Virtuosos Award is presented to eight actors at Santa Barbara International Film Festival
The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) honored eight actors for the Virtuosos Award on Sunday, Feb. 9 at the Arlington Theatre.
These actors were awarded based on their performance in their recent films. The awardees included Ariana Grande, Clarence Maclin, Fernanda Torres, John Magaro, Mikey Madison, Monica Barbaro, Sebastian Stan and Selena Gomez.
Actress Ariana Grande takes the stage to receive the Virtuosos Award on Feb. 9 at the Arlington Theater in Santa Barbara, Calif. The Virtuosos Award is a partner nominated award given to an actor whose performance on a specific project has exceeded expectations and has demonstrated great results.
Gomez gained the award from “Emilia Pérez”.
She explained she has no regrets for this movie and was grateful. This film was special to Gomez because she was able to show people she’s capable of more than just singing.
Gomez says she hopes this is just the beginning.
“Being able to express this character that was trapped in a situation that is unimaginable was really fun,” Gomez said.
She shared that she’ll be focusing on this film for a while and possibly also on acting.
Maclin received this award due to his performance from “Sing Sing”.
He was a part of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at Sing Sing Correctional Facility in New York which the film is based on.
Maclin shared he had never acted in front of a camera prior to the film and it was an experience going back to a prison for the film.
Magaro obtained the award from his role in “September 5”.
The movie goes back to the 1972 Olympics and Magaro said it was fascinating to be able to revisit those moments. He says it’s a little film, but he enjoys doing little films and being an underdog.
He explained the cast and crew were extremely committed. Magaro added the commitment led to the authenticity of the people who were played in the movie.
Madison acquired one of the Virtuoso from the film “Anora”.
This was her first role she was given without auditioning.
Madison was excited to be a part of the creative process for this film and said once given a full script she was able to build her character on that.
She worked with director Sean Baker closely on this film and said it was special.
“I had been really looking for my entire career and hoping that one day I’d be able to have that kind of relationship,” Madison said.
Grande accepted the award for her most recent film “Wicked”. She told the audience she always wanted to play Glinda.
Grande shared all the personalities Glinda faces, some being comedic, full of light, but needing external validation as well.
“It’s such a gift to be able to play a character that has so much nuance,” Grande said. “That’s my favorite thing about her is you get to feel pain, you get to feel humanness, but also her magic.”
Barbaro was awarded for “A Complete Unknown”.
She played singer Joan Baez and said she understood she had big shoes to fill.
The crowd was shocked to hear Barbaro wasn’t a singer prior to this film.
She explained she didn’t meet her costar Timothée Chalamet until a week before filming.
Barbaro shared they tried to keep their relationship close to Baez and Bob Dylan’s real life friendship.
Stan received the award for “The Apprentice” where he played younger President Donald Trump.
He said he had to watch many interviews of how Trump acted with his hands, mouth and posture.
Stan hopes people watch the film and try to understand why Trump may act the way he does now. He says this is not a situation where we can be indifferent.
“We’re living in a world where we’ve got billionaires telling us how to think and how to feel,” Stan said. “Everyone’s screaming at eachother for thinking differently, it’s just about forming your own opinion.”
