Talk with Roger Durling

By Nadia Zetterberg. Talk with Roger Durling at the Hotel Santa Barbara.

Roger Durling is the director of The Santa Barbara International Film Festival. We had the opportunity to sit down and talk to him during the festival about his life and how it is to run the festival.

Durling says he does yoga every day of the festival to pace himself. He goes to bed early and does not party. “I try to stay away from alcohol,” he said. He goes to local radio stations every morning to promote all the different daily events of the festival. This year was the 30th anniversary of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and they wanted to do something special so they added days to the festival to make it last a little longer.

Before monitoring a tribute Durling does a lot of research about the person he will interview. Durling first started as a playwright in Los Angeles. When he thought his career was over he moved to Santa Barbara and opened a coffee shop. Running that coffee shop lead him to taking over the film festival because of the many people he would come in contact with, and his passion for film that always shined bright. He used to talk about films and the film festival with his customers and became well known for his strong opinions about the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and its need of improvements. He said that every time he would have any time off work he would go to a film festival because it made him so happy and excited.

When asked what makes the Santa Barbara International Film Festival so unique to the many other film festivals around the world he answers “Proximity is key!” The different events are close to each other so it is manageable to get around and have time for as many events and screenings as possible without dealing with traffic.

Durling says the educational events of the festival makes him the most happy. “I see the film festival as an educational tool,” he said. “It is incredibly rewarding.”

Durling has to start preparing for next year’s festival only two short weeks after this one ends. Durling says the financial part is the hardest in running the film festival. The Santa Barbara International Film Festival is a non-profit organization that costs $3.000.000 to run. It has over 700 volunteers every year.