New SBIFF Film Center lights up five screens in downtown Santa Barbara

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - It's one of the fastest turnarounds of any addresses in modern times in Santa Barbara. With that, a new Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) Film Center has opened with 920 seats.

It was the former Fiesta Five Theatres in downtown Santa Barbara at 916 State Street. Metropolitan Theater Corporation left the property and ended its lease with the city owned site in September.

The SBIFF was ready with a Film Center plan to take it over, make some fast renovations and relaunch the screens. The agreement impressed the City Council on many levels and the deal was done.

The lineup of movies will fall into categories including foreign, international, documentary, retrospective and restored classics and family friendly.

The SBIFF goal is to run these theatres through the upcoming 2025 Film Festival in February, then close down and put in a state-of-the-art systems. That plan is anticipated to take about six months.

Santa Barbara Film Festival  Executive Director Roger Durling said, "there's no art house technically like this one in Los Angeles and not one in the region.   Once we are done with the remodel we are doing after we shut it down after the festival  we are going to be state of the art with Dolby ATMOS   and Dolby vision this is going to be equal to places like this in Chicago and New York City."

The pricing will be comparable to most other theaters and start at $12.00. There will be senior discounts to $9.00 and late night showings for $7.00.

The work has been fast and with long hours. The theatres were empty at the beginning of October. That meant no seats, no screens, no projector and no speakers.

Companies that specialize in movie theatres and others that had seats available rallied to help the Santa Barbara project.

Renovation work began immediately. There's also been new jobs available, and applicants were found and hired.

The opening of the site is also expected to help revitalize downtown.

Durling said, "leading the way and helping the community not only  enriching the community culturally but bringing the economic impact."

A downtown worker and film lover, Evan Barnes said, "I'm super excited.   It's awesome. I think  having something like this downtown is great for film lovers."

A Ventura resident said he will come up often as he does for the other SBIFF state-of-the-art theatre The Riviera. Michael Mitchell said, "all I have to do is, it is playing there and I can see it.    The curation is all of it. The convenience is fantastic."

For Barnes it will be a reminder of the movie theatre outings he had a teen. "It was real  transformative for me when I was in middle school and high school.   I would see pictures that I would have never been able to see before. But all of the places I have lived since, haven't  had one.   Having the Riviera and now this is really special."

 In the big picture, this will be major site for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival each year.

Roger Durling said, "but keep in mind that this project guarantees the longevity of the film festival. We are no longer going to be depending on renting movies theaters for us to  to showcase our main festival."

He said the main tributes and showcase evenings will still be at the Arlington Theatre, a property owned by Metropolitan Theatres.

For more information go to SBIFF Film Center.