Historic Ojai Playhouse Partners with NEON for Golden Globes Weekend Screenings

December 29, 2025 -- The historic Ojai Playhouse has partnered with acclaimed independent studio NEON to present special screenings celebrating awards-season cinema, running January 9-11, 2026, during Golden Globes Weekend. The three-day program will showcase a curated lineup of NEON films in the newly reopened and renovated Ojai Playhouse, one of California's oldest single-screen cinemas, spotlighting visionary filmmaking from celebrated international directors and award-winning storytellers. The weekend features six Golden Globe-nominated films, recognized across major picture, directing, writing, and performance categories. All screenings are programmed and presented by NEON, bringing prestige cinema to the Playhouse's intimate, immersive setting.

In just eight years, NEON has established itself as one of the most daring forces in independent film, earning 39 Academy Award® nominations and 11 wins, including two Best Picture victories, and multiple Palme d'Or wins at the Cannes Film Festival. The studio continues to champion boundary-pushing cinema from filmmakers such as Bong Joon Ho, Sean Baker, and Jafar Panahi, while shaping the modern awards-season conversation.

"NEON continues to push the boundaries of cinema, and we're thrilled to partner with them for this special Golden Globes Weekend series," shares David Berger, owner of the Ojai Playhouse. "We invite everyone in our greater Ojai community to join us as we celebrate the year's best pictures in our historic, immersive Playhouse."

Highlights from the upcoming Ojai Playhouse x NEON Golden Globes Weekendinclude Joachim Trier's Sentimental Value, an eight-time Golden Globe nominee; Jafar Panahi's It Was Just an Accident, a gripping moral thriller that earned Golden Globe nominations for Best Motion Picture, Best Director, and Best Screenplay; Park Chan-wook's razor-sharp black comedy No Other Choice; and Raoul Peck's documentary Orwell: 2+2=5, a definitive portrait of the iconic writer. The full program spans animation, documentary, drama, and international cinema, reflecting NEON's bold, genre-defying slate.

Ojai Playhouse x NEON Golden Globes Weekend Schedule

SENTIMENTAL VALUE

Friday, January 9 - 7:00 PM | Sunday, January 11 - 2:00 PM

Directed by Joachim Trier

Starring Renate Reinsve, Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning

2026 Golden Globe Nominee (8 nominations)

Sisters Nora and Agnes reunite with their estranged father, the charismatic Gustav, a once-renowned director who offers stage actress Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. When Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he has given her part to an eager young Hollywood star. Suddenly, the two sisters must navigate their complicated relationship with their father - and deal with an American star dropped right into the middle of their complex family dynamics.

SIRĀT

Friday, January 9 - 9:30 PM | Saturday, January 10 - 9:30 PM

Directed by Oliver Laxe

2026 Golden Globe Nominee (2 nominations)

A father (Sergi López) and his son arrive at a rave deep in the mountains of southern Morocco. They are searching for Mar - daughter and sister - who vanished months ago at one of these endless, sleepless parties. Surrounded by electronic music and a raw, unfamiliar sense of freedom, they hand out her photo again and again. Hope is fading, but they push through and follow a group of ravers heading to one last party in the desert. As they venture deeper into the burning wilderness, the journey forces them to confront their own limits.

THE SECRET AGENT

Friday, January 9 - 4:00 PM

Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho

Winner of Best Director and Best Actor at Cannes

2026 Golden Globe Nominee (3 nominations)

Brazil, 1977. Marcelo, a technology expert in his early 40s, is on the run. Hoping to reunite with his son, he travels to Recife during Carnival but soon realizes that the city is not the safe haven he was expecting.

ARCO

Saturday, January 10 - 12:00 PM | Sunday, January 11 - 12:00 PM

Directed by Ugo Bienvenu

Starring Will Ferrell, America Ferrera, Natalie Portman

2026 Golden Globe Nominee

A magical and beautifully animated journey through time, Arco is a dazzling adventure about a 10-year-old boy from a peaceful, distant future who accidentally travels back to the year 2075 and discovers a world in peril. As Arco develops a charming and touching friendship with a young girl named Iris, they band together and along with her trusted robot caretaker Mikki, set out on a quest to get Arco home, while the two children may also be the only ones who can save our planet. A wondrous odyssey filled with hope and optimism for our future, Arco is an enchanting fable from breakout filmmaker Ugo Bienvenu, produced by Remembers' Bienvenu and Felix de Givry, and mountainA's Natalie Portman and Sophie Mas. The film debuted at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and won The Cristal Award for Best Feature Film at the 2025 Annecy Awards.

ORWELL: 2+2=5

Saturday, January 10 - 2:00 PM

Directed by Raoul Peck

George Orwell was one of the most visionary authors of the 20th Century, whose novels, 1984 and Animal Farm, foretold a chilling, authoritarian future. Acclaimed director Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro) interweaves clips, readings from Orwell's diary, cinematic references, and modern-day footage to craft not only a portrait of the writer, but a fresh take on how prophetic his work has become, presented as part of NEON's awards-season slate.

IT WAS JUST AN ACCIDENT

Saturday, January 10 - 5:00 PM | Sunday, January 11 - 7:00 PM

Directed by Jafar Panahi

2026 Golden Globe Nominee (4 nominations)

Vahid, an unassuming mechanic, is suddenly reminded of his time in an Iranian prison when he has a chance encounter with Eghbal, a man he strongly suspects to be his sadistic jailhouse captor. Panicked, Vahid rounds up a few of his fellow ex-prisoners to try and confirm Eghbal's identity. Master filmmaker Jafar Panahi creates a deeply felt moral thriller, where high stakes tension combines with unexpected flurries of humor and thoughtful, sometimes devastating questions regarding persecution and revenge.

NO OTHER CHOICE

Saturday, January 10 - 7:00 PM | Sunday, January 11 - 4:30 PM

Directed by Park Chan-wook

2026 Golden Globe Nominee (3 nominations)

From director Park Chan-wook and based on Donald E. Westlake's novel THE AX, the story follows Man-su on his desperate hunt for a new job after his abrupt layoff from the paper company he served for 25 years.

Ticket Information

Tickets are on sale now.

All shows: $12.50 adult / $10 senior / $10 children

Full schedule and tickets available at www.ojaiplayhouse.com