How to resolve AdBlock issue? Student filmmaker shares refugee experience
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“Variables” is a film by Bosnian native Sabina Vajraca.
Austin Widger, Ojai Valley News reporter
Coming to the Ojai Film Festival — which runs Oct. 31 to Nov. 10 in various locations throughout the city — is a story of a refugee fleeing the Bosnian War.
“Variables” is the name of the film, by Bosnian native Sabina Vajrača for her master of fine arts thesis at the USC School of Cinematic Arts.
Ojai Film Festival features 81 films
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Susan Kucera, director of “Living in The Future's Past,”
standing with Jeff Bridges, who produced and narrated the film. There will be a screening and Q&A with the director following the movie, on Nov. 10 at 4 p.m. as part of the festival’s FOCUS: EARTH Series.
Thursday, Oct. 31, 4 p.m.: Opening night pre-show: Carnivale!
6:30 p.m.: Free movie in Libbey Bowl: “Nightmare Before Christmas.”
Carnivale kicks off Ojai Film Festival with a free movie
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Belly dancer Isha Ferraz
Continuing its tradition of gifting Ojai with a free film on opening night in Ojai’s Libbey Bowl, the Ojai Film Festival’s opening-night kickoff of the 20th annual festival falls on Halloween. Tim Burton’s cult classic “The Nightmare Before Christmas” will start at 6:30 p.m.
Writers confab Nov. 2, 3
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Collage of speakers at 805 Writers Conference in Oxnard.
The eighth annual 805 Writers Conference moves to the Mandalay Beach Resort in Oxnard Shores for two days of conference sessions and workshops Nov. 2 and 3. A majority of the conference sessions focus on the business of writing, and the workshops offer a combination of the craft and business of writing instruction. The conference is sponsored by the Ojai-based nonprofit Small Publishers, Artists & Writers Network (SPAWN), and co-sponsored by regional writing organizations.
Ojai Holiday Home Tour set. Nov. 16-17
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1925 French Normandy style residence, Foothill Farm.
Kick off the holiday season at the 23rd annual Ojai Holiday Home Tour & Marketplace on Nov. 16 and 17 in the Ojai Valley.
Book club
Poppies Art and Gifts will hold its monthly book club meeting Nov. 12 from 6 to 8 p.m. The selection for November is “The Art Forger” by B.A. Shapiro. The novel is based on the 1990 theft of 13 paintings at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.
Sing-along at Greater Goods
“American Songbook Today” presents its second monthly Tuesdays at Twilight on Oct. 29, 7 to 9 p.m., at Greater Goods in Meiners Oaks, 145 W. El Roblar.
Sgt. Pepper to spice up Saturday
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Sgt. Pepper band members Dennis Neil Jones (bass and keyboards) of Ojai, Lynn Coulter (drums), Bill Horn (guitar), Tom Kolb (guitar).
Sgt. Pepper will perform at Discovery Ventura on Sunday, Oct. 26, from 5 to 8 p.m.
'80 Words' winners celebrate
Photo by Stephen Adams
The 17-and-under winners, from left: Sam Yarabek, English teacher at Besant High School; Maria M, Ellie A, Ben L, Jessica P, Bibiana, and Portia Johnson, head of Beasant School. (The school asked that the students’ last names not be included.)
A gathering of more than 100 people attended the “80 Words for 80 Years Short Story Contest” award ceremony Oct. 14 at the Ojai Art Center. The contest was held by the Art Center Literary Branch.
Honoring artist Norman Kirk, 95
There will be two receptions this weekend to honor artist Norman Kirk, 95.
The first will be Oct. 19 at the Ojai Art Center, and the second will be Sunday, Oct. 20. The receptions will be held at the Ojai Art Center from 1 to 3 p.m. on both days.
Music Festival names the new 2021 artistic director
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Ara Guzelimian
Ara Guzelimian, provost and dean of the Juilliard School in New York City, has been chosen as the next artistic director of the Ojai Music Festival for the 75th Festival in 2021, according to Ojai Music Festival Board Chairman Jerrold Eberhardt.