Hip Hop-eration took the Audience Award from the Santa Barbara IFF over the weekend.
Santa Barbara also awarded other documentary titles, with Nick Brandestini’s Children of the Arctic taking the juried Best Doco gong.
Santa Barbara closed with the premiere of Niki Caro’s McFarland, USA.
The film, made for Disney, features Kevin Costner as a sports coach in need of redemption (is there any other kind, when it comes to Hollywood?), and was shot by Adam Arkapaw (Top of the Lake, True Detective).
Offering up three flavours of the Battlestar Galactica review (“all this has happened before, all this will happen again”) were Screen Daily; The Hollywood Reporter; and Variety.
The Santa Barbara IFF closed on the weekend. Its award winners were:
The Panavision Spirit Award for Independent Cinema
Bang Bang Baby, directed by Jeffrey St. Jules
Audience Choice Award
Hip Hop-eration, directed by Bryn Evans
Best International Film Award
All Cats Are Grey (Tous Les Chats Sont Gris), directed by Savina Dellicour
Best Documentary Film Award
Children of the Arctic, directed by Nick Brandestini
Nueva Vision Award
Happy Times (Tiempos Felices), directed by Luis Javier M. Henaine
Eastern European Film Award
Monument to Michael Jackson (Spomenik Majklu Dzeksonu), directed by Darko Lungulov
Santa Barbara Features Award
Holbrook/Twain: An American Odyssey, directed by Scott Teems
Best Live Action Short Film
The Answers, directed by Michael Goode
Best Animation Short Film
Load, directed by Niv Shpigel and Robert Moreno
Documentary Short Films
Life After Pi, directed by Scott Leberecht
Santa Barbara Social Justice Award
A Snake Gives Birth To A Snake, directed by Michael Lessac