CWC Classics: Sunset Boulevard

Directed by Billy Wilder, Sunset Boulevard (1950) is a landmark Hollywood noir and an incisive portrait of the film industry. The film follows Joe Gillis (William Holden) , a struggling screenwriter who stumbles into the decaying mansion of Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson) , a forgotten silent-era icon clinging to the illusions of her past fame and determined to stage an impossible comeback. Caught between desperation and opportunity, Joe becomes increasingly entangled in Norma’s fever dream world of fading Hollywood grandeur. Wilder’s decision to cast actual silent-era luminaries collapses the distinction between real and fictional versions of the film industry. The film endures as an unflinching examination of the Hollywood cycle of ambition and obsolescence. To celebrate the film’s 75th anniversary, Paramount Pictures commissioned a team to restore Wilder’s masterpiece in 4K using a surviving 35mm duplicate negative and an exceptional new 5.1 audio mix. The Carsey-Wolf Center is proud to have presented this stunning new restoration to our UCSB and local filmgoing community. Charlotte Barker (Director of Film Restoration and Preservation at Paramount Pictures) joined moderator Kelsey Moore (Film and Media Studies, UCSB) for an insightful post-screening discussion of Sunset Boulevard. Charlotte Barker is the Director of Film Restoration and Preservation at Paramount Pictures, where she has worked since 2005 and has led the studio’s restoration program since 2019. She oversees a team dedicated to safeguarding and revitalizing Paramount’s motion picture legacy, with major projects including White Christmas, To Catch a Thief, and Dragonslayer. Under her leadership, Paramount’s restoration of The Godfather earned the inaugural Hollywood Professional Association Award for Best Restoration in 2023, and in 2025, Sunset Boulevard received the first DEG EnTech Award for Technology Innovation in Film Restoration. She continues to champion innovative approaches to film restoration, ensuring Paramount’s archive is preserved with exceptional technical fidelity. Charlotte is one of the leading historians on the VistaVision widescreen process, having spent more than a decade researching its history, verifying technical details, and uncovering long-lost documentation. She is currently writing the definitive book on the subject and frequently presents her work at major film festivals and industry conferences, including the TCM Classic Film Festival, Il Cinema Ritrovato, SMPTE, and the ASC. Kelsey Moore is a PhD candidate in Film and Media Studies and a graduate student researcher with the Carsey-Wolf Center at UC Santa Barbara. She holds a BA in Media and Cultural Studies from UC Riverside and an MA in Cinema and Media Studies from USC. Prior to studying at UC Santa Barbara, Kelsey worked as an assistant digital media archivist for the Sherman Grinberg Film Library and for Women and Hollywood, a mainstream website that advocates for gender diversity and inclusion throughout the global film industry. Her research examines the relationship between visual archives and digital practices of appraisal and preservation, and how these practices influence cultural and intergenerational memories of the WWII Japanese American incarceration. This event is sponsored by the Carsey-Wolf Center and the James Hayman (’75) fund for CWC Classics. The CWC Classics program celebrates cinema’s rich history, bringing classic films back to the big screen for critical viewing and discussion. These events feature filmmakers, academics, and professionals who can contextualize the production and historical impact of the films. The series occasionally presents classic films in their original 16 or 35 mm formats. CWC Classics events celebrate the history and significance of cinema’s enduring legacy.