Editor

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is pleased to announce Kathryn Bigelow as the Outstanding Director of the Year for the 2010 Silver Anniversary edition. in what has become an annual tradition in featuring a Guest Director, SBIFF will program a retrospective of Bigelow's films.

As a writer, director, producer, Bigelow has created some of the most action-packed and intense subject matter films for the last two decades. Her films include Near Dark, Point Break, Strange Days and this year's highly- touted drama The Hurt Locker, to just name a few.

On Monday, February 8, SBIFF will present "A Celebration of Kathryn Bigelow." A director not afraid to push the envelope in the cinematic world, Kathryn Bigelow has the eye for the picture she wants to present and then does so, with an expertise that is both gracious and bold. Having studied art, she takes her vision and presents it to her audience all the while telling a tale that evokes various and intense emotions. Bigelow graduated from Columbia's Film School and started a career, gaining experience in numerous genres - such as music videos, television and film, showing us once again the depth of her creativity and talent.

Commented SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling, "Kathryn's custom of the first person perspective throughout her films, as seen in Point Break and Strange Days, had always made her films visceral and favorites of mine, but the culmination of this is The Hurt Locker - her crowning achievement. The fact that I'm able to honor a fellow alumnus of the Columbia Grad School is icing on the cake."

The 25th Santa Barbara International Film Festival, set to run February 4 - 14, 2010, is a non-profit organization dedicated to enriching local culture and raising consciousness of film as an art form. SBIFF presents quality American Independent, Spanish and Latin American, European, World and Documentary cinema, as well as nature and surfing films, all within the beautiful setting of downtown Santa Barbara, a perfect backdrop and premier tourist destination in its own right. SBIFF is also committed to education through its 10-10-10 Student Filmmaking and Screenwriting Competitions, Field Trip to the Movies, and educational seminars. With a projected audience of 60,000 viewing more than 200 films over its eleven-day run, the SBIFF attracts an eclectic and diverse consumer base, both locally and nationally, while maintaining strong ties with the entertainment industry in nearby Los Angeles.