Film Festivals

Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) Announces 2027 Dates

Erik Anderson April 14, 2026

The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) today announced that its 42nd edition will take place February 3-13, 2027, a key stop on the awards season circuit.

“Another magical edition of our festival took place in February, where the love of film was the order of the day. Over 200 films were celebrated, and we hosted 17 eventual Oscar winners, including Sean Penn! Let us do it again in 2027, for we’re having too much fun,” said SBIFF Executive Director Roger Durling.

The 42nd Santa Barbara International Film Festival official events will include screenings, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels, and celebrity tributes throughout the city, including the new McHurley Film Center, SBIFF’s Riviera Theater, and the historic Arlington Theatre.

The 41st Annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival took place February 4-14, 2026 and welcomed more than 80,000 attendees and presented over 200 films from 50 countries, including 46 world premieres and 80 U.S. premieres. The festival featured more than 180 filmmaker Q&As and hosted over 50 Academy Award-nominated films. Approximately 50% of the films in the lineup were directed by women. SBIFF received more than 4,000 film submissions and was supported by more than 600 volunteers.

Tribute honorees included Michael B. Jordan (Outstanding Performer of the Year Award), Adam Sandler (Maltin Modern Master Award), Stellan Skarsgård (Montecito Award), Leonardo DiCaprio, Sean Penn and Benicio Del Toro (Hammond Cinema Vanguard Award), Kate Hudson (Arlington Artist of the Year Award), Ethan Hawke (American Riviera Award), and Virtuosos Award recipients Jacob Elordi, Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas, Chase Infiniti, Amy Madigan, Wunmi Mosaku, Wagner Moura, Sydney Sweeney and Teyana Taylor.

Festival passes will go on sale in August at sbiff.org and the full lineup will be announced in January 2027.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.