Your Westmont Montecito Home to Inaugural Student Film Festival

by Scott Craig, photo by Brad Elliott

The inaugural Montecito Student Film Festival showcases the impressive work of undergraduate students from California colleges and universities with screenings on Saturday, March 25, in Porter Theatre. A jury of industry professionals and special guests will judge and award the top prizes, while polls determine the winner of the Audience Award.

“Montecito has a robust cultural history and is surrounded by people in the film industry,” says Wendy Eley Jackson, executive producer of the festival who teaches Documentary Filmmaking, Screenwriting, and Creative Writing in Westmont’s theater arts and English departments. “We’d love for those who live, work, and play here to come out and see what the students have done. You don’t know where you’re going to find your next Nora Ephron or Aaron Sorkin, and I believe our students at Westmont are equally creative.”

Jackson, CEO of Auburn Avenue Films, serves on the boards of two large national film festivals: the Atlanta Film Festival and BronzeLens. “I’ve submitted to and been a part of many film festivals as a judge, director, writer, and producer,” she says.

Last fall, students interested in the festival began meeting with Jackson. Seniors Bailey Lemmon and Wesley Yowell produced the festival, which will screen about 17 short films running an average of 23 minutes. Three of the four students in Jackson’s documentary filmmaking course will submit movies. “One student created a film on surfing and its impact on mental health and well-being, and another documented the creation of a band,” Jackson says.

Junior Tamia Sanders created a film about a forgotten school shooting 19 months before the Columbine High School massacre. Sanders’ aunt attended Pearl High School near Jackson, Miss., during the 1997 shooting, one of the first major rampage shootings in modern history. “The most moving part of making ‘Before There Was Columbine’ has been knowing how much these events have shaped and developed my life, even though I was not directly affected,” Sanders says. “My aunt, who was 17 at the time and didn’t receive counseling or therapy, talks about how the shooting changed the way she operates and thinks. It’s heartbreaking for me, because this event didn’t have to happen. In the film she says, ‘You may have survived it, but you still have to survive it.’”

Sanders remembers being in high school after the shooting at Stoneman

Douglas High School and seeing the dramatic increase in security measures at her Texas school. “The film is dedicated to the survivors,” she says. “So many times the narrative emphasizes the shooter.”

Jackson has challenged Sanders to have uncomfortable conversations. “I’ve noticed that her films are inspiring because they tackle weighty subjects,” Sanders says. “I can’t wait for people to see my project. It’s been on my heart for a long time, and I had no way of getting this story out. It’s kind of surreal.”

Festival organizers are accepting films in every genre or topic and have sent invitations to undergraduate filmmakers throughout the state, including USC, Chapman, UC Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara City College.

“Filmmaking has the capacity to create, impact, and explore different themes of how people live, as well as the internal and external conflicts that characters may have,” Jackson says. “The creative expression seems to bring out the best in many of these college students. It’s an escape. Seeing their visions come into fruition and debut at the Montecito Student Film Festival is spectacular.”

Fictitious Business

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Imagine Artful Things, INC, 1470 East Valley Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. Imagine Artful Things, INC, 1470 East Valley Road, Santa Barbara, CA 93108. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 8, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0000568. Published March 8, 15, 22, 29, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Achieve Behavior Change; Achieve Behavior Health, 2342 Professional Pkwy, 300, Santa Maria, CA, 93455. Holdsambeck And Associates, INC, 2342 Professional Pkwy, 300, Santa Maria, CA, 93455. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 8, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0000349.

Published March 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JC Plumbing Supply, 593 Avenue of the Flags, Suite 103, Buellton, CA, 93427. JC Plumbing Supply LLC, 593 Avenue of the Flags, Suite 103, Buellton, CA, 93427. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 2, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0000283.

Published March 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: JCH Plumbing, 593 Avenue of the Flags, Suite 103, Buellton, CA, 93427. JCH Plumbing LLC, 593 Avenue of the Flags, Suite 103, Buellton, CA, 93427. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 2, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0000282. Published March 1, 8, 15, 22, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Villa De Montecito, 1934 N. Jameson LN, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108. The Montecito Villa Association, 7 W. Figueroa St., STE 300. Santa Barbara, CA, 93101. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 8, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0000348. Published February, 15, 22, March 1, 8, 2023

FICTITIOUS BUSINESS

NAME STATEMENT: The following person(s) is/are doing business as: Santa Barbara Piano School, 1070 Fairwar Rd, Santa Barbara, CA, 93108. Seungah Seo, 743 E. Anapamu St., Santa Barbara, CA, 93103. This statement was filed with the County Clerk of Santa Barbara County on February 7, 2023. This statement expires five years from the date it was filed in the Office of the County Clerk. I hereby certify that this is a correct copy of the original statement on file in my office. Joseph E. Holland, County Clerk (SEAL). FBN No. 2023-0000330. Published February, 15, 22, March 1, 8, 2023 our hometown folks, and maybe meet in a place where I touch other people on the journey.

