SBIFF unveils preems

Santa Barbara fetes Reiner, Kingsley

By JILL FEIWELL

The 16th annual Santa Barbara Intl. Film Festival, skedded March 1-11, is expected to unveil this year's preem slate, honorees and event lineup at an informal reception today in Beverly Hills.

In addition to the presentation of the Modern Master Award to Diane Keaton (Daily Variety, Jan. 24), the SBIFF will fete Rob Reiner with the career achievement award (March 2), producer Doug Wick with the Visionary Award as producer of the year (March 9) and thesp Ben Kingsley (March 4). Ceremonies will include selected clips of the artists' works and moderated Q&As with honorees.

Fest also will present an homage to French writer-helmer Francis Veber March 3, and "An Evening With 'Direct Action Cinema' Director Rob Nilsson" March 9.

And then there was 'Adam'

Festivities will kick off with an unspooling of Gerard Stembridge's romantic comedy "About Adam" and will close with Ken Loach's first American-made pic, "Bread and Roses," starring Adrien Brody, Pilar Padilla and Elpidia Carrillo.

Set to unspool are 15 world, two North American and five U.S. preems.

World premieres are "The Adulterer" (Douglas Morse); "Alex in Wonder" (Drew Ann Rosenburg); "All You Need" (Randy Ser); "Amato Opera" (Stephen Ives); "Amy's Orgasm" (Julie Davis); "Artists and Orphans: A True Drama" (Lianne Klapper McNally); "The Blue Children of the Perm Region" (Hedva Galili-Smolinsky); "Close to Home" (Georg Hartmann); "Focus" (Roger Roth); "God and Man II: The Language of Sand Stone" (Hongming Gao); "Great Day in Havana" (Laurie Ann Schag and Casey Stoll); "Kill Me Later" (Dana Lustig); "Losing It" (Sharon Greytak); "Orphan" (Richard Moos); and "Stripped" (Jill Morley).

Two fest favorites, symposiums "It Starts With the Script" and "Directors on Directing," will feature a bevy of A-list helmers and scribes.

Ziskin to lead panel

Script panel, moderated by producer Laura Ziskin, will feature William Broyles Jr., Steven Gaghan, Susannah Grant, Gregory Allen Howard, Rod Lurie and Doug Wright. Director panel, moderated by Premiere magazine West Coast editor Anne Thompson, will feature Darren Aronofsky, Philip Kaufman, Nancy Meyers and Jay Roach.

Also featured will be the Variety-sponsored panel "Movers and Shakers," to be held March 10 and moderated by Variety editor-in-chief Peter Bart. Panelists including David Brown, Laurence Mark and Paula Weinstein will discuss how to survive in the Hollywood of today, the changes they have weathered within this system and the future of American cinema.

For tickets and a complete list of panels, screenings and digital media events, call [phone] or visit www.sbfilmfestival.org.