# Ojai Film Festival Names 2026 Winners

- Topic: cinema
- Source: [Deadline](https://deadline.com/2026/11/ojai-film-festival-2026-winners-1237216937/)
- Published: 2026-11-08
- Original: https://deadline.com/2026/11/ojai-film-festival-2026-winners-1237216937/
- Language: en
- Image: https://deadline.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/Ojai-Film-Fest.jpg

## At a glance

- Grant Gee’s Everybody Digs Bill Evans wins Best Dramatic Feature
- Rob Burnett’s In Memoriam takes Best Comedic Feature
- Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone receive Distinguished Artist Awards
- Jeremy Seifert’s Papertown earns Best Documentary Feature

## Sources

- [Deadline](https://deadline.com/2026/11/ojai-film-festival-2026-winners-1237216937/)

## The story

The 27th Ojai Film Festival concluded with a full slate of award winners announced on Sunday. Grant Gee’s biographical drama Everybody Digs Bill Evans took home Best Dramatic Feature, while Rob Burnett’s comedy In Memoriam earned Best Comedic Feature. The film about jazz pianist Bill Evans, which previously won a Silver Bear at Berlin, tells the story of the 10 days following bassist Scott LaFaro’s death. Other honorees included Melissa McCarthy and Ben Falcone, who received Distinguished Artist Awards, and Bill Pullman and Paul Schrader, who were honored with the Luminary and Storyteller Awards respectively. The festival also presented the Best Original Screenplay award to Anchor Baby by Eduardo Moral Escudero, and the Social Impact and Vision Award to Ben’IMANA. Additional categories highlighted short and documentary films, with Jake Addison Melfi winning the Panavision Limelight Award for Best Student Film and Jeremy Seifert’s Papertown taking Best Documentary Feature. The event underscored Ojai’s mission to enrich the human spirit through cinema, celebrating a diverse range of storytelling achievements.

> Summary by Daily Read Bytes. [Read the original source](https://deadline.com/2026/11/ojai-film-festival-2026-winners-1237216937/)