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The Santa Barbara International Film Festival (Sbiff) announced its winning films at a ceremony this morning in Santa Barbara.

“This 38th edition of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival drew filmmakers from as far as Turkey, India, Israel, and Sierra Leone, half of whom were women,” said Sbiff’s Programming Director, Claudia Puig. “We were delighted with the enthusiastic reception to our diverse program of 200 films from 43 countries. Cinema is one of the most powerful vehicles for empathy, providing a window of understanding to all who seek to look through it. We thank the filmmakers in attendance and our avid Santa Barbara audience for so heartily embracing the festival experience. Several films prompted standing ovations and packed theaters, marking 2023 a full-throttled return to celebrating cinema from around the globe.”

The 38th Santa Barbara International Film Festival took place February 8 – February 18. Official events included screenings, filmmaker Q&As, industry panels, and celebrity tributes,...

Though it’s been more than 28 years since it was released, the 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan continues to be a household name in the world of romantic comedies. The film, which went on to gross $17 million its opening weekend, was originated from Jeff Arch and marked his first produced screenplay after spending years as a struggling writer until deriving the idea for the rom-com.

Following the success at the box office, Sleepless in Seattle went on to receive two Oscar nominations for best original screenplay and original music. For his work on the film, Arch ...

Though it’s been more than 28 years since it was released, the 1993 film Sleepless in Seattle starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan continues to be a household name in the world of romantic comedies. The film, which went on to gross $17 million its opening weekend, was originated from Jeff Arch and marked his first produced screenplay after spending years as a struggling writer until deriving the idea for the rom-com.

Following the success at the box office, Sleepless in Seattle went on to receive two Oscar nominations for best original screenplay and original music. For his work on the film, Arch ...

Twenty-five years ago, moviegoers fell in love with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan as two strangers searching for a soulmate in “Sleepless in Seattle.” As the romantic-comedy by director Nora Ephron marks its silver anniversary, Fathom Events and Sony Pictures Entertainment are bringing the enchanting film back to cinemas nationwide for two days only.

Tickets to “Sleepless in Seattle” are now available at www.FathomEvents.comor at participating theater box offices.

The Fathom Spotlight Series will present the 1993 box-office smash – along with a brand-new introduction by Meg Ryan and producer Gary Foster – in nearly 400 movie theaters nationwide for two days only: Sunday, December 2, at 1:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m., and Wednesday, December 5, at 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. (all local times).

On its release, Roger Ebert praised “Sleepless in Seattle” as a film “so warm and gentle I smiled the whole way through,” and audiences couldn...

The Nora Ephron-directed romantic comedy Sleepless in Seattle turns 25 today. For Gary Foster, who first read the cross-country romantic comedy as a Jeff Arch spec script and fought for three years to keep its vision intact in the usual creative collisions of star-driven studio films, here provides an illuminating look at how a good spec evolved into a terrific movie.

On a hot Saturday afternoon in 1990, I sat down on a small couch in our baby daughter Kayla’s room to read a script entitled Sleepless in Seattle. Dave Warden, an agent representing a new writer named Jeff Arch, had submitted it to my company. I give most submissions 25 pages, and if I’m not in by that point, I put it down and pick up the next. That afternoon, I never noticed the 25-page mark. I zoomed right past it, drawn into this story about a widower, who...

The Empire State Building finale of “Sleepless in Seattle,” the hit romantic comedy starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks celebrating its 25th anniversary on June 25, has become an indelible scene in pop culture.

It almost didn’t happen — but fortunately, Nora Ephron knew people.

Annie (Ryan), a writer from Baltimore, finally meets Seattle widower (Tom Hanks) and his young son Jonah (Ross Malinger) at the observation deck on the famed landmark on Valentine’s Day.

But producer Gary Foster recalled they weren’t granted permission to shoot there.

So, Foster told Ephron, who co-wrote and directed the film. “And Nora said, ‘I know somebody.’ It was a famous publicist who represented Leona Helmsley, who was in prison at the time. The man said I’m going to see her in a few days and I’ll bring her up.”

The publicist asked the Queen of Mean, who owned the building,...

'Sleepless in Seattle': Meg Ryan 'Sleepless in Seattle' review: Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in an affair to forget In Krzysztof Kieslowski's Three Colors: Red, the last installment of his "Three Colors" trilogy, the word "magic" is never bandied about. No need to. Magic is just about everywhere in that lyrical tale about love and fate. On the other hand, the word "magic" seems to crop up every other minute in writer-director Nora Ephron's Sleepless in Seattle. Ephron and fellow Oscar-nominated screenwriters Jeff Arch and David S. Ward (plus an uncredited Delia Ephron) were apparently trying to create screen magic through the power of suggestion. If you repeat it often enough... Following in the footsteps of Claude Lelouch's 1974 hit And Now My Love, with added touches borrowed from Leo McCarey's 1957 romance classic An Affair to Remember (itself a remake of McCarey's own 1939 Love Affair), Nora Ephron...

