The Ojai Film Festival thrives on the passion and creativity presented by independent filmmakers. These concerned citizens focus their lenses on problems, situations, hopes and dreams found within their world. Our festival relishes the opportunity to screen their hard work.

Environmental concerns are a world-wide phenomenon, and a major part of the Ojai Film Festival. We show films related to this theme from the viewpoints of various filmmakers throughout the festival. We invite you to seek out and watch this year’s collection:

Connected Off the Grid
Americans have built bigger, better, stronger, faster at a dangerous cost to the environment and society. This thought-provoking documentary follows three individuals who have found the perfect balance between tuning in and turning off through innovative housing choices. A timely reminder that the American dream is not always a cookie cutter house or the daily grind of a nine-to-five job.

In The Dark Of The Valley
In 1959, a partial meltdown at the Santa Susana Field Lab caused what many consider the worst nuclear disaster in US history. Sixty years later, families living near the abandoned lab develop a host of disturbing health problems. As they fight for their lives, parents become activists and uncover a troubling history of neglect and cover ups.

Reflection: A Walk With Water
In this compelling documentary, filmmaker Emmett Brennan travels the Los Angeles Aqueduct on foot to raise awareness of California’s water crisis and its dire consequences for the environment. During a journey of several hundred miles, Brennan and like-minded activists make a convincing case that society has lost touch with the delicate and crucial place that water occupies in our lives.

Voice Above Water
In a remote village off the coast of Indonesia, Wayan, a 90-year-old fisherman, no longer catches big fish because of ocean pollution. Undeterred, Wayan harvests plastic from the waters near his home and sells his hauls to a dealer in Java. A beautifully shot film that explores the global significance of one man’s attempt to turn trash into treasure.

Where There Once Was Water
Photographer Brittany App began documenting the effects of drought conditions on California’s land and water supply in 2013. Eight years later, App’s project has become a powerful documentary that invites us to recognize the integral role that water plays in our lives and a call to action to transform our relationship with this precious liquid one drop at a time.