Ojai Film Festival

My lovely hometown of Ojai, CA has just concluded its annual film festival. Sadly, I didn't get a chance to see any movies this year, but I did get a chance to admire the wonderful art done for the Festival's poster and catalogue, by Ojai's own Sergio Aragones (click the picture for a larger view; you can see Sergio, sporting his trademark handlebar mustache, in the middle of the page, slightly below and to the right of Peter Pan).


(My posting of this art, by the way, has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that I just sent an email to Mark Evanier -- regarding a minor factual error in a recent Saturday Night Live-related post of his -- and am hoping that my posting art by a close friend and collaborator of his will make him view my blog with a favorable eye. Nothing whatsoever.)

I have a small anecdote about my experience volunteering for the Ojai Film Festival a couple years ago. Wanna hear it? Too bad:

I was manning the information hotline at Ojai's Tourist Board. Which was hardly a hotline; for the little work I had to do, it was a tepidline at best, probably even a frigidline. I wasn't getting a lot of calls, is what I'm saying. But then I got a call from Rich Thorne. (No, you're not supposed to know who he is. I'm about to explain it.)

"Yeah, I'm Rich Thorne," he said, after I answered with "Ojai Film Festival Information, how may I help you?" "I'm one of the filmmakers. Where do I pick up my filmmaker's pass?" This was a pass that would let him into all the private parties, screenings, etc.

Well, by remarkable coincidence, I already knew Rich Thorne was one of the filmmakers. The evening before, I had seen Mother Ghost, which he had directed, and which was written by and starred Mark Thompson, of L.A. (and nationally syndicated) radio's Mark and Brian. It was a surprisingly touching short film, about the main character's coming to grips with his mother's death, and was packed with stars I can only assume were doing Mark a favor out of personal friendship, from (the always sexxy) Dana Delaney, to Charles Durning, to Garry Marshall, to Kevin Pollak and beyond. I was a little thrilled that I had the director on the phone.

"Oh, I saw your movie last night!" I said with sincere enthusiasm. "Mother Ghost. I thought it was really great. And the audience really loved it, too. Good, good stuff."

And without a pause, without a single iota of acknowledgement of the compliment, as though I hadn't even spoken, with undisguised impatience and dismissiveness, Thorne said, "Yeah, look, where do I get the pass?"

So I told him. And I silently filed away the new knowledge that, for certain Hollywood types, the "thank" in "thank you" is only four letters long, and begins with "f".