Exclusive: While the Broadway musical transfer of the film Ghost is closing, another Hollywood three-hankie weeper is back up and running. I’m told that the musical Sleepless in Seattle, based on the 1993 Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan film, now has a creative team and will open at the Pasadena Playhouse June, 2013. Lonny Price was set last month as director. Now, Ben Toth has been hired to compose the music and Sam Forman to be the lyricist. David Shor is producer and Eric Stern is the musical director. The musical was expected to open on June 12 in Pasadena, but those plans were scrapped so that the show could undergo a radical overhaul. The late Nora Ephron wrote and directed the 1993 hit. Jeff Arch, a cowriter of the original film, is the book writer. The plan is to eventually follow and bring the musical to Broadway.

Sleepless In Seattle (1993) Direction: Nora Ephron Screenplay: Nora Ephron, David S. Ward, Jeff Arch, and Delia Ephron (uncredited); from an original story by Jeff Arch Cast: Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Bill Pullman, Ross Malinger, Rosie O'Donnell, Gaby Hoffman, Victor Garber, Rita Wilson, David Hyde Pierce, Rob Reiner Oscar Movies Meg Ryan, Ross Malinger, Tom Hanks, Sleepless in Seattle In Krzysztof Kieslowski's Red, the last installment of his "Three Colors" trilogy, the word "magic" is never bandied about. No need to. Magic is just about everywhere in that lyrical tale about love and fate. In Nora Ephron's Sleepless in Seattle, which received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, the word "magic" seems to crop up every other minute. Ephron and fellow screenwriters Jeff Arch, David S. Ward, and (an uncredited) Delia Ephron were apparently trying to create screen magic through self-hypnosis. If you say it often enough…...

Sleepless In Seattle is being adapted into a Broadway musical, reports Variety. Jeff Arch, who penned the 1993 rom-com starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan, has reportedly begun work on a draft script. The production is expected to retain the storyline from the original movie, which focuses on a young boy trying to find a date for his widowed father. Composer Leslie Bricusse, who has written songs for films including Doctor Dolittle and Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory, (more)...

It’s news that probably won’t even register on Tom Hanks’s radar, but after poor reviews for last year’s The Women and little much else to write home about recently maybe Meg Ryan’s agent might be a little more psyched. What are we talking about? The news that the pair’s 1993 romance, Sleepless in Seattle is treading the increasingly well-worn path from screen to stage, with a musical version in the pipeline imaginatively entitled Sleepless in Seattle: The Musical. I just don’t know they come up with it!

Jeff Arch, who wrote the story and co-wrote the screenplay to the original film is onboard, busily working on the script (or book as it’s known in stage circles) with composer/ lyricist Leslie Bricusse charged with adding the necessary songs. My Big Fat Greek Wedding helmer Joel Zwick is set to direct and the production will...

The endless rush of films being adapted into musicals continues unabated, with Sleepless In Seattle following the likes of Spider-Man and Shrek to the stage. Yes, the sudsy, soppy tale of love between Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan will be getting the full-on warbling treatment. Jeff Arch, who wrote the film’s story and co-wrote the screenplay with director Nora Ephron and fellow scribe David Ward, is writing the script (known in the trade as the book). And while the producers have only just gotten the rights to the movie, they’ve... .

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It seems that Broadway has been turning Hollywood hits into big musical productions every day!

Just this week alone, we heard of "Spider-Man" the musical, and now, get ready for show-stopping numbers from "Sleepless in Seattle!"

The Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan 1993 romantic flick is getting a song-and-dance makeover!

According to Daily Variety, the film's screenwriter, Jeff Arch, is working with composer and lyricist Leslie Bricusse ("Doctor Doolittle," "Victor/Victoria").

The theater adaptation is targeting 2010 for its release, and it will be directed by Joel Zwick ("My Big Fat Greek Wedding").

I know, I know, I complain about these things, but I'll be first in line when it opens :happy...

Producer David Shor has announced he is developing Sleepless in Seattle-The Musical through his entity Sleepless in Seattle Management, LLC. Shor acquired the rights to produce a play based on the hit TriStar motion picture and has brought in his longtime partner Jeff Arch, who penned the film's original story and co-wrote the screenplay, sharing 1994 Oscar, BAFTA and WGA nominations with Nora Ephron and David Ward. Arch will write the book for the show.

Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan's 1993 romantic comedy Sleepless In Seattle is heading to Broadway - as a musical.

Screenwriter Jeff Arch, who penned the hit movie, is working with composer and lyricist Leslie Bricusse to turn the film into a song-and-dance production for the New York stage.

The theatre adaptation, aimed for release in 2010, will be directed by My Big Fat Greek Wedding filmmaker Joel Zwick and produced by David Shor, according to industry paper Daily Variety.

The 2005 Santa Barbara International Film Festival will open with a special preview of Woody Allen's Melinda and Melinda, while the world premiere of The Moguls will close. The centerpiece presentation will be the world premiere of Dave Barry's Complete Guide to Guys, directed by Santa Barbara resident Jeff Arch. The 10-day festival, which will celebrate its 20th anniversary and runs Jan. 28-Feb. 6, will include 98 world premieres and 119 U.S. premieres. As previously announced, the fest will pay tribute to Kevin Bacon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. New additions to the list are Annette Bening and David Attenborough.