday evening to receive it. Our own Melanie Waters spoke with Cate, as well as director, Todd Haynes, who presented the award. And if that wasn’t enough, we spoke with festival juror and “House of Sand & Fog” actress, Shohreh Aghdashloo and TV’s “House” star, Olivia Wilde.
It was an amazing evening. After watching our coverage, we hope you’ll agree.
On Friday evening the festivities moved over to the more intimate Lobero Theater. Local celeb, and KTYD-FM personality, Julie Ramos, worked the red carpet and talked with legendary director, Norman Jewison, and iconic film critic, Leonard Maltin. Of course Julie also had a nice chat with honoree, Julie Christie.
If opening night was about youth and energy, Friday night was all about celebrating a lifetime of cinematic work.
It poured buckets of rain down on Santa Barbara on Thursday, but that didn’t stop the thrill of opening night at the 23rd annual SBIFF! People were out in force to watch the world premiere of “Definitely, Maybe,” attend the gala, and maybe get a peek at their favorite celeb. If you couldn’t make it, don’t fret, we captured it all for you!
In our first show we speak with Ryan Reynolds, Abigail Breslin, Adam Brooks, Derek Luke, and Liane Balaban. As if that wasn’t enough, we roped our very own Roger Durling in for a quick chat as well.
This year, like the past two, we’ll be covering events from the red carpet including celebrity interviews, gossip, and more. We’ll be there opening night, January 24th, and our first episode will be right here for you to enjoy on Friday. We’re expecting interviews with Angelina Jolie, Tommy Lee Jones, Cate Blanchett, Ryan Gosling, Casey Affleck, Ellen Page and more!
Let’s whet your appetite by looking back at some highlights from last year with William H. Macy, Helen Mirren, Sienna Miller, and Will Smith. Join our hosts Melanie Waters and Julie Ramos (of KTYD FM) as they take you along for the ride!
For the non-Pod enabled, we’re launching a new YouTube channel which will eventually house all the files we have on this Podstation. We hope you enjoy this new service which will allow you to enjoy all of our content online. Another way in which the PodSquad endeavors to provide classic festival moments to the community at large. Enjoy.
We are also putting these videos on iFilm, MySpace and Google Video as well as pix on Flickr.
On the final night of the red carpet we got a chance to have a really deep, moving conversation with Sandra Bullock. We also ask Forest about his favorite role to date and his restaurant in L.A.. When it’s all over…we meet the Pod Squad!
Al and Davis received the David Attenborough Award for Excellence in Nature Filmmaking tonight at the Arlington, and we were on the red carpet to capture the highlights. Check out interviews with Noah Wyle, Mike DeGruy, Elisabeth Shue, Davis Guggenheim, and Al Gore.
Bill Condon, the Director of Dreamgirls was on hand tonight to receive the Montecito Award. He was joined by several members of the cast including Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose. Check out our night on the red carpet at the Lobero Theatre.
On camera interviews conducted by: Meredith Medland, and Ted McElwee. Camera: Scott Parent and Peter Davidson. Sound: David Schneiderman. Editing by: Scott Parent. Photography: Ted McElwee.
The Modern Master Ceremoney was awesome. Will Smith is a very engaging and intelligent man. Check out this clip where Will is asked about the Power of Positive Thinking.
Will Smith was in town on Saturday to accept the Modern Master Award. As usual the red carpet didn’t disappoint with interviews from Chris Gardner, Ron Livingston, Melissa George, and the writing team of “Children of Men.” Oh yeah, and we got the man himself, Will Smith.
On camera interviews conducted by: Meredith Medland, Blaire Bercy, and Dian Singh. Camera: Angelina Peterson and Peter Davidson. Sound: David Schneiderman. Editing by: Scott Parent. Photography: Ted McElwee.
It was another exciting night on the red carpet at the Arlington. Helen Mirren was being honored for her work in “The Queen.” We got an interview with Helen as well as William H. Macy and Peter Morgan.
On camera interviews conducted by: Meredith Medland, and Ted McElwee. Camera: Angelina Peterson and Peter Davidson. Sound: David Schneiderman. Camera, Direction and editing by: Scott Parent
As promised our continued coverage on the red carpet of opening night including interviews with Sienna Miller, Peter Riegert, and Edie Sedgwick’s brother.
Opening night may be over here at the SBIFF, but the excitement is just getting started. We were on the red carpet at the Arlington and at the gala all night long and we got the interviews that you want to see. What is Jack Johnson doing to live greener? What kind of music does Guy Pearce like to play on his new 1961 Strat? Watch (or listen) and find out!
