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Phyllis de Picciotto, who founded the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, has died. She was 88.

Daughter Lionie de Picciotto said her mother died April 14 but did not provide other details.

After spending her early childhood in Chicago, de Picciotto and her family moved to L.A. She graduated from Fairfax High School and attended Northwestern and later UCLA.

After befriending Robert Laemmle, whose family owned the Laemmle Theaters chain, she found work with the arthouse exhibitor. Once she started forming connections with filmmakers, critics and others in the specialty film world, de Picciotto persuaded the Laemmles to back her plan to show a series of films over multiple weeks with guest speaker Q&As afterward.

The shingle formed as a result of that initiative, Phyllis de Picciotto Presents, became a known commodity on the arthouse circuit. Distributors and other specialty exhibitors hired her company to help promote films and de...

You may be surprised to learn that the first Hollywood film that dealt with the Holocaust was released during the height of World War II. The 1944 Andre De Toth film, “None Shall Escape” shows a group of Polish-Jews gunned down by the Nazis while they are being forced into boxcars for deportation. Over the subsequent decades, the horrors of the Holocaust have been depicted on the big screen in such classics as 1959’s “The Diary of Anne Frank”; 1982’s “Sophie’s Choice,” for which Meryl Streep won her first Best Actress Oscar; and Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-winning 1993 masterpiece “Schindler’s List.”

The Holocaust, in which six million Jews died during World War II, has also been the subject of numerous lauded TV movies and miniseries. The latest is Barry Levinson’s acclaimed “The Survivor,” which premiered last September at the Toronto Film Festival and on HBO and HBO Max. The film, Levinson...

Cary Grant and co-star/missus Betsy Drake do honor to the ‘family picture’ genre — with a filmic boost to child foster programs that offers a positive message, avoids most clichés and generates some sly fun too. What we see resembles real life, even if Cary Grant should never be shown washing dishes. Betsy Drake’s take-charge mother sets family policy as she opts to take in first one and then two foster children. It’s also the film debut of little George Winslow, before he picked up the ‘Foghorn’ nickname. Plus there’s a cute dog and some kittens that offer a sex education lesson. The recent biography of Cary Grant should renew interest in this entertaining and socially admirable show. It’s warm & fuzzy yet not at all saccharine.

Room for One More

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1952 / B&w / 1:37 Academy / 95 98? min. / Street Date January 26, 2021 / available through the WBshop / 19.99

Starring: Cary Grant,...

It is staggering to think that Sophia Loren has been making movies for 70 years, initially appearing uncredited in such films as 1950’s “Tototarzan” and “Quo Vadis” before becoming a full-fledged star in mentor Vittorio De Sica’s 1954 comedy anthology “The Gold of Naples.” And she became the first performer to win an Oscar for a foreign language film for De Sica’s harrowing World War II drama “Two Women,” which opened in the U.S. in 1961. She received two more Oscar nominations for Italian productions: DeSica’s “Marriage Italian Style” and Ettore Scala’s 1977 “A Special Day.”

After a decade’s hiatus from features, Loren has made a triumphant return to film in her son Edoardo Ponti’s poignant “The Life Ahead,” currently streaming on Netflix. The 86-year-old actress has received some of the strongest reviews of her career and loud Oscar buzz for her performance as an aged prostitute...

You pick up a lot of baggage when you live to be 100, a sentiment confirmed by the long, long movie career of Bob Hope. His unofficial status as the preeminent entertainer of the 20th century is open to debate but he was without a doubt that era’s most conspicuous comedian. Marlon Brando’s infamous dismissal, “He’ll go to the opening of a market to receive an award”, was mean-spirited but it had the sting of truth; for over eighty years Hope was everywhere, for better or worse.

Living up to his nickname, “Rapid Robert”, the 31-year old Hope shot out of the gate in 1934 with a series of quick-on-their feet comic shorts revolving around his unique presence as a leading man and comical sidekick rolled into one. It wasn’t long before he was starring in pleasantly prosaic musicals like The Big Broadcast of 1938 and handsomely mounted...

Another year, another move further away from caring about pop. Whether that's pop's fault or mine, I'm not sure. But there was still plenty of great new music released in 2015, and here, according to my idiosyncratic tastes, are the best albums, or at least my favorites.

1. Wire: Wire (Pink Flag)

This is said to be the first time that Bruce Gilbert's replacement, guitarist Matthew Simms, was heavily involved in the creation of a Wire album, and the result is...the closest Wire has ever come to sounding like a Colin Newman album. I exaggerate for effect, but only slightly: most everything thrums along smoothly and motorik-ly, he takes all the lead vocals (though Graham Lewis supposedly wrote many of the lyrics), and there are none of the post-punkier outbursts of the group's previous two reunion albums, though near the end of Wire, the one-two punch of "Split Your Ends" and "Octopus" come close.

Film on Tap is a column about the many ways that beer (or sometimes booze) and cinema intersect in Austin.

The festive holidays are upon us, which often means indulging in cocktails. If all you have is an antiquated edition of Mr. Boston Official Bartender's Guide to guide you, you might want to check out one of the unique cocktail experiences at the Alamo Drafthouse for inspiration and even education. On Monday, November 26 at 7 pm at Alamo Ritz, author Philip Greene hosts "To Have and Have Another -- A Hemingway Cocktail Companion," a 90-minute seminar based on Greene's book of the same name about the drinks featured in the life and works of Ernest Hemingway. Tickets include a flight of four cocktails including The Jack Rose (applejack, grenadine, lime juice) and The Hemingway Daiquiri (white rum, lime juice, grapefruit juice, maraschino liqueur).

On Tuesday, November 27 at 7 pm at Alamo Slaughter,...

Skip the green beer this St. Patrick's Day and sip on one of these festive holiday beverages instead! St. Patrick's Day is right around the corner, and if you plan on celebrating Ireland's patron saint by imbibing alcohol (responsibly, of course), ditch the watered-down beer and try out one of these creative concoctions. Remember to pace yourself HollywoodLifers and eat plenty of traditional Irish fare like corned beef and cabbage -- or else you might start seeing leprechauns! Irish Jack Rose Ingredients: 1 part Michael Collins Irish Whiskey 1/2 part Calvados 1/2 part fresh lime juice 1/2 part grenadine syrup Directions: Pour all ingredients into an ice-filled shaker and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled cocktail glass and garnish with a lime wheel float. Frisky Whiskey Ingredients: 1 part Michael Collins Irish Whiskey 1/2 part Bärenjäger® Honey Liquor 1 part fresh orange juice 1/4 part simple syrup 2 dashes Angostura® bitters Directions: Combine ingredients in an ice-filled shaker and shake well.

"Colditz", the R-rated, 2005 two-part miniseries, produced by Granada Television for ITV, will be available on DVD, April 19, 2011, from eOne.

Written by Peter Morgan and directed by Stuart Orme, the BAFTA Television Craft Award winner is based on author Henry Chancellor's book "Colditz (aka "Colditz: The Definitive History") and the UK Channel Four TV series "Escape from Colditz".

"...'Colditz' tells the story of a British Pow, during World War II, who successfully escapes to Britain only to steal the girlfriend of a fellow prisoner who was not able to escape with him.

"Once in Britain, he is rewarded with a position at 'MI9', which he uses to try to prevent his fellow Pow from returning and reclaiming his girlfriend..."

Cast includes Damian Lewis ("Band Of Brothers") as 'Cpl/Lt. Nicholas McGrade', Tom Hardy ("Inception") as '2nd Lt. Jack Rose', Sophia Myles as 'Lizzie Carter',...