A new film festival is on its way to Southern California, and it’s arriving sooner than one would think.
IndieWire can exclusively announce the inaugural Ojai Documentary Film Festival will take place October 26-30 at the historic Ojai Playhouse. The new festival promises to bring together an eclectic lineup of acclaimed documentaries and series, in-person filmmaker conversations, special screenings and experiences designed to connect audiences directly with the artists behind the work.
The Ojai Documentary Film Festival stems from a continued collaboration between Hotel El Roblar owners Eric Goode and Jeremy McBride, who also happen to be the filmmakers behind Emmy-nominated docuseries “Tiger King” and “Chimp Crazy,” as well as recent HBO documentary “Monsters of God,” and David Berger, who recently acquired and relaunched the historic Ojai Playhouse, which has since become a frequent awards season destination.
The new annual event will be dedicated specifically to documentary storytelling, celebrating nonfiction in all its forms, spanning vérité, hybrid, experimental and the wholly unclassifiable, from contemporary releases to influential works of the past.
“The best documentaries introduce you to a world you didn’t know existed, and usually the truth turns out to be stranger than anything you could make up,” Eric Goode said in a statement. “Those films often are collaborative to make, and the people behind them rarely get to sit in a room with their audience. Ojai has always attracted eccentrics, artists and independent thinkers, and with David’s Playhouse and Hotel El Roblar working together, we can bring those filmmakers here and let people meet them up close.”
“An independent theater is only as strong as its programming and the community that shows up for it,” said David Berger. “When we restored the Playhouse, we wanted it to be a mix of past, present and future. There’s nothing like sitting in a dark room with your neighbors, sharing the same story at the same moment. That collective experience is why we brought this theater back, and when Eric and Jeremy came to us with this festival idea, it felt like exactly what the Playhouse was built for.”
“David brought back the collective experience of going to the movies in Ojai, and we wanted to build on it,” added Jeremy McBride. “The idea is to take the best documentary work of the year and share it in a thoughtful, experiential way. We believe event-driven programming is the future of cinema, extending each film beyond the screen, with food and drink and live music. We think of Hotel El Roblar and the Playhouse as one, so the night carries from dinner to the bar to your seat in the theater.”
Over five days, the festival seeks to offer audiences the opportunity to discover extraordinary films, meet filmmakers, and engage with the people shaping the documentary landscape today.
The inaugural festival will feature a wide-ranging slate of documentaries and series, including:
• “Musk” — Alex Gibney (Bleecker Street)
• “Everest: The Other Side” — Chai Vasarhelyi & Jimmy Chin (National Geographic)
• “Once Upon a Time in Harlem” — William Greaves & David Greaves (Neon)
• “Jean-Michel Basquiat” — Quinn Whitney Wilson & Viridiana Liberman (Netflix)
• “You Can See Everything” — Nathan Fielder & Lance Oppenheim (A24)
• “The History of Concrete” — John Wilson
• “Nuisance Bear” — Jack Weisman & Gaby Osio Vanden (MUBI), winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize, with the filmmakers in person
• “The Bend in the River” — Robb Moss (Netflix), with Moss in conversation with Lauren Greenfield
• “Boatbuilders” — Luke Lorentzen, with the filmmakers in person
• The Best Summer” — Tamra Davis, with Davis in person
• “Soul Patrol” — JM Harper (Kino Lorber)
• “Barbara Forever” — Brydie O’Connor (Strand Releasing)
• “Remake” — Ross McElwee (Music Box)
• “The Story of Documentary Film,” Chapters 1–3 — Mark Cousins
The festival will also present a series of special revival screenings with the filmmakers, including “The Queen of Versailles” with Lauren Greenfield, followed by a signing of her new photography book, “The Queen of Versailles: An American Allegory”; “Punishment Park” with Joan Churchill; and “Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell,” introduced by Matt Wolf. Additional filmmakers and special guests will be announced.
“Arthur Russell didn’t follow the rules of genre or the conventional model of being an artist, and that’s the spirit of this wonderful festival. I can’t think of a better place to share his story with a new audience,” said Matt Wolf, director of “Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell,” as part of the festival announcement.
The Ojai Documentary Film Festival will also feature conversations exploring the creative, legal and financial realities of documentary filmmaking today. “See You in Court: Documentaries Under Fire,” moderated by Wade Gentz, Head of U.S. Litigation at Netflix, will bring together attorneys Michael C. Donaldson, Diana Palacios and Russell Smith to discuss defamation, fair use following Warhol, and recording without permission. “The New Financial Playbook,” moderated by Kim Masters, will feature Ted Hope in a conversation about how independent documentaries are financed, produced and sold today. Additional conversations and special guests will be announced.
The festival also plans to have a strong local and educational component, welcoming high school students from across the Ojai Valley to attend screenings and talks throughout the week. The initiative intends to give students the opportunity to experience documentary filmmaking firsthand and engage directly with working filmmakers and industry professionals.
Other collaborators on the festival include veteran documentary producer Emily Osborne and filmmaker and Show&Tell founder Keith Ochwat. Daytime and after-hours programming for festival guests will be announced in the coming weeks.
The full schedule and ticket information for the inaugural Ojai Documentary Film Festival is available on its website.
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