The only independent arthouse movie theater between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara is celebrating its first anniversary since reopening with a film festival.
"Over the past year, we've screened over 500 films and held more than 100 free screenings," said David Berger, owner of the historic Ojai Playhouse Theater. "We're going to celebrate the one-year anniversary of us reopening after being closed for ten years."
The theater is hosting its inaugural Ojai Playhouse Film Festival from November 11 to 16.
"Because we are in awards season, and there are so many special films, people are really interested in movies," added Berger. "It's going to be 20 films over the next six days."
He said it’s a chance to see films that have done well at film festivals but haven’t yet made it to the theater circuit.
"It's a collection of really popular movies within these festivals which have been well received," said Berger.
The lineup includes Kristen Stewart's The Chronology of Water and Park Chan-wook's No Other Choice. Many of the films in the festival are considered to be early front-runners for Oscar nominations.
