‘Emilia Pérez’ Helmer Jacques Audiard Set For Retrospective From Santa Barbara Film Festival

EXCLUSIVE: Jacques Audiard is in the thick of awards season with his much-buzzed film Emilia Pérez, and now he is set for a retrospective from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival next month.

That Cannes Jury Prize-winning film starring Oscar hopeful Karla Sofia Gascón along with Selena Gomez and Zoe Saldaña will screen on January 10 at the SBIFF Riviera Theatre, followed by an in-person chat with Audiard.

The program running through January 17 at the new SBIFF Film Center also will include his films Paris, 13th District (2021), and The Sisters Brothers (2018); Dheepan (2015); Rust and Bone (2012); A Prophet (2009) and The Beat That My Heart Skipped (2005).

“Audiard is a master of cinema — combining genres in order to tell his complex yet compelling stories which always draw attention to important and urgent subjects like immigration and the disenfranchised,” festival executive director Roger Durling said. “As a filmmaker, he is generous, challenging and humane, and he exemplifies the best of world cinema. He is cinema.”

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The Paris native launched his directing career 30 years ago with See How They Fall (Regarde les Hommes Tomber) and has won the Palme d’Or at Cannes with Dheepan along five other noms for the festival’s top prize. He also has scored BAFTA Awards for A Prophet and The Beat That My Heart Skipped and 10 French César Awards, among many other honors.

This year he’s a front-runner for Best Picture, Director and Adapted Screenplay Oscar noms when they are revealed January 17. Emilia Pérez follows the story of the title character (Gascón), a notorious Mexican cartel leader who undergoes gender-affirming surgery to start living life as her most authentic self. Blending elements of crime, suspense, comedy and music, it’s a significant departure from Audiard’s previous works, and has won dozens of prizes from critics groups and on the film festival circuit.

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The 40th Santa Barbara Fil Festival runs runs February 4-15 in the city on California’s Central Coast. Timothée Chalamet will receive the Arlington Artist of the Year Award for his role as young Bob Dylan in A Complete Unknown, Maria star Angelina Jolie is set for the Maltin Modern Master Award, and The Brutalist‘s Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce will be feted with the Cinema Vanguard Award.