Phyllis de Picciotto, a co-founder of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, has died. She was 84.
De Picciotto died April 14 of heart failure at a hospice care facility in Santa Barbara, her daughter Leonie de Picciotto told The Hollywood Reporter.
After moving from Los Angeles to Santa Barbara in 1983, de Picciotto programmed films at the Riviera Theatre for Metropolitan Theatres CEO Bruce Corwin to great success. That led to her holding a meeting in her living room to pitch the idea of a Santa Barbara-based film festival.
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The event would, according to her husband, Stan Roden, offer “world and U.S. premieres along with celebrities, panels, Klieg lights, vintage cars, red carpet, long lines fostering conversation, lavish parties, a large, dedicated group of volunteers, free programs, artist retrospectives and awards.”
Corwin offered Metropolitan’s theaters and cash to the effort and helped persuade the City Council that such a festival would attract tourists during the winter. A grant was awarded, and SBIFF kicked off on Feb. 27, 1986. Ted Danson walked the red carpet on opening night, and Montecito resident Robert Mitchum, introduced by Judith Anderson, was the fest’s first honoree.
“Through her pioneering work as SBIFF’s founding force, Phyllis was a passionate advocate for the arts and the cause of making Santa Barbara a more cinema-literate place to live,” Santa Barbara Independent critic Joe Woodard wrote.
Born on Sept. 22, 1940, and raised in Chicago, de Picciotto went to Von Stueben High School in her hometown and graduated from Fairfax High after she and her family came to L.A.
She then attended Northwestern, majoring in English literature, and UCLA and served as the first director of a new nursery school at Temple Israel of Hollywood.
De Picciotto was working at the Brandeis Camp Institute near Simi Valley when she met Robert Laemmle, whose family owned the Laemmle Theatres chain, known for showing American and foreign independent films.
She got a three-month tryout at the exhibitor, during which she designed flyers and posters, mingled with movie critics and spoke with such filmmakers as Akira Kurosawa, François Truffaut, Federico Fellini and Agnès Varda.
That led to her programming over multiple weeks series of films with a common theme — think psychology, female directors, civil rights, opera, ballet, samurai and classics — accompanied by guest speakers.
De Picciotto also was hired to promote the opening of such art films as Bye Bye Brazil (1979), John Sayles’ Return of the Secaucus 7 (1980) and Cutter’s Way (1981) before she launched SBIFF, which has grown to becoming one of the leading festivals in the country.
She and her husband later formed baba2films, and she executive produced the animated short The Incredible Journey of Berta Benz (2012).
In addition to Roden — they married in 1987 after he served as Santa Barbara District Attorney from 1975-82 — survivors include her daughters, Leonie and Natalie; stepsons Grant and B.J.; sister Linda; grandchildren Sarah, Jack, Isabella, Jet, Lucas, Griffin and Giselle; and her 3-year-old Aussie, Linus.
