Stars Tee It Up For Breast Cancer Research

Celebrity Golf Classic added to event lineup for 9th annual Ojai Film Festival, Nov. 6-9

By Sondra Murphy
This year’s Ojai Film Festival has a philanthropic spin to it. Festival organizers, together with the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa, will host a Celebrity Golf Classic Nov. 6. Honorary Chairman Malcolm McDowell, as well as stars from the film and music world, will participate in this kickoff event for the 2008 Film Festival set for Nov. 6 through 9.
Confirmed participating celebrities for the golf event include Bruce McGill (“W” as Bill Tenet, “Animal House”), Mickey Dolenz (of the Monkees), Ray Manzarek and Robby Kreiger (former Doors), Joanna Pakula (“Space Cowboys”), Dennis Franz (“NYPD Blue”), Bobby Herbeck and Robert Hayes (“Airplane!”).
Proceeds will benefit the Breast Cancer Resource Center at Community Memorial Hospital and the Ojai Film Festival (a 501 3C tax deduction).
The $275 entry fees include a day of golf, coffee, lunch, prizes, awards, cocktail reception and “Movie Under the Stars.” The shamble format begins at 9:45 a.m. with a call to cars and shotgun starts at 10 a.m.
Steve Thomas BMW has donated a car for any talented golfer who shoots a hole in one during the benefit.
The ninth annual Ojai Film Festival spools out its programs Nov. 6 through 9 at the Ojai Valley Inn & Spa. This year’s Lifetime Achievement Honorees are American sci-fi author Ray Bradbury, who gets feted on Nov. 8, while the highly acclaimed directing-producing team of Lauren Shuler Donner and Richard Donner will be honored on Nov. 7.
The Donners have asked to screen “Ladyhawke” and Bradbury asked to screen “The Wonderful Ice Cream Suit,” the latter of which was never released theatrically.
Ojai’s 2008 program consisting of invited films, as well as films submitted to the festival, will give moviegoers a choice of nearly 50 films to see in addition to the special events, seminars and Golf Classic. Ojai Film Fest’s tagline is “Enriching the Human Spirit through Film,” and it’s getting noticed by the Hollywood elite — in fact, producer Peter Guber, who ran Columbia Pictures in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, announced on the stage last year at the Toronto Film Festival, “The Ojai Film Festival is becoming the next Telluride.” Telluride is considered by many to be one of the best fests in the United States.
VIP Packages are on sale now at ojaifilmfestival.com.
Golf Classic sponsorships are available. For more information, call 640-1947 or visit ojaifilmfestival.com.