There are many aspects to making a film and typically the more “glamorous” ones are the roles that receive the most recognition such as the actors, the director, the writer, etc. While those are incredibly important, there are many others that deserve recognition. The Santa Barbara International Film Festival honored many of these filmmakers Saturday, February 7th at the Variety Artisans Awards.
Alexandre Desplat – Composer, Frankenstein
EJAE – Singer/Songwriter – “Golden,” Kpop Demon Hunters
Jack Fisk – Production Designer, Marty Supreme
Kate Hawley – Costume Designer, Frankenstein
Mike Hill – Make-up Designer, Frankenstein
Andy Jurgensen – Editor, One Battle After Another
Al Nelson – Sound Editor – F1
Adolpho Veloso – Cinematographer, Train Dreams
Eric Saindon – VFX Supervisor, Avatar: Fire and Ash
Chris Welcker – Sound Mixer, Sinners
The evening consisted of one-on-one interviews in a speed dating style, as described by moderator Jazz Tangcay, Variety’s senior artisans editor. Afterwards, all of the honorees came out on stage and participated in a group interview before being presented with their awards.
We spoke with a number of the honorees about what it means to be celebrated at the festival.
Alexandre Desplat – Composer, Frankenstein
EJAE – Singer/Songwriter – “Golden,” Kpop Demon Hunters
Al Nelson – Sound Editor – F1
Adolpho Veloso – Cinematographer, Train Dreams
Eric Saindon – VFX Supervisor, Avatar: Fire and Ash
Chris Welcker – Sound Mixer, Sinners
Check out more of our interviews from SBIFF 2026.
— Kari Lane