Roger Durling ’86, executive director of the Santa Barbara International Film Festival (SBIFF) in Santa Barbara, California, will deliver the 2025 convocation address to bachelor’s and master’s degree candidates of Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (VPA) at the college’s convocation ceremony on Saturday, May 10, at 7:30 p.m. in the JMA Wireless Dome.
Born and raised in Panama, Durling is a graduate of VPA’s Department of Drama. He also holds an M.F.A. degree from Columbia University. He has served as executive director of SBIFF for the past 23 years and teaches film studies at Santa Barbara City College.
Durling is the author of “Cinema in Flux: A Year of Connecting Through Film” (2021) a compilation of film essays that he wrote during the COVID-19 pandemic, and his essay on Julian Schnabel’s “Basquiat” is included in the recent Criterion Collection Blu-Ray release of the film. He assisted with editing the Assouline coffee table book “Roma” by Alfonso Cuarón.
Durling is vice chair of the board of trustees of The Peddie School in Hightstown, New Jersey. He was named Citizen of the Year in 2004 by the city of Santa Barbara and a Local Hero in 2023.