CCS Students Score Films for SBIFF’s 10-10-10 Program

Four Music Composition majors selected for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival's inaugural composer mentorship cohort

Four students from the College of Creative Studies (CCS) are scoring films for the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s (SBIFF) inaugural 10-10-10 Composer Mentorship Program, the newest addition to the festival’s long-running 10-10-10 student filmmaking initiative. CCS Music Composition majors Angus Malcomson ’27, Benjamin Maman ’28, Kai Cortez Jenkin ’26, and Luca Angelo Lamarca ’27, along with four students from the UC Santa Barbara Department of Music, make up eight of the ten fellows selected for this first-ever composer cohort.

Under the mentorship of program organizer Diego Ratto ‘24 (UCSB PhD Music Composition), the students were paired with filmmakers and given a strict 15-day deadline to complete, record, and mix original scores that will accompany short films premiering at the Arlington Theatre during SBIFF.

The Composer Mentorship Program expands SBIFF’s 10-10-10 program, which is traditionally centered on student screenwriters and directors, by integrating original music into the festival in order to give emerging composers practical experience under real-world constraints.

Completed films featuring the students’ original scores are scheduled to premiere on Feb. 14, 2026, the final day of the festival. 

Read the full story in The Santa Barbara Independent, January 12, 2026 and on the UC Santa Barbara Humanities and Fine Arts website, December 23, 2025.