Walks along the red carpet became just as common as walks along the beach over the weekend in Santa Barbara, as a wave of big-name celebrities hit the quiet coastal community for parties kicking off the 22nd annual Santa Barbara International Film Festival. In fact, 32 Academy Award nominees are scheduled to attend the festival, which runs from January 25 to February 4. Among the first nominees to arrive—just days after having learned about their Oscar nods—were Helen Mirren and Will Smith, who were honored with the 2007 Outstanding Performance of the Year award (for Mirren’s turn in The Queen) and the Modern Master award (for Smith), and whose ceremonies and after-parties attracted some of the festival’s biggest crowds.About 500 platinum pass holders headed to the Montecito Estate on the campus of the Brooks Institute of Photography for a party immediately following Mirren’s award ceremony at the Arlington Theater. Josh Murray of Santa Barbara-based Premiere Events & Locations went for a subtle royalty theme. “I didn’t want people to feel like I was hitting them over the head with a
queen theme,” said Murray, who was hired by SBIFF executive director Roger Durling to coordinate the event. Instead, Murray acknowledged Mirren’s cinematic role as Queen Elizabeth II with the creation of a modern outdoor space and recognized her work in the recent TV miniseries Elizabeth I with the inclusion of a more classic interior space.
Subdued amber hues dominated the quiet indoor room, which featured leather club chairs and a lit fireplace, while multisized disco balls hung from the trees of the outdoor courtyard where DJ Joel Patrick unleashed a thudding bass line into the night. Guests munched on a variety of hearty treats designed by chef David Cecchini of Restaurant NU catering, including pulled pork served on a Hawaiian roll and—in the evening’s most overt salute to the Queen’s homeland—bangers and mash.
Scott Corridan of Corridan and Company Design, whom Four Seasons Biltmore special projects coordinator Victoria Dolan hired to oversee the event design for the Modern Master award party, also bypassed a blatant homage to award recipient Smith and his films. Corridan instead made over the hotel’s Loggia Ballroom (which together with the hotel’s lobby, bar, and Bella Vista restaurant was closed to its guests for the evening) with a sexy South Beach vibe. Go-go cages of sorts—with floor-to-ceiling chocolate chiffon instead of bars enclosing dancers—sat in the middle of the dance floor to break up the traditional look and feel of the ballroom and create a clublike atmosphere. Dancers, who were scantily clad in two-piece scraps of fabric, were illuminated by a LED kaleidoscope and surrounded by ultrasuede benches pressed up against the dancing stations for a voyeuristic seating arrangement. Guests could do some dancing of their own on four graphite-coated, plastic dance floors that wrapped around the center space. Of course, more than one inebriated guest ditched the dance floor and dove under the chiffon during the dancers’ periodic breaks.
Across the hall from the ballroom, the Biltmore offered the 900 guests a selection from two stations featuring seafood, sushi, and hors d’oeuvres, as well as two additional stations stocked with crudités, cheese, bread, and dessert.
—Rosalba Curiel
Posted 01.31.07
Photos: Rebecca Sapp/WireImage (entrance, courtyard), Ray Mickshaw/WireImage (dancers)
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queen theme,” said Murray, who was hired by SBIFF executive director Roger Durling to coordinate the event. Instead, Murray acknowledged Mirren’s cinematic role as Queen Elizabeth II with the creation of a modern outdoor space and recognized her work in the recent TV miniseries Elizabeth I with the inclusion of a more classic interior space.
Subdued amber hues dominated the quiet indoor room, which featured leather club chairs and a lit fireplace, while multisized disco balls hung from the trees of the outdoor courtyard where DJ Joel Patrick unleashed a thudding bass line into the night. Guests munched on a variety of hearty treats designed by chef David Cecchini of Restaurant NU catering, including pulled pork served on a Hawaiian roll and—in the evening’s most overt salute to the Queen’s homeland—bangers and mash.
Scott Corridan of Corridan and Company Design, whom Four Seasons Biltmore special projects coordinator Victoria Dolan hired to oversee the event design for the Modern Master award party, also bypassed a blatant homage to award recipient Smith and his films. Corridan instead made over the hotel’s Loggia Ballroom (which together with the hotel’s lobby, bar, and Bella Vista restaurant was closed to its guests for the evening) with a sexy South Beach vibe. Go-go cages of sorts—with floor-to-ceiling chocolate chiffon instead of bars enclosing dancers—sat in the middle of the dance floor to break up the traditional look and feel of the ballroom and create a clublike atmosphere. Dancers, who were scantily clad in two-piece scraps of fabric, were illuminated by a LED kaleidoscope and surrounded by ultrasuede benches pressed up against the dancing stations for a voyeuristic seating arrangement. Guests could do some dancing of their own on four graphite-coated, plastic dance floors that wrapped around the center space. Of course, more than one inebriated guest ditched the dance floor and dove under the chiffon during the dancers’ periodic breaks.
Across the hall from the ballroom, the Biltmore offered the 900 guests a selection from two stations featuring seafood, sushi, and hors d’oeuvres, as well as two additional stations stocked with crudités, cheese, bread, and dessert.
—Rosalba Curiel
Posted 01.31.07
Photos: Rebecca Sapp/WireImage (entrance, courtyard), Ray Mickshaw/WireImage (dancers)
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Guests at the Outstanding Performance award party at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival entered through the back entrance of the Montecito estate, which was bathed in blue light.
Disco balls hung from the trees in the outdoor courtyard at the Outstanding Performance award party.
At the Modern Master award party, guests lounged alongside professional dancers.
Designers sprayed lemon, citrus, lime, and orange branches white and placed them atop mantelpieces and tabletops at the Loggia Ballroom.
