Interview with Roger Durling( Roger Durling,2012): USA

Reviewed By Nathan Chinchilla at the Lobero Theater, Santa Barbara

The executive director of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival for the past ten years has been a outstanding man and character if you wish to say, which is Roger Durling. He has been able to make the film festival each year an amazing experience that all enjoy because of his extreme passion and love for films. He began to hosting the festival about ten years ago and has made the festival what it is today! He has done an extremely awesome job by making the festival better than it has ever been. Having world famous directors like Scorsese come into town, actor Christopher Plummers, and panels with various directors and producers from all genres of film. He has done a great job in keeping the festival running smoothly and is only becoming better at it with each year. He has surpassed everyones expectations with what he is going to do so who knows what he has going to have instore for next years’ film festival.

We had the spectacular opportunity to sit down the executive director, Roger Durling, and ask him a few questions about the film festival, his career up bringing, and a bit of his personal life.  He was more than willing to answer all the questions we had for him with a lot of enthusiasm and honesty. We began asking him about how he chooses the videos that will be showed in the film festival and he said that all the independent films are submitted through “Without A Box” online so him and the rest of the people in charge can see if the films will be accepted. The rest he said that he goes to other film festivals and seeks out the best suitable films that he finds the most aspiring. He has a high a demand for US and world premieres for the festival so having new movie that one else has seen attracts him the most. The process begins in July and takes the programmers of the festival almost an entire year to start gathering all the films for the next festival. Roger has turned the festival around greatly and even though he never saw his position as something “long-term”, he is now thankful for the opportunity every year.

Roger Durling has come a very far from where he started about ten years ago and has contributed more than ever imaginable from bringing in oscar nominated and winning film makers to helping see that the festival makes profit. He created the pathway for the film festival as it is only going up.  Like everyone in the industry, Roger started off somewhere and that somewhere was  at Syracuse in New York then to Columbia for Grad School before he moved to California to start his career. He said that his perseverance is what has helped him the most to keep pushing forward with the festival and so far it has done him well. Roger Durling has made an identity for himself that no one can mistake with the hair and glasses but it is his own image that carries him into success. Roger Durling has overcame all the challenges of the film festival of the past and now it is one of the worlds most known film festival. Roger will only bring success to the film festival for as long that he is able to work and alive.