Oprah Winfrey to Receive Montecito Award from SBIFF

It was just announced that Oprah Winfrey will receive the prestigious Montecito Award from the Santa Barbara Film Festival on February 5, 2014. Winfrey receives the award for her work in Lee Daniels’ The Butler and as a celebration of her overall career.   In The Butler, Winfrey plays the wife of Cecil Gaines, a White House butler who last through many US presidents, but more to the point, the presidents who stood watch during the pivotal Civil Rights era.  Winfrey brings much to the role – including her sexuality, long thought extinct. There it is, in vivid color for the world to see. It’s a beautiful thing.