Ojai Film Festival States Its Case

Last year, Ojai became the latest West Coast burg to host a film festival. One’s first response, considering the town’s humble size, might have been skepticism. But then there’s the flip side: “What took so long?”

Ojai has long had a friendly--if comfortably detached--relationship with the medium, whether with Hollywood figures taking up residence there or through its active Film Society, which sponsors the festival. This weekend, the second annual Ojai Film Festival takes place at various locales around the Ojai Valley, bringing to the area 80 screenings (many of them short subjects), seminars, tributes, showcases and a competition, through Monday.

A few weeks ago, the festival hosted a special preview event at the Ojai Playhouse, screening respected Iranian director Abbas Kiarostami’s documentary “ABC Africa” (screening at the festival Friday afternoon). In this powerful yet subtle and experiential study of the AIDS crisis in Uganda, and specifically the children left orphaned by the epidemic, Kiarostami does manage to touch on the important facts, figures and faces of a tragic situation. Ultimately, though, what gives the film its memorable quality is its focus on the texture of life, a celebration of the vibrant humanity at stake.

Kiarostami’s film ties in with the festival’s stated goal of championing movies with a social conscience. Among the subthemes this year are “A Mexican Showcase,” “Emerging Women Directors” and “Childhood Endangered: A Global Plight.”

There are Hollywood angles, as well, including a session with screenwriter Frank Pierson analyzing his script for “Dog Day Afternoon” and the screening of two films featuring Ojai resident and festival supporter Malcolm McDowell. He’ll be on hand for a Q&A; after the screening of his new film, “Gangster No. 1,” Friday night at the Ojai Playhouse.* Ojai Film Festival, today through Monday at various locations in Ojai. For more information, call 640-1947 or visit https://www.filmmfestival.ojai.net.

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Opera Report:: Talk of the power and importance of community is in the air in this tense time. With a remarkable stroke of serendipity, community was at the heart of Ventura Opera Workshop’s engaging production of the unique Benjamin Britten piece “Noye’s Fludde (Noah’s Flood).”

Written in 1957 for a combination of professional and amateur forces, the hourlong piece was an ideal project for the workshop and a complement of local parties, including tenor Michael Sokol as a solid Noah, dancers choreographed by Channel Islands Ballet’s Yves de Bouteiller and children dressed as animals.

Music director Charles McDermott led an orchestra of musicians, professional and otherwise. Before a performance at the First Baptist Church in Ventura two weekends back, he noted that “the synergy of orchestra, performers and audience makes it so powerful.” The audience’s role was to stand and deliver hymns, including a wonderfully anarchic scene during the flood, the simple lines tangling up in polytonality.

In this resourceful production, there was no set, per se, but the space was used to elaborate effect. The final daybreak after the rain involved a grand rainbow of long, colored banners held aloft from the balcony to the stage. In the story, earthly life gets its upgrade, and it seemed that everyone in the house got a warm, reassuring feeling from the communal expression, just when we need it most.

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Painting the Old World: There are several shows to take in at the Carnegie Art Museum at the moment, including a juicy showing of El Dia de Los Muertos -oriented work by local artists. Another show called “The Lay of the Land” mines landscape art from the museum’s current and future permanent collection, including fine examples by Millard Sheets and Peter Krasnow. Upstairs, work by Frank Romero highlights a smattering of Latino art.

The main attraction is a single artwork, John Valadez’s “Europa,” an epic gesture of homage and appreciation after the artist’s first sojourn to Europe. The looming pastel-on-paper work was done in 1988, when the artist had just returned from a trip to the old country. It’s a bold yet light and vibrant piece, depicting vaulted cathedral arches, cherubs and mythic figures, meshed into a happily chaotic composition. Splashes of color, suggesting confetti or fireworks, are laid on top, indicating the state of mental carbonation of the artist abroad.* “Europa: John Valadez,” “Lay of the Land” and “Laughing With Death,” Carnegie Art Museum, 424 S. C St., Oxnard. Ends Nov. 25. Gallery hours: Thursdays-Saturdays, 10 a.m.-z5 p.m. (805) 385-8157.