Illuminate Festival had an incredibly rich and joyful experience collaborating with this year's poster artist, local Santa Barbara creatrix, Tricia Evenson, who shares:

In the creation of art for the Illuminate Film Festival, I am drawn to the intricate dance between the arts, the mind, science, spirituality, nature, and human connection. This festival’s key art transforms into a multi-media canvas, beckoning viewers to embark on a journey of exploration and discovery. My art strives to illuminate the essence of our existence and inspire a collective awakening to the beauty that surrounds and inhabits us.

Please join us at Palma Colectiva on Thursday, April 4th at 5:30pm, for a pre-festival kick-off reception where we'll connect, reconnect, and prepare for an enriching weekend of films, workshops, panels and parties! As part of Santa Barbara's "First Thursday Art Walk," Palma Colectiva will be showcasing the 2024 ILLUMINATE Film Festival poster and other select pieces from Tricia's diverse portfolio. This event is free and open to all.

SINGLE FILM TICKETS NOW ON SALE

Individual tickets for all screenings, including Opening Night at the Lobero Theater with Deepak Chopra, are available now and going quickly. Grab yours now to ensure you see your top-pick films.

More INFO and Individual Tickets

VIRTUAL FESTIVAL PASSES NOW ON SALE

The ILLUMINATE Virtual Festival takes place online GLOBALLY April 8 - 14 and includes 13 films and programs including a special LIVE 
event, Movies Make Movements Happen: Catalyzing the Holomovement! This is a dynamic conversation about the power of cinema and its ability to elevate our sense of purpose and possibility and activate us to do our part in creating a world that works for all.

ILLUMINATE Members: Buy your Virtual Festival Pass at the Member sale price through Sunday March 17th.

TAKING BACK THE GROOVE

SBIFF 2024

With Director: Celia Aniskovich

By Emmanuel Itier

Taking Back the Groove reintroduces the world to Bronx-born ’80s disco superstar Richie Weeks. A writer, singer, and producer who was compared to Quincy Jones at his height, Richie created quintessential New York Disco and performed in the likes of Studio 54 and Paradise Garage, all while maintaining day jobs as a postal worker and bricklayer. His mega-hit Rock Your World made it to #1 on the dance charts in the ’80s and has since become a landmark song in the field of disco and house music.  Maverick director Celia Aniskovich managed the “tour de force” to bring forth the fight for this artist to gain back what was due to him but also to bring into the limelight the fight from so many other artists versus the big companies who exploited them beyond belief. The time of the Revolution is here, and, thanks to Ms Aniskovich, creators can now regain hope that justice will come to their rescue. Just before heading to Santa Barbara, I was lucky enough to have an inspiring conversation with director Celic Aniskovich.

Q: How did this film come together?

Celia: Actually, it’s a funny story. It was all about reconnecting with an older friend from high school. His brother is a big fan of electronic music and music in general. Somewhat he knew Richie Weeks and he was telling me how incredible he was and would I want to meet with him because he thoughts there was an incredible story about him. And I was blown away by Richie when I met him and even, so he is 79. Actually, I think he is more like 25! He has so much life and so many stories within himself. Also, this film was made during the writer’ strike and it is also an important message in this regard. It’s about, for all artists, to reclaim what is yours.

Q: Tell me about the various challenges you faced making this film?

Celia: One challenge was to be able to make a decision about the tracks, the songs we wanted to use from Richie because he has such a huge catalog of songs to choose from. And of course there were the thousands of emails between Jerome Derradji, a music producer and who was fighting for Richie, and BMG. Also, because it was a short documentary, it wasn’t so easy to sell the story in such a short amount of time, barely 32 minutes all together. Also, it was challenging to show the struggle but to show that at the end there is a happy ending. It was amazing to have him performed at the end and to honor his hard work and what he went through.

Q: At the end, what is this film truly about, what is the takeaway?

Celia: I think it’s all about re-affirming that artist have a right to control the rights of what they create. There is a need for conversation and a real call for action that people who create some art retain the control of it and the revenues coming from it. It’s people life and we can allow that it is controlled by the matrix and some algorithm at the end. These artists deserve to benefit from their hard work.

Q: Do you see yourself change from doing such a “political” movie like this one?

Celia: It’s rare you create a movie that you feel can provoke a real change, but I feel that with this movie it might the start of some really incredible change in the music industry, among other industries. I really hope this movie create some sort of synergy, so things change for all the artists out there whose art is controlled by entities who are not respe

Chosen Family is a 2024 American comedy-drama film, written and directed by Heather Graham. It stars Graham, Julia Stiles, Thomas Lennon, Michael Gross, Andrea Savage and John Brotherton...

It had its world premiere at the 2024 Santa Barbara International Film Festival on closing night February 17

Video by Marc Bennett and Guy Kennedy.

Interview by Emmanuel Itier:
With Director: Lisa D’Apolito for SHARI AND LAMB CHOP.

Television star Shari Lewis broke nw ground in the 50’s and 60’s with her ventriloquism and beloved puppet: ‘Lamb Chop’. Now, director Lisa D’Apolito, who brought us the brilliant ‘Love, Gilda’, is bringing for a very emotional portrait of Lisa and now she truly revolutionized children tv shows. This film brought tears to my eyes as it reminded be the purity and the humanity, we all are touched by as young children. Then we grow up and the ugliness of the world forces us to grow up and build an emotional mental amor to protect us from various abuses. Bless Lisa D’Apolito for resurrecting in us the faith we can, again, be a child, and live with hopes and dreams. And thanks to Shari Lewis and Lamb Chop for making these hopes and dreams become a reality.

Q: What was the idea behind this film, how did it come together?

Lisa: I love films about entertainers. I always look for characters who are brilliant but who are not necessarily known by the big audience out there. I knew who Shari and her ‘Lamb Chop’ puppet were but I didn’t know anything in details about them. I’m part of that generation who was in between the tv shows from the 60’s and from the 90’s. Shari was on may talk shows; therefore, I had an idea of who she was. Legendary Gene Wilder, with whom I worked on my previous film, ‘Love, Gilda’, approached me to put together a documentary about Shari and Lamb Chop. I agreed at once. It felt right doing this film and it made me feel happy doing so, like bringing back some types of happy memories. When I think of ‘Lamb Chop’ I think of something happy. This project really felt right from the beginning.

Q: What did you discover about Shari that really surprised you and how it inspired you?

Lisa: Her immense talent impressed me and inspired me. She wasn’t just a children performer and a ventriloquist. I had no idea she was from New York City and that her father was a famous magician. Shari grew up in a very magical environment and that environment created the Shari Lewis she became.

Q: Tell me about the various challenges you faced making this film?

Lisa: The biggest challenge was about to really know who Shari was. She was very careful and guarded when she gave interviews so I had to figure who she truly was. It took lots of digging to find materials, footages, where Shari wasn’t performing and where I could find out about the real woman behind the name. Also, Todd, her assistant has saved so much footage and boxes of stuffs in his garage. And so we were able to keep digging. We even found one “cassette” about her last performance where she sings that song “hello, goodbye”. This finding was golden. So the main challenge was to find this unique material any filmmaker needs to find to put together the movie he/she is trying to achieve.

Q: What do you think this truly about? What is the take away?

Lisa: It’s all about never give up! Keep going and hope your dreams come together. Shari was struggling many years before she became successful. Her goal was always to get on television, and it took many years to achieve this goal. And then, after Saturday Night Live she struggled another 30 years before getting back on television with ‘Lamb Chop’. She always believed in herself. She always believed children should believe in themselves. If you persevere, things do work