‘You just kinda do what you gotta do’

Young Chang

It’s 4 p.m. on Monday and Marjoe Aguiling has just located the

last-minute European submission “His Wife’s Diary” only 17 hours before

the piece is scheduled to be screened at the Newport Beach Film Festival.

The Russians told him it’s in Los Angeles, on South Beverly Drive. The

information was exchanged over a conference call made from Aguiling’s

cell phone.

Second perhaps only to his disco-tinted sunglasses, which he doesn’t

bother to take off when indoors (how can he with at least three people

talking to him at once?), the phone is Aguiling’s main accessory of late.

In the morning, it beckons the volunteer’s attention with 19 plus

unchecked messages, while fresh calls beep on the other line.

He carries the charger with him to spare visiting filmmakers -- not to

mention their brothers, wives and husbands, consulates around the world

and relentless reporters (God bless ‘em) -- the anxiety of having to wait

for a call back.

And he eats lunch right about when the sun begins to set, while

crossing the street from Edwards Island 7 Cinemas in Fashion Island to

the Marriott Hotel, where he’ll likely meet with a filmmaker for

pre-screening touch-ups.

To the average visitor, the seven-day festival which ends Thursday is

all about screenings, galas, kickoff parties and awards. For the

volunteer who ends up, sometimes, being known only as the voice on the

phone, the event is a year-round project that culminates in a week of

film frenzy a midst stars, eclectic movies and more than 20,000 visitors

from around the world.

Todd Quartararo, director of marketing for the festival whose firm

handles all the public relations and advertising work for free, says he

never knows what will be thrown at him each day.

“Everybody here wears several hats,” he said.

Quartararo seems to wear many. Monday, he dealt with media callers

needing press passes and other amenities. He talked with members of the

Newport Beach Premiere Cinema Guild to finalize details for a Harbor

Cruise being put on for guests. In between all this, he made sure

filmmakers got in their requested workouts, yoga classes, what have you.

He also ate his first meal of the day at about 4 p.m.

“You just kinda do what you gotta do,” Quartararo said.

Aguiling knows this attitude well.

Take what happened Sunday. “The Stranger,” a feature film, didn’t make

it to the festival for the 1:30 p.m. screening. The Austrian consulate in

New York shipped it off last minute, not taking into account that UPS

employees take Sundays off, so “Innocents” screened instead for a second

time.

And then the buzz spread. Other producers wondered why their piece

screened only once. Now they are lobbying for second showings in empty

spots. The hot slots? 1:30 p.m. Tuesday and 6:30 p.m. Thursday.

And then there were the “Go Tigers!” fanatics. Organizers ran into

problems concerning rights with the scheduled film and canceled it at the

last minute. But unaware fans showed up, hunted down Aguiling and hounded

him to organize at least a special screening just for them, which he’s

working on.

“But to save the face of the festival, we try to remain calm, cool and

collected,” he said. “Because if there’s panic hidden in our eyes, it

says the wrong thing.”

In the case of the Russian film, he made sure to look unfazed. Still

needing someone to pick up the print in Los Angeles, Aguiling says the

fire’s still not out.

He sees Erik Forssell, a fellow volunteer. Forssell says he’s willing

to sit in rush hour traffic and get the film.

“On a daily basis, something definitely goes wrong,” Aguiling says.

“Someone comes up to me and I have about 11 seconds response time to come

up with a solution.”