Q&A with Roger Durling- SBIFF Executive Director

Reviewed by Jillian P. Halverstadt.  Viewed at the Directors Lounge behind the Lobero Theatre , Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

Being able to sit down for a class interview with the man who is responsible for such a popular Film Festival was interesting enough, though I did not expect his story to be as inspiring as it was.  He answered our questions as thoroughly as he could and I couldn’t have asked for more.  From the moment he walked in, dressed in all black and with a pair of color tinted sunglasses, you could tell he was the kind of person who had been blessed with a creative mind.

Roger Durling started out by telling us of some of the life trials he had to go through to get him to where he is today and what nurtured his love for the art of film.  He stated that the movies had always been a form of refuge for him and as he got older he began attending as many film festivals as he could.  Having hated Hollywood he moved up to Santa Barbara and was co-owning a cafe, The French Bulldog, where he would discuss what he would do to fix the local film festival and then fate took over.

I loved that, because he had so much faith in himself and in the city of Santa Barbara, Roger worked the entire first year of the festival for free.  He strategized by changing the festivals original dates so that they would be held right before award season which lead SBIFF to become affiliated with the Oscars!

Durling went on to cut most ties with small, private donors and started teaming up with bigger names such as those from this years festival; UGG, Alaska Airlines, Moet, etc.  But most importantly he did not forget to include Santa Barbara culture as much as he could by adding films that featured surfing, spanish/latino influence, and wine.  One of my favorite things Roger went on to mention during the Q&A was the importance of how a “festival should always be a reflection of the town in which it is in”.  With all of the Santa Barbara influence visible in the SBIFF 2013, he proves to stand by his word.

There is only a two-week gap  in each year that him and his crew take before going back to work and Durling attributes this drive to how his father raised him.  He and his crew will spend most of the year viewing numerous amounts of film only to end up choosing a select bunch that will be played for the audiences at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.  We learn some of the technical effort and information that take part in film festivals and the difference between a showcase festival and a market festival.  With all of the information that Roger is relaying to us, it is not hard to see the excitement he shares with us.

Throughout the interview, it was easy to see how much passion and emotion he puts into the planning of each years event and I think that is the key to Roger Durling’s success.