Ojai Film Society - July 2008 Schedule
Music, Music, Music

OFS rocks in its July Fundraising Series with stellar performance films featuring the Rolling Stones, Leonard Cohen songs, an Afro-Cuban Doo Wop group and some incredible senior rock stars. They’ll set your feet tapping, your hands clapping and your spirits soaring. It’s Music, Music, Music every Sunday afternoon in July at the Ojai Theater. Forget the heat. This will be oh, so cool..

All films screen at 4:30 pm. Tickets for each film in this special fundraising series are:
$10 for adults
$ 5 for seniors, students and Ojai Film Society sponsors

Shine A Light
July 6, 2008

The music of the Rolling Stones has lit up the soundtrack to so many Martin Scorsese films that it’s little surprise to find the director teaming up with the legendary rockers for this concert recording which was staged over two nights at New York City’s Beacon Theatre in 2006. The bulk of the movie is dedicated to the multi-camera shoot at the Beacon, which captures the Stones playing some of their biggest hits and a few lesser-known numbers.

Special guests are ushered on at various points in the show, and the concert footage is broken up by some amusing vintage footage of the band. By using so many cameras, Scorsese captures a side of the Stones that is rarely seen. Shine a Light provides a welcome glimpse into the Stones’ world at this advanced stage in their career, and continues Scorsese’s obsession with documenting some of the most influential characters in rock & roll.

Los Zafiros: Music from the Edge of Time
July 13, 2008

Producer/Director Lorenzo DeStefano will be present for Q/A after film.

To those whose lives they briefly touched, Los Zafiros (The Sapphires) are legends – a musical phenomenon molded by their time and place.

The Sapphires caused a sensation in Havana and beyond throughout the ‘60s and early ‘70s. Though they enjoyed international acclaim, they remained in relative obscurity in the United States as a result of the political climate of the Cold War. Their brilliant mix of American inspirited Doo-Wop touched by Afro-Cuban rhythms, Salsa, Son and other traditional Latin forms can best be described as World Music before there was World Music.

Young at Heart
July 20, 2008

As early as autumn 2006, surreal and hilarious Internet video clips of Stephen Walker’s documentary were providing tantalizing glimpses of the Young@Heart vocal choir, composed of elderly men and women, having a go at chestnuts by Sonic Youth, the Clash, and the Ramones.

Long-buried or completely latent musical talent in the elderly folk blossoms while the group learns new and unfamiliar songs. The irascible 50-something director Bob Cilman keeps their neurons firing and their emotions kindled. Communing with and trusting each other staves off the isolating effects of old age even as they cope with heartbreaking losses within their ranks. It is undeniably funny to watch them struggle with the more challenging punk, classic rock and soul songs as their leader kvetches wearily. Walker skillfully ensures that by the end of the film we are laughing with the intrepid Young@Hearters and not at them.

Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man
July27, 2008

Singers Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen will be present for a Q/A after film

This intimate look at the songs, poetry and life of one of music’s most introspective and influential troubadours uses generous footage from the 2005 Leonard Cohen tribute concert, Came So Far For Beauty, in Sydney, Australia.

It features stunning performances by Perla Batalla, Julie Christensen, Rufus Wainwright, Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, Anthony, Martha Wainwright and Beth Orton. U2 backs Cohen on a haunting rendition of Tower of Song as the movie closes.

Director Lian Lunsen intersperses concert footage with candid interviews of Cohen and celebrity testimonials, revealing Cohen’s unique personality, trademark humor and soulful intensity. This film is a beautiful record of captivating music and a portrait of a truly singular artist, poet, songwriter, and cultural icon - perhaps one of the most enduring artists to emerge from the 1960s.