Paul Schrader to Receive Ojai Film Festival's Inaugural Storyteller Award
The writer-director will present THE BASICS OF PHILOSOPHY at the Ojai Art Center Theater, with Martin Scorsese as executive producer.
Paul Schrader, the writer-director whose career runs from Taxi Driver to First Reformed, will receive the 27th Annual Ojai Film Festival's inaugural Storyteller Award and present the West Coast premiere of his newest film, The Basics of Philosophy, on Saturday, Nov. 7. The film screens at 8 p.m. at the Ojai Art Center Theater, with Schrader in person.
The Basics of Philosophy had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in September, where it drew an ovation. Jack Huston stars as John Jorrisen, a philosophy professor at a Midwestern college writing a book on Spinoza, whose life is unsettled when his wealthy, estranged father dies. Sofia Boutella, Bill Pullman, Dana Delany, Karl Glusman and Shiloh Fernandez co-star, and Martin Scorsese is an executive producer.
The Storyteller Award, presented for the first time this year, recognizes the most distinct, provocative and enduring voices in the crafts of writing and directing. “As envisioned, these Storytellers have shaped cinema, defined the times, and challenged the status quo. There's no one more appropriate to receive this, our inaugural Storyteller Award, than Paul Schrader,” says festival Artistic Director Ted Melfi.
Schrader will accept the award earlier that day, at 1:30 p.m. at Chaparral Auditorium, following a screening of Taxi Driver, which marks its 50th anniversary this year, and will join a conversation with the audience. Directed by Martin Scorsese from Schrader's screenplay, the film won the Palme d'Or at Cannes and earned four Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture.
Schrader went on to write Raging Bull, The Last Temptation of Christ and Bringing Out the Dead for Scorsese, and to direct more than 20 films of his own, including American Gigolo, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, Affliction, First Reformed, which earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay, The Card Counter, Master Gardener and Oh, Canada. In 2022 the Venice Film Festival presented him with its Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement.
Tickets and passes are on sale now at ojaifilmfestival.com.
ABOUT OJAI FILM FESTIVAL
Now in its 27th year, Ojai Film Festival (www.ojaifilmfestival.com) is a six-day celebration of independent and international cinema held each November in Ojai, California, 60 minutes from Los Angeles and 30 minutes from Santa Barbara. Under the artistic direction of twice Oscar-nominated writer-director Ted Melfi (Hidden Figures), the festival has established itself as one of the most intimate and distinctive boutique festivals in the American West, a gathering place for filmmakers, artists and audiences who believe that the best cinema demands our full attention and rewards it. Ojai Film Festival is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization. Sven Shelgren serves as Festival Director.
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