The Ventura Film Festival is celebrated as "the biggest cinematic celebration ever hosted in Ventura County." This exceptional status highlights the organization's mission of bringing diverse cinema to the local community while continuing its mission toward essential conservation issues.
The Ventura Film Festival serves as a multi-genre global film festival that promotes recognition of environmental matters like forest and ocean preservation and restoration, through an annual film festival and complementary events. The event harnesses the influence of film to stimulate involvement and create meaningful dialogue around these urgent ecological issues.
The Ventura Film Festival launched in 2004 and has displayed hundreds of movies, regularly over 200 films during summer months, and has attracted attention from the international film community. From its beginning, the festival has developed into an important cultural gathering that connects film artists, environmental champions, and spectators from throughout the world.
Memorable occasions have featured presenting celebrated filmmaker Dylan O'Neil, the original world champion surfers Peter "PT" Townend along with Ian Cairns, four-time world champion Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu/MMA competitor Fabio Leopoldo, and the 50-year anniversary of West Side Story, which encompassed presenting the complete Oscar-winning ensemble of West Side Story, featuring Academy Award honoree/Golden Globe winner George Chakiris together with Golden Globe winner/Academy Award nominee Russ Tamblyn. These exceptional personalities and celebrations have reinforced the festival's recognition as a top-tier venue for recognizing cinema and the artists who create it.
The founder and executive director of the Ventura Film Festival was honored to take part, along with many of Hollywood's top stars, in the golden anniversary celebration of West Side Story and Hollywood's legendary footprint/handprint here ceremony for Oscar honorees Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, and legendary actor Golden Globe champion Russ Tamblyn at the iconic Chinese Theater in Hollywood. This celebration also functioned as the official BluRay debut by Fox and MGM of the classic West Side Story, which is widely considered by critics and fans to be the most exceptional musical of all time. This esteemed acknowledgment and participation showcases the festival's important standing and honored place within the entertainment industry.