The Ventura Film Festival is an international film festival held each year in

Ventura, California Ventura, officially named San Buenaventura (Spanish for "Saint Bonaventure"), is a city on the Southern Coast of California and the county seat of Ventura County. The population was 110,763 at the 2020 census. Ventura is a popular tourist des ...

. The Ventura Film Festival features

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning films and has been attended by Academy Award-winning celebrities. In 2011 the Ventura Film Festival hosted the 50th Anniversary of ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play '' Romeo and Juliet'', the story is set in the mid ...

'' and the full cast of the film and gave a

lifetime achievement awards Lifetime achievement awards are awarded by various organizations, to recognize contributions over the whole of a career, rather than or in addition to single contributions. Such awards, and organizations presenting them, include: A * A.C. ...

to Academy Award winner/Golden Globe winner

George Chakiris George Chakiris (born September 16, 1932) is an American actor. He is best known for his appearance in the 1961 film version of ''West Side Story'' as Bernardo Nunez, the leader of the Sharks gang, for which he won both the Academy Award for Be ...

who starred in the film as Bernardo and Academy Award nominee/Golden Globe winner

Russ Tamblyn Russell Irving Tamblyn, also known as Rusty Tamblyn (born December 30, 1934) is an American film and television actor and dancer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Tamblyn trained as a gymnast in his youth. He began his career as a child actor f ...

who played the co-starring role of Riff in ''West Side Story''. The 50th Anniversary of ''West Side Story'' was premiered in Ventura, California as the opening night film for the 2011 Ventura Film Festival and an additional, unrelated, screening was later held at the

Chinese Theater Theatre of China has a long and complex history. Traditional Chinese theatre, generally in the form of Chinese opera, is musical in nature. Chinese theatre can trace its origin back a few millennia to ancient China, but the Chinese opera started ...

in Hollywood and featured the "Footprint/Hands in the Cement" ceremony on

Hollywood Boulevard Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywoo ...

with Academy Award winners Rita Moreno, George Chakiris, and Russ Tamblyn. The event was attended by many of Hollywood's most well known stars.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official Website
Film festivals in California Ventura, California Tourist attractions in Ventura County, California