FREE Opening Night Film + Music

Libbey Bowl FREE Film Isle of Hope
Thursday November 2 at 6:30 PM
Music Begins at 5:30 PM

To thank the Ojai community for their support the Ojai Film Festival traditionally offers a free film on opening night in Libbey Bowl. This year the film stars our 2023 Distinguished Artist Award recipient, Ojai resident Diane Ladd. The amazingly versatile Ladd received immense praise for her dramatic efforts throughout the course of her electric seventy-year career. Her timeless offbeat charm reminiscent of a Hollywood Golden Era actress gleams in the most understated roles and continues to make her a sought-after performer. After the screening of Isle of Hope  (2022) at 6:30 pm, Ladd will receive her award and participate in a Q&A. 

Come early to hear Spencer the Gardener perform at 5:30 pm. The group, fronted by Spencer Barnitz bookends the first festival weekend with the documentary More Than Just A Party Band about Barnitz’s colorful life on Monday, November 6 at 7 pm in the Art Center theater.

Isle of Hope follows Victoria (Mary Stuart Masterson), a university professor who bears a grudge with her self-absorbed mother, the well-known actress, Carmen Crawford (Diane Ladd), for crushing her dreams of becoming a playwright. But when Carmen suffers a life threatening stroke and wakes up thinking she is living 15 years in the past, Victoria gets a unique opportunity to figure out where her life went off track and reconcile her relationship with her mother.