Oscar fans party for film festival

Luis Pena

While Hollywood stars walked the red carpet into the Kodak Theater,

local film fans walked across the giant star inside the Hard Rock

Cafe to watch the 76th annual Academy Awards.

The Newport Beach Film Festival organizers decided to have a

special Oscar night so fans could gather, said Keiko Beatie, director

of program development & special projects.

For $25 a person, fans could watch the awards on big screen TVs,

have good food and drinks and be in a silent auction for prizes.

“We have always done a personal staff Academy Awards night party

and last year we thought it would be nice to include other people to

have them be a part of our extended family,” Beatie said.

Watching the Oscars on the big screen wasn’t the only thing that

these fans did. There were activities including a trivia contest

during the commercials, a silent auction, best costume, psychic

predications and celebrity-named gift baskets. Partygoers also had

the opportunity to win two all-access passes to the festival by

casting ballots for the nominees.

This is the one night when everyone becomes a film critic or a

film aficionado because everyone has an opinion about the nominated

films or actors, Beatie said.

The Hard Rock audience enjoyed Billy Crystal’s humorous

introduction especially when director Michael Moore was crushed by a

creature from “Lord of the Rings” and when Crystal appeared naked

with Jack Nicholson and Diane Keaton in “Something’s Got To Give.”

“I love film and that’s why I am here and that’s all that

matters,” said Amy Ruhland from Long Beach. She said she was happy

when “Finding Nemo” won the best animated feature award because she

is a huge 3-D fan.

“It seemed like the only local event that was doing something

where you could be around other people who are totally into movies

short of chatting with strangers at Blockbuster,” said Laguna Beach

resident Alex Melli.

Alec Baldwin’s nominated performance got to Melli so much that he

wound up really hating his character in “The Cooler” and was

disappointed when the Oscar went to Tim Robbins for his performance

in “Mystic River.”

The proceeds from the event will go to benefit film festival,

which will is from April 15 to 25 through the city of Newport.