Volunteers up and running at Santa Barbara International Film Festival

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Volunteers have been up and running at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

As the film festival kicks in, so is the cold wet weather.

But not all film goers think it’s cold.

"It’s 14 degrees in Trevor city … so this is nice and warm and I love this festival," said visitor Jane Corro from Michigan.

Volunteers counted Less than 90 patrons coming to see Dune at the Arlington Theatre, giving them more seats to choose from.

"It’s not … and when you have free films .. and 2,000 seats you’re ready for the worst scenario … you’re going to get a huge crowd sometimes it doesn’t happen who knows why.  We’ve got weather against us," said venue manager Rick Closson of the Arlington Theatre.

Still, guests came to the theater excited to be greeted by the many volunteers who make the annual film festival possible.

“We don’t get the chance to see them in the theater, so this is a chance to actually see all those movies and just see what everyone else is doing. That’s why I think film festivals are really wonderful," said volunteer Elfy Montes of the Santa Barbara Film Festival.

Despite the smaller crowd, volunteers say they are ready for anything as the film festival gets underway. 

"Well, they’re ecstatic to get in and see that it’s free and that there’s no weight and yeah all those good reasons because they are the efficient autos they wanted to come and see this good movie," said Closson.

“Excited to get here and I just love it I love Santa Barbara," said visitor Jane Corro from Michigan.

"My hope is just to help people have a great time see some great movies and maybe even catch a few movies myself," said Montes.

Organizers say there are close to 600 volunteers at this year's film festival.