Cinema Paradiso

A visual slice of All About My Mother, 1999, directed by Pedro Almodóvar

A new tome for cinephiles

Cinema in Flux by Roger Durling, $100, or $250 for an autographed copy.

Written by L.D. Porter

It takes courage and ingenuity—not to mention an ironic sense of humor—to pluck joy from a worldwide pandemic, but that’s exactly what the indefatigable Roger Durling, executive director of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF), has achieved with his new book, Cinema in Flux: A Year of Connecting Through Film. What began as Durling’s daily email blast to SBIFF supporters recommending films to watch during the COVID lockdown, has morphed into a must-have coffee-table tome. Director Max Barbakow, whose film, Palm Springs, is profiled in the book, penned the introduction.

It’s a cinema master class in book form, containing a year’s worth of choices culled from every imaginable genre, including black-and-white classics, indies, horror, adventure, animation, documentary, rom-com, and more. Of these, 126 films receive thoughtful commentary combined with history, stylistic insights, and cogent revelations only a dedicated cinephile and film teacher like Durling could possibly arrive at. While acknowledging that some picks may not be an easy watch, Durling stresses the importance of confronting difficult themes, such as those in the late John Singleton’s groundbreaking 1991 film, Boyz n the Hood (which garnered Singleton an Academy Award nomination, the first such nomination for a Black director): “There are films that are ultimately so well-made and filled with so much truthfulness and artistry that despite the harshness of their subject, their experience becomes essential.” Bravo! Available at Sbiff.org.