OBSCURAE’s Most Anticipated Picks for Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Umnia El-Neil

Feb 04, 2025 - 2 min read

UMNIA

is the Editor-in-Chief & Primary Festival Correspondent for OBSCURAE, as well as a massive fan of ✨Camp.

Mistress Dispeller

A messy family doc with affairs and cheating? Camp.

Coup 53

Ralph Fiennes narrating the interview an MI6 Agent admitting to plotting the Iranian coup of 1953? Camp.

JANE AUSTEN WRECKED MY LIFE

An insecure writer gets pulled into in a love triangle while doing a Writer’s residency in England? CAMP!

Jack

is our on-the-ground correspondent for Santa Barbara, and you may also know him as the editor of the SOPHISTICULTURE podcast!

Wild Gleaming Space (Luminoso Espacio Salvaje)

I really enjoy films that explore larger questions about consciousness and existence, and attempt to bridge the gap between the metaphysical and scientific.

Top 10 Must (Topp 10 Möst)

I'm looking forward to this one because the style of comedy seems very up my street, and I love movies where women get to go a little insane.

Viva Verdi!

I'm excited to watch this one because I'm sure it'll be very heartwarming--it's great to see old people thriving and continuing to do what they love.

Celeste

is a regular contributor to OBSCURAE, and currently our Creative & Marketing Coordinator for the next few months as she joins us from University of Galway.

O Horizon

I'm interested to see this one because as technology advances further and further, it starts to affect areas of life we thought would remain untouchable.

Magic Hour

I'm excited to see this movie because I'm a sucker for a story in which people are forced to reinvent themselves at a stage they thought they were 'done' with it.

'4th Dementia' and 'Terminally Ill'

This is a copout, cause I am mentioning two short films: but I couldn't not mention them! They deal with deeply depressing topics but manage to find a fresh angle which is both earnest and fascinating.