A cinematic comeback

Alex Coolman

It’s back.

Like a sequel whose characters seem smarter, tougher and better

looking than they were the first time around, the Newport Beach Film

Festival is shining its way back into theaters.

The eight-day event, which kicks off with a gala reception March 30,

will feature full-length, short and animated films from around the world,

a variety of seminars and a trio of heavy-hitting film tributes.

Some of the new films scheduled for screening were plucked from the

top ranks of recent festivals at Palm Springs, Amsterdam, the Sundance

festival in Utah, and elsewhere. Others, such as a trio of Chinese films,

are world or U.S. premieres.

Still others are works by local filmmakers or films that capture a

slice of Southern California life.

“We really tried to program to reflect the diversity of Orange

County,” said Gregg Schwenk, the event’s executive director. “We had

people out at the Toronto Film Festival, at Sundance, at Savannah, at

Berlin. We’re really trying to bring in the best.”

Last fall, the festival looked like it might not make it to the

screen. Founder Jeffrey S. Conner, who kept the enterprise afloat for

four years, declared bankruptcy in September, leaving fans and o7

auteursf7 alike wondering if the pieces of what was then a sprawling,

two-week affair could possibly be reassembled.

The program for the revamped fest--shorter, but dense with

high-quality films--emphatically answers that question.

“Any past apprehension about Newport Beach as a festival will be

washed away after this year,” Schwenk said.

Screenings for the fest are, with one exception, confined to two

theaters: the Edwards Island Cinemas and the Orange County Museum of Art.

Broadly speaking, the division corresponds to a split between

full-length works, which will be shown at Edwards, and shorter films,

some of which are a little more challenging in terms of their content.

But there will be some exciting prospects in both theaters.

Some of the highest-profile events are likely to be tributes, three of

which are slated for the first few days of the fest.

Opening night features a 50th-anniversary screening of a remastered

print of “Sunset Boulevard,” the 1950 Billy Wilder film that is

synonymous with film noir.

Other classics include a showing of David Lean’s 1946 film “Great Expectations,” and a screening of the 1957 movie “Sweet Smell of

Success,” which co-star Tony Curtis is expected to attend.

“Any film festival would love to have even one of our tributes, where

we have three of them, and they’re all very strong,” Schwenk said.

A strong lineup of international films deserves attention as well.

In addition to showcasing works from Mexico, Vietnam, Brazil and the

Philippines, the festival is hosting the world premiere of the Chinese

films “Ice on Fire,” “Tutor (Fly high with you)” and “Once Upon a Time in

Shanghai.” The debut of these films will be accompanied by a party held

by the Chinese Consul General on April 4.

And in local-interest work, the festival has several offerings.

“Long Night’s Journey Into Day,” the documentary that just won the

Grand Prize Jury Award at Sundance, looks interesting. The film, a

portrait of race relations in South Africa, deals with the case of Amy

Biehl, the young Newport Beach woman who traveled to South Africa to help

with voter registration and was killed by mob violence in 1994.

David Sperling’s “Drunk in Public, N.B.” a movie that detailed Newport

Beach resident Mark David Allan’s numerous run-ins with the law due to

public intoxication, had its original debut in the 1998 festival. An

updated version of the film, capturing still more of the man’s curious

saga, screens at the Orange County Museum of Art on April 3.

Scott Forrest, who has programmed many of the short films that will be

showing at the museum, said he is pleased with how the schedule of events

has shaped up.

“It’s going to be a roller coaster of rocking emotion,” Forrest said.

“You’re going to be exhausted afterward. It’s phenomenal programming.

This is the way I’ve always wanted to see it happen.”

The lineup of shorts includes some blocks of thematically linked

works, including “Women in Film,” a program that celebrates women

filmmakers, “Super, Super 8,” which focuses on the Super 8 film, and the

“Dances With Films Festival,” works from a series of young and unknown

directors.

The offerings are more impressive than those at many festivals,

Forrest said, because he and his fellow programmers have been quite

aggressive in tracking down interesting work from distant sources.

“Most film festivals, they just accept what comes in, and they go

through that,” Forrest said. “We’re going through all festivals. I don’t

know of any other festivals that do that.”

When attendees have taken in all the visual stimulation they can

handle, the series of seminars and lectures at the Newport Beach Public

Library should offer some engrossing alternatives.

Talks on the art of filmmaking will feature appearances by industry

professionals. Seminars on directing, cinematography and special effects

will dissect the complex elements that go into a single frame of a

Hollywood picture. Other talks will look at the future of the motion

picture and the changes that Internet technology means for the movies.

If all the options seem a bit overwhelming for the potential viewer,

they seemed no less so to the people who were putting the whole

production together. Schwenk calls coordinating the complex elements of

the festival “the single most difficult project I’ve worked on in my

entire life.”

But it’s a project that looks to be counting down to a strong opening.

“This has been a challenge,” Schwenk said. “But what’s wonderful about

it is that so many facets of the community have come together to make one

of the best festivals I’ve ever seen.”

**********box: Local Films

* WHAT: “Long Night’s Journey Into Day,” a documentary that discusses the

story of Amy Biehl, by Frances Reid and Deborah Hoffmann

WHERE: Edwards Island Cinema, 999 Newport Center Drive

WHEN: 8 p.m., April 5

* WHAT: “Drunk in Public,” a documentary by David Sperling about Mark

David Allan

WHERE: Orange County Museum of Art, 850 San Clemente Drive, Newport Beach

WHEN: 1 p.m., April 3 (screening time may change)

************

box: FYI

WHAT: The Newport Beach Film Festival

WHERE: Feature films at Edwards Island Cinema, 999 Newport Center Drive,

Newport Beach. Shorts at Orange County Museum of Art, 850 San Clemente

Drive, Newport Beach. Opening-night screening is at the Big Edwards, 300

Newport Center Drive, Newport Beach. Seminars will be held at the Newport

Beach Public Library, 1000 Avocado Ave., Newport Beach

FESTIVAL START: “Sunset Boulevard” tribute, 7:30 p.m. March 30

FESTIVAL FINISH: Awards, 10 p.m. April 6

TELEPHONE: (949) 253-2880