A brand new mini-festival throughout the umbrella of the twenty second Annual Ojai Film Festival displays the theme “Enriching the Human Spirit through Film.” This inaugural “Diversity and Inclusion for Social Impact and Vision” program explores the breadth of “diversity.” At the identical time it examines “intersectionality,” elements of an individual’s identification which will trigger battle but create a chance for understanding marginalized communities.
“Intersectionality” observes overlapping components, comparable to ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientations, that trigger discrimination. It additionally establishes methods to indicate sensitivity to shared social hardships. “Diversity” encompasses acceptance and understanding by recognizing our particular person variations. Together these promote studying about each other to maneuver past easy tolerance, and to embrace the wealthy dimensions of variety contained inside all people.
This mini-festival consists of 13 movies sprinkled all through the Festival, plus a dynamic two-part panel. The first panel focuses on Women in Filmmaking, highlighting profession beneficial properties. The second panel facilities on LGBTQ+ Representation, the place filmmakers focus on the expansion of queer visibility on Film & TV. Panelists introduced quickly.
Films competing within the 2021 Diversity class:
- Streets of Lagos by Dom West (Documentary Short) offers a uncommon perception into the lives of Nigeria’s first era of rollerbladers.
- At the Ready by Maisie Crow (Documentary Feature) follows three Mexican-American college students as they embark on a profession path to grow to be cops and Border Patrol brokers.
- Missing in Brooks County by Lisa Molomot & Jeff Bemiss (Documentary Feature) households seek for their lacking family members within the huge ranch lands of Brooks County, Texas, the location of extra migrant deaths than wherever else within the nation.
- Jasmine Road by Warren Sulatucky (Narrative Feature) a widowed conservative cowboy takes in a Syrian refugee household of Arabic ice cream makers.
- Storm Lake by Jery Risius & Beth Levison (Documentary Feature) Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Art Cullen and his household combat to unite and inform their rural Iowan farming group by means of their biweekly newspaper.
- The Recess by Navid Nikkhah Azad (Narrative Short) Sahar is set to attend an AFC Champions League soccer match despite the nationwide ban on girls to enter soccer stadiums in Iran.
- Voice Above Water by Dana Frankoff (Documentary Short) Wayan makes use of his fishing boat and web to tug trash from the water in hopes of with the ability to fish once more.Finding Justice: The Untold Story of Women’s Fight for the Vote by Amanda Owen (Documentary Short) a band of intrepid girls flip their one-ton bronze bell right into a celebrated icon of the ladies’s suffrage motion.
- FreeBird by Michael Joseph McDonald & Joe Bluhm (Animation) a coming-of-age story of a boy with Down Syndrome who learns to navigate the world
- Mommy or Daddy by John H. LaDue Jr. & Jennifer Ladue (Documentary Feature) a Filipino-Japanese mom finds she will not be alone on her journey to be reunited together with her son.
- SFUMATO by Amirali Mirderikvand (Documentary Short) in Iran the eldest little one a rural household helps them rather a lot in life, however continues to face difficulties and obstacles.
- All the World is Sleeping by Ryan Lacen (Narrative Feature) a mom sinks in her habit whereas struggling to floor for her daughter.
- The Forgotten Place by Oscar Rene Lozoya (Narrative Short) Eric needs to discover a buddy however doesn’t understand how.
Come to the Awards Brunch on Sunday, November seventh to see the presentation of the primary Social Impact and Vision Award, sponsored by Panavision.
