by Timothy M. Gray
With thousands of film festivals in the world, how do you stay unique? For the Ojai Film Festival, it's the atmosphere.
About 75 miles north of` Los Angeles in the scenic Ojai Valley, this is probably the only fest where you can walk down the sidewalk and hear conversations about aspect ratios and "the work of Vilmos and Altman" while in the background the street traffic consists of horseback riders, SUVs and RUBs (rich urban bikers, on their chrome-glistening Harleys).
"This is what Telluride and Sundance must have been like when they started," sighed one fest vet.
The festival, which ran Oct. 4-7, featured narrative features, docus, shorts and animation in four venues around town, as well as "Regional Reels," a sidebar devoted to local films and filmmakers.
Highlight events included Vilmos Zsigmond (who received a lifetime achievent nod) and Julie Christie doing a Q&A after "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" Friday; that same night, Lili Taylor and helmer Andrew Wagner did the honors with their "Starting Out in the Evening," while Bill Paxton hosted the Into the Limelight event, short films from top film schools.
On Saturday, I hosted a Q&A with Julie Christie after a screening of "Away From Her." She's always been a favorite and conventional wisdom says don't meet your idols because you risk disappointment. (God knows, I could name names where that's proven to be true.) Happily, Julie Christie is everything you'd hope and more.
The enthusiastic audience was moved by the film (a particularly big turnout, considering the Lionsgate pic is already out on DVD). In conversation, Christie touched and amused the crowd as she praised writer-director Sarah Polley ("She's only 28! Give her a hand!") and covered such topics as the director-actor relationship, Alzheimer's, Iceland, stoned Hollywood filmmakers in the 1970s, expatriate directors she's worked with (Joseph Losey, Richard Lester, James Ivory) and a number of other subjects.
As one patron later said to me, "She had us eating out of the palm of her hand."
Talking about her activism, she made special mention of Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture. For more info, go here.
I'm not even going to try to be objective. It was the best Q&A I've ever done. At the end, I said that she was always spectacular, but "Away From Her" proves that she's more beautiful and a better actress than ever before. And as we all discovered Saturday, she's also a great human being.
Timothy M. Gray is the Editor of Variety.
Staten Island fest named Greg Chwerchak's drama "Greetings from the Shore," starring Paul Sorvino, as its best film. Anthony Tarsitano's "Calling it Quits" got best director and best actor honors for Dennis Boutsakaris. Frank Nasso's "Officer Down" won Best Local Staten Island Movie and Best Crime Drama Short. Full list of winners at www.sifilmfestival.org. Proud to be called "New York City's Other Film Festival," the city is eager to get something on their map other than the Fresh Kills Landfill, which can be viewed from space.
Michael Jones is the film festival editor at Variety.com. 
