Santa Barbara International Film Festival
Claudia Puig is currently serving as the Program Director at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and the President of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. Claudia has extensive experience in curating and programming films, as well as analyzing and reviewing films for various platforms. Puig has also worked in roles such as Senior Programmer at the American Film Institute, Film Week Critic at KPCC, Adjunct Professor at Columbia College Chicago, and Consultant at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. With a background in journalism, Puig has written reviews for USA Today and the Los Angeles Times, and covered a wide range of topics in the entertainment industry.
Santa Barbara International Film Festival
SBIFF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit arts and education organization dedicated to making a positive impact utilizing the power of film. SBIFF is a year-round organization that is best known for its main film festival that takes place each year in February. Over the past 30 years the Santa Barbara International Film Festival has become one of the leading film festivals in the United States – attracting 90,000 attendees and offering 11days of 200+ films, tributes and symposiums. We bring the best of independent and international cinema to Santa Barbara, and we continue to expand our year-round operation to include a wide range of educational programming, fulfilling our mission to engage, enrich and inspire our community through film. In June 2016, SBIFF entered a new era with the acquisition of the historic and beloved Riviera Theatre. The theatre is SBIFF’s new home and is the catalyst for our program expansion. This marks the first time that Santa Barbara has had a 24/7 community center focused on the art of film and is an incredible opportunity to expand our mission of educational outreach. Particularly important to SBIFF is making available high quality learning opportunities for underserved and vulnerable populations. Our programs and reach are more robust than ever before.