Santa Barbara International Film Festival: A list of must-see films



Although so far I have written reviews for this blog solely about debut features, this article is going to be a bit different. I'm using this chance to commend the great selection for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, which has started yesterday. Although many films will premiere on the 31st edition of this famous American festival, I have noticed a great number of acclaimed movies which I have followed on their festival routes in 2015. These are foreign independent movies, many of them the official entris for the Academy Awards, representing their countries and fighting for the most important film award in the world.
Another reason I'm writing this post is because I received a fair share of inbox messages after I had posted the „You Carry Me“ review. Many of my readers wanted to know where they can watch it. I, myself, have seen „You Carry Me“  on a series of organized screenings called EFP's Oscar Screenings, but I was curious to see when and where will this film have the official North American premiere. I'm happy to inform that whoever is interested, can see „You Carry Me“ at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival next week. The screening dates are February 10th and 11th, so don't miss it.
As for the rest of my list of recommendations, I'm listing it below:

You Carry Me: This Croatian feature follows three daughters in the pursuit of happiness and reconciliation with their fathers and confronts loss and desire at their highest stakes.

Koza: Languidly paced, texturally gritty, and groundbreaking in production style, this feature film portrays a poor Romany boxer, a former Olympiad from Slovakia who must endure a series of last fights to get enough money to convince his girlfriend not to abort their coming child.

Silent Heart: Before taking pills that will end her life, a mother suffering from a terminal illness spends a weekend with her adult daughters.

Viva: Jesús is a young gay hairdresser in the heart of Havana, Cuba, whose dreams of becoming a lip-synching drag queen are threatened when his hard-drinking widower dad comes home from prison surprisingly soon.
The Wave: Quite possibly the most realistic natural-disaster film ever made, this thriller follows one geologist’s attempts to save his family when an avalanche unleashes a powerful tsunami in Norway’s fjords.


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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

"New Film Directors - New Discoveries" is a blog dedicated to discovering new talents worldwide. Our mission is to empower emerging screenwriters and directors and to shine a light on their work through our blog so they can reach wider audience. Terrence Peterson, the author of the blog "New Film Directors - New Discoveries" is an acclaimed film critic with the degree of philosophy in Comparative Literature at Princeton, the external lecturer at 7 universities, including Princeton and Columbia, and the receiver of The National Order of Merit. All contributors are welcome to send their texts and reviews

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