Lights, camera ...

Created less than two years ago, the nonprofit Newport Beach Premiere

Cinema Guild dedicates itself to bringing filmmaking to the city. Mostly,

at this point, the 40-member guild supports the Newport Beach Film

Festival, slated to held from April 11 to April 18.

During the festival, the guild sponsors a program called

Host-A-Filmmaker, which is designed to do just that -- welcome visiting

filmmakers to Newport Beach to show it off. This year, the group plans to

expand the program.

On Wednesday, Daily Pilot Assistant City Editor James Meier sat down

with Rita Goldberg, the guild’s president, at her Newport Beach home to

discuss the nonprofit group, as well as the film festival’s expected

growth.

Q: Will the guild take a larger role in this year’s film festival?

A: Yes, because last year was our first real year working for the film

festival, so we were busy inventing the wheel, whereas this year we sort

of know what we’re doing. We’re coming in with the advantage.

The main thing we’ll be doing is the Host-A-Filmmaker program, and

that was very successful last year, and this year it will be much more

successful because we have a base. We’re going to be pairing up our

members with the out-of-town filmmakers, and they will serve as the

ambassadors of Newport Beach -- sort of welcoming them into the

community, taking them around, showing the city. We’ll be setting the

harbor cruise, business dinners and little cocktail parties, tours of

quaint parts of Newport, such as Balboa Island.

Q: How many filmmakers were hosted last year?

A: We had about 100 from out of town and more than half of them signed

up.

Q: How many do you expect to have this year?

A: Similar, maybe more because some of them are now talking about the

Host-A-Filmmaker program and are looking forward to it.

Q: How will the program change this year?

A: We will have a little bit more support. We have a hair stylist at

Salon Gregory who would like to do hair. He said he can do six, seven or

eight hairdos a day for out-of-town celebrities before their premieres.

A lot of the restaurants couldn’t participate last year because we

sort of didn’t give them enough lead time. They’ve said, “Absolutely,

we’d like to host intimate dinners.” We have local tennis clubs that want

to make themselves available.

The conference and visitors bureau is working with us this year, if

any of the filmmakers want to take bike rides along the beach and setting

things like that up.

Q: Where are most of the filmmakers from?

A: Everywhere. We had some driving down from Canada, some drove for

two days to get here. We had some come from L.A.

Q: For most of them, is it pretty early in their careers?

A: Some of them have been at it for a while. Independent films is

different than the blockbuster studio films, so some of these filmmakers

just go out there and do the film festival circuit.

Q: So, in that respect, does everyone try to make the Newport Beach

Film Festival unique?

A: Yeah, I think it does have a uniqueness because we are such a

welcoming community, and when filmmakers come here with their films they

recognize that. This is a beautiful venue. They are immediately embraced

by the community. This is a very gracious city. It’s sophisticated, but

it has that small-town welcoming feel to it.

Some of the larger film festivals, filmmakers start to feel anonymous

in the large crowds and, even though we had 20,000 attend last year, we

still managed to have very an intimate feel. By the end of the week, many

people know each other.

We want it to be a cultural experience. We don’t want the festival to

just be culture in and of itself. We want to elevate it to that higher

level where you bring people together and there’s dialogue -- exchange

about the films -- and a connection. So, that makes it more than just

culture. It makes it a whole cultural experience.

Q: How has fund-raising been this year, especially in light of Sept.

11 and the recession?

A: It’s been a little weaker according to Gregg Schwenk, executive

director of the film festival. He’s been slightly disappointed there

hasn’t been more broad-scale corporate support.

The local business sector has embraced the film festival. We get a lot

of support from Fashion Island and the local Newport Beach-based business

community. But those larger corporations, and the corporate foundations

-- if they stepped up to the plate, it would elevate the film festival to

a much higher level. I think there’s a potential for this to be at the

level of Palm Springs or even Sundance. But we do need the corporations

to come forward and help make that happen. But we’re still hoping they’ll

recognize the value of this event.

Q: Has that been the case in the past as well?

A: Well, remember, this is only the third year [since the festival was

reinvented]. First of all, we have Lucy and Leigh Steinberg, who have

come forth with a lovely contribution. That has been the cornerstone of

the film festival. It’s an amount that we’ve been able to count on.

Then, we have a lot of in-kind support, which is also very valuable,

because if you don’t have expenses, like food and technology services,

then that cuts our costs significantly.

But we’re growing.

Q: How will the film festival be any different this year than last

year, as far as you can tell?

A: I think we’ll have premieres. We’re negotiating with the studios.

That’s a big coup for a film festival. Our filmmaking seminar, I think,

will get better each year.

I think the quality of films is better this year, at the box office

too. We have very powerful films out there right now -- “Beautiful Mind,”

“Monster’s Ball.” These are very substantive and well-written films. So

there’s more to choose from.

Q: What other projects would you like to see the cinema guild take on?

A: Right now, our projects are the Host-A-Filmmaker program, and we

just rally around the film festival. We support however we need to. We

will do everything from ushering to ticket selling. Whatever is required,

we’ll come in and offer the resources.

After the film festival, we work on our annual fund-raiser [held in

late September at Sports Club Irvine. It drew about 400 people and raised

about $25,000, about double the previous and inaugural event]. Sports

Club Irvine donated their facility and prepared the food free of charge.

The food was donated by Sysco Foods, and the alcohol was donated by Skyy

Vodka and La Terre Vineyards.

We had Gary’s Island provide the entertainment, and we had a wonderful

night. It was a lot of fun.

Q: Even before the film festival arrives this year, you’ll be busy

[separate from the cinema guild] with the Leigh and Lucy Steinberg Spirit

Run, which will be held March 11. How are the preparations for that

going?

A: It’s going very well because we have five elementary schools

involved. Newport Coast and East Bluff are relatively new. Before, it was

just Lincoln, Andersen and Harbor View. There’s some very talented people

at each of these schools, and they’re all working, and this event brings

a lot of the school parents together. It’s a very enjoyable event. It’s

fun to work on.

Q: What were some of your favorite 2001 movies?

A: Well, I loved “Monster’s Ball.” I thought Halle Berry was just so

powerful in that. And, of course, “A Beautiful Mind” was just

outstanding. And I also liked some of the lighter movies I’ve seen

recently. “Orange County” was a lot of fun to watch and “Bridget Jones’s

Diary” was wonderful. There were a lot of enjoyable movies the past year.

Q: Any final thoughts?

A: No, we’re just looking forward to the film festival and hope to get

some wonderful films and filmmakers.

BIO

Name: Rita Goldberg

Age: 41

Residence: Newport Beach for 15 years

Birthplace: Bronx, New York

Community Involvement: President of Newport Beach Premiere Cinema

Guild, Leigh and Lucy Steinberg Spirit Run organizer, and room mom and

participant on committees at Lincoln Elementary School

Education: Bachelor’s degree in journalism and public relations from

New York University

Family: Husband of 17 years Ira; children Shana, 15, Russell, 12, and

Casey, 9

Hobbies: Biking, reading, watching films and theater