For the first time the Ojai Film Festival chose an animated film to receive the Bill Paxton Award. This distinction spotlights one film in the Gold Coast series, which closes out the in-person Festival on Monday, November 6. All the films in the series come from filmmakers in Southern California, including Bill Paxton Award honoree “Driftwood” by Christopher Hills Eaton of Ojai. Eaton’s mother, Merilee Eaton, a local mosaic artist, enc...

Both the Ojai Film Festival and their Screenplay Competitions opened to submissions February 1, a full month early. The call for entries window also closes sooner, on June 1, 2023. The extra thirty days will allow organizers to plan and promote an extraordinary event. “Submissions opened one month earlier than previous years to give us more time to thoroughly screen the more than 450 submissions we receive from around the world." Festival President Jon Lambert said. "We look...

Ojai Film Festival, ranked one of the top 100 Best Reviewed Festivals on FilmFreeway, continues to grow in prestige. The festival, which begins November 3, 2022, showcases the finest new films by emerging and established filmmakers from around the world. Both the film and screenplay competitions opened to submissions March 1. In the previous 22 years 15 alumni received Academy Award nominations, two won an Oscar, and numerous others went on to gain distribution and win prestigious awa...

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