The stars come out at the 2007 Ojai Film Festival
By Matthew Singer 10/04/2007
Images of Earth from space, of the United States through the camera of two legendary European cinematographers, of the genocide in Darfur through the eyes of an American Marine and of our very own backyard, among many, many others, are at the heart of this year’s installment of the Ojai Film Festival.
With its self-professed message of “enriching the human spirit through film,” the festival kicks off Oct. 4 with an opening-night screening of In the Shadow of the Moon. Produced by Apollo 13 director Ron Howard, the film gathers together all the surviving members of NASA’s moon missions and allows them to tell their stories, over riveting archival footage. On the feature front, the festival closes with Numb, a dark comedy about a screenwriter fighting chronic depression. Stars Matthew Perry and Mary Steenburgen, as well as director Harris Goldberg, will participate in a question and answer session following the screening.
Along with Perry, other big names scheduled to attend include legendary actress Julie Christie, who will be appearing not only at the showing of last year’s critical hit Away From Her, but also at a special screening of Robert Altman’s 1971 classic McCabe & Mrs. Miller, in which she co-starred with Warren Beatty. The film is being shown to also pay tribute to its cinematographer, Vilmos Zsigmond, who will be given a Lifetime Achievement Award during the weekend. Zsigmond, along with the late Laszlo Kovacs, defined the groundbreaking look of ’70s cinema; both of their careers are highlighted in the documentary Laszlo & Vilmos, which will be given a special “work in progress” screening at the festival.
Despite the presence of established stars, however, local filmmaking talent is always given a chance to shine at the festival, and this year is no exception. The “Regional Reels” portion of the event includes: The Price of Paradise, an investigation of Santa Barbara’s housing crisis by Ojai resident (and Reporter contributor) Lisa Snider; Sitting Bull: A Stone in My Heart, a feature-length documentary by John Ferry of the famous Lakota chief; and Al Kusuhara’s Why Ojai, which examines the host city’s almost magical aura. Festival attendees, however, will already know the answer to that question.
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