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 awards. In 2021 MSNBC acquired “In the Dark of the Valley” which won our award for Best Documentary Feature. Recipient of our Festival Theme Award, “The Conductor,” airs on PBS’s “Great Performances” on March 25, 2022. “Los Angeles,” winner of an Honorable Mention for Best Narrative Feature, is now available on Amazon Prime.
“Our festival provides a valuable service to filmmakers,” Artistic Director Steve Grumette said. “We give them access to a highly appreciative audience, including film industry professionals who can help guide their careers.”
Films screened in the festival become eligible to win OFF trophies and awards. The Limelight Award for Best Student Film comes with a Panavision camera rental package worth $60,000 USD. Other honors include the Sergio Aragones Award for Best Animated Film, and the Bill Paxton Award given to a filmmaker from Ojai or Southern California.
The event provides audiences with a diverse lineup presenting many groundbreaking works otherwise inaccessible to the public, which embody the festival’s theme: “Enriching the Human Spirit through Film.” Past submissions of short and long narratives, short and long documentaries, and animations. represent over 46 countries. Now in its seventh year the Screenplay Competition brings in entries from all over the globe, with the 2021 winning script coming from Jit Fong Oon of Singapore.
In addition to film screening the festival also offers receptions, panels, and special events. 2021 panels included discussions on the growth of queer visibility in film and TV, and career gains by women filmmakers. Last year’s festival capped off with a special showing of “The Rider” and Q&A with Academy Award-winning writer/director, and Ojai resident, Chloé Zhao.
In 2020 and 2021 the Ojai Film Festival ventured into streaming film selections. The popularity of this options prompted the festival to extend the virtual portion this year from five days to 12.
