Oxnard Film Society — Three films in July: A French Mystery. An American Independent Doc. And a British Comedy

Monday Night Foreign Film Series

Celebrating Our 19th Year

The Oxnard Film Society is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. (#20-5734347)

Just a reminder to our patrons that I personally preview each film to insure a great viewing experience each and every Monday screening.

Our Film Series screens (usually) two films each month, on the first and third Mondays at 3:30pm and 6:30pm at Plaza Cinemas in downtown Oxnard.

We will continue our mission of providing the best of world cinema to the Oxnard and Ventura County community and supporting local filmmakers.

Thanks, George J. Sandoval, Executive Director

Plaza Cinemas 14

255 West 5th Street, Oxnard CA 93030

General Admission: $11.75 – Seniors/Children/Students: $8.50 – Matinee: $9.25

We’d like to thank the Port of Hueneme for becoming a 2024-25 Annual Sponsor of the Oxnard Film Society.

A Special Thanks to the County of Ventura and Ventura County Community Foundation for a Grant to Continue Our Mission.

Screening July 7, 2025 at 3:30pm and 6:30pm

WHEN FALL IS COMING

2024 France  1hr 43minutes

Drama/  NR

In French with English Subtitles

After a tumultuous life in Paris, Michelle (Hélène Vincent) has retired to a quiet existence in Burgundy, tending her garden and attendingservices at her parish. The voracious hostility of her adult daughter Valérie (Ludivine Sagnier) remains Michelle’s great puzzlement: how can a child for whom she sacrificed so much treat her with such contempt and suspicion? When Valérie drops off her son for a week with his grandmother, Michelle sees an opportunity to repair the relationship, but a culinary accident soon undercuts whatever trust remains. With the help of her best friend Marie-Claude (Josiane Balasko), whose son (Pierre Lottin) has recently been released from prison, Michelle plots a path towards restoring the family life so long denied her. With a deceptively placid surface, master stylist François Ozon cooks up a twisty and destabilizing thriller where family ties remain the most mysterious ingredient of all.

Screening July 14, 2025 at 3:30pm and 6:30pm

AMERICAN AGITATORS

The Fred Ross Story

2024 USA 1hr 34minutes

Biography, Documentary, History NR

In English with Spanish subtitles

To inspire a new generation of activists to organize for systemic change, AMERICAN AGITATORS illustrates how collective action can combat racism, bigotry, and greed. Fred Ross Sr.’s groundbreaking organizing efforts carried on and expanded upon by organizers improved the lives and livelihoods of thousands by focusing on systemic change. Telling the story of organizers and community leaders across the country will demonstrate strategies we can use to mobilize. As we witness growing and corrosive divisiveness, the lessons learned from Fred Ross Sr. and Jr., and the ways they can be applied to relieve today’s injustices, are more important and relevant than ever.

Q/A after both screenings.

Screening July 21, 2025 at 3:30pm and 6:30pm

THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND

2024 UK 1hr 40minutes

Comedy/Drama/Music PG-13

In English with English subtitles

THE BALLAD OF WALLIS ISLAND follows Charles (Tim Key), an eccentric lottery winner who lives alone on a remote island and dreams of getting his favorite musicians, McGwyer Mortimer (Tom Basden & Carey Mulligan) back together. His fantasy turns into reality when the bandmates and former lovers accept his invitation to play a private show at his home on Wallis Island. Old tensions resurface as Charles tries desperately to salvage his dream gig.

Screening August 4, 2025 at 3:30pm and 6:30pm

CAUGHT BY THE TIDES

2025 China 1hr 51 minutes

Drama NR

In Mandarin, Chinese with English subtitles

The preeminent dramatist of China’s rapid 21st-century growth and social transformation,

Jia Zhang-ke has taken his boldest approach to narrative yet with his marvelous Caught by the Tides. Assembled from footage shot over a

span of 23 years—a beguiling mix of fiction and documentary, featuring a cascade of images taken from previous movies, unused scenes, and newly shot dramatic sequences–Caught by the Tides is a free-flowing work of unspoken

longing, carried along more by music than dialogue as it looms around the

edges of a poignant love story. The film mostly adheres to the perspective of

Qiaoqiao (Jia’s immortal muse Zhao Tao) as she wanders an increasingly

unrecognizable country in search of long-lost lover Bin (Li Zhubin), who left their

home city of Datong seeking new financial prospects. The always captivating

Zhao carries the film with her delicate expressiveness, while Jia constantly

evokes cinema’s ability to capture the passage of time and the persistence of

change: of people, landscapes, cities, politics, ideas

George J. Sandoval, Executive Director

geosand47@gmail.com/805.798.0830

Mailing Address: Oxnard Film Society

PO Box 606, Oxnard, CA 93032-0606