Visit www.lobero.org for tickets and more information

A Full Circle of Dance

UCSB Dance Company’s 2023 company consists entirely of female or non-binary dancers, which wasn’t a conscious choice but simply the result of having no male senior dance majors on campus this year. But rather than fighting against what is, Artistic Director Delila Moseley decided to double down.

“I just decided to go with it, and create a program with all female choreographers,” she explained. “No point in trying to cover it up.”

The result is an evening called Full Circle, featuring dancer creators who each have ties to the UCSB department over a span of several years. The program includes three commissioned works for the UCSB Dance Company, plus four pieces that are remounts of successful works. Each of the new works covers vastly different territory and scope, not a surprise given Moseley’s cryptic construct for the choreographers.

“I didn’t really give them any directive. I just explained the idea of Full Circle coming back to UCSB and trying to express art from a female point of view.”

The Letter, by Christina McCarthy, a graduate of the department and now a multi-disciplinary artist and faculty member at UCSB, uses the entire 16-member company and focuses on the power of language and how what we say to one another can create division or deep connection. “There are fabulous costumes that she created herself, and set pieces that support the story,” Moseley said. “It’s very active, told through the dancers’ dramatic actions and facial expressions.”

Luna , choreographed by Madison Olandt , is danced to Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata and centered around the complexity of the divine feminine in human form, described by Moseley as “a performance art piece – dance, but with lots of other elements that grew out of workshop mode where the dancers create movement and then she molds it together.”

Gianna Burright ’s still untitled piece features music by local composer/singer-songwriter Sio Tepper , and explores love, dreams, relationships, nightmares, joy, and ordinary experiences, asking the question, “How did we end up here?”

Moseley said that by the end of the performances, which take place at Hatlen Theater, March 9-11, she hoped the audience would be “impressed by the dancing, moved by the choreography, inspired by the different levels of artistry and aspects of creative energy.”

Visit https://theaterdance.ucsb.edu/ for tickets and more information

Book ’em: Authors on a Mission

Next up in UCSB Arts & Lectures’ Conversation with Pico Iyer series is Pulitzer Prize-winner Tracy Kidder , the literary journalist whose works have captured acclaim as eminently readable writing from a champion of the heroism of everyday life. Kidder, whose previous books Mountains Beyond Mountains and The Soul of a New Machine , will talk about his new book, Rough Sleepers: Dr. Jim O’Connell’s Urgent Mission to Bring Healing to Homeless People , about a doctor who made a big difference by helping to create a program to care for Boston’s homeless community. With Iyer as inquisitor, the Tuesday, March 14, conversation at The New Vic will likely dig deep into Kidder’s role in amplifying the efforts of unique individuals who transcend cynicism and create hope, as well as his motivations and inner pursuits.

Heading over to the harbor, California native and longtime Santa Barbara resident Janet Dowling Sands will share her book On a Mission: The

Real Story of the California Missions, Their History, Impact, and Legacy , at the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum on Thursday, March 16. The illustrated presentation will explore how the missions were inextricably linked to global maritime history and prehistory, including the latest research on the origins of California’s indigenous people, whose ancestors came to the Americas thousands of years ago.

On the Beat: Sounds at SOhO

A quieter dinner set followed by a post-table clearing dance jam … SOhO’s latest edition of Master of Hawaiian Music brings a trio of highly accomplished island-based musicians to the club this weekend. Grammywinning 12-string specialist George Kahumoku Jr. and fellow slack key and lap steel guitarist Sonny Lim will be joined by ukulele master Herb Ohta Jr. for the Saturday, March 11, show…. A sumptuous singer-songwriter soirée at SOhO on Tuesday, March 14, brings headliners Renee & Jeremy, purveyors of “hush indiefolk” originals and covers that transform classic songs such as “Whole Lotta Love,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine,” and Tears for Fears’ “Shout” into meditative mantras. Opening is Rich Jacques , whose latest album is titled Joy Follows Like A Shadow That Never Leaves , the second part of a quote from Buddah. ’Nuff said.

Steven Libowitz has covered a plethora of topics for the Journal since 1997, and now leads our extensive arts and entertainment coverage