19th annual Newport Film Festival opens at Edwards Big Newport

The 19th annual Newport Beach Film Festival kicked off Thursday evening at Edwards Big Newport with red-carpet arrivals, videographers, photographers and obscure TV hosts vying for position, and the West Coast premiere of “American Animals,” a docu-drama about daring rare-book thieves pursuing the American dream.

As in previous years, scores of well-dressed moviegoers lined the sidewalks around the theater, as special guests, filmmakers and the night’s performing talent walked a red carpet, posed for photos and video and chatted with media outlets.

The energy level seemed a little more subdued this year, due to the enormous nature of the year’s biggest movie so far, “Avengers: Infinity War,” opening on the same night. Some of the talent that might have attended the Newport Film Fest opening were drawn to Hollywood instead, and “Avengers” also sucked up more theaters and screens around town. However, that didn’t dim the enthusiasm of longtime attendees and fans of Orange County’s most popular film festival.

“We did this last year, and we’re honored to be back,” said Scott Owen, lead singer and guitar player for PawnShop Kings and also for Side Deal, a new band of friends from various acts, including Sugar Ray and Train, who grew up in Orange County. Side Deal was the main musical act for the opening night gala at Fashion Island that followed the film.

“This is our home town, our home turf,” said Owen, who graduated from Newport Harbor High School. “It feels right and we’re excited to be here.”

About 600 people attended the opening film and between 2,500 and 3,000 were expected for the opening gala, according to Todd Quartararo, co-founder and director of marketing for the festival. Along with Side Deal, the dance company Academy of Villains — dressed like a group of hip-hop mimes — performed two sets for attendees.

The gala — one of Orange County’s biggest annual parties — featured a hosted bar and culinary samples from 30 of Orange County’s premier restaurants. Tickets went for $225 for the film and party and $175 for the gala only.

This year’s Newport Beach Film Festival will screen more than 350 films from 50 countries and will host nightly special events, more galas, question-and-answer sessions with filmmakers and seminars.

“I’m most proud of the incredible effort of the programming team,” said Gregg Schwenk, CEO and executive director of the festival. “They’ve done an exceptional job of finding extremely powerful and noteworthy films for this year’s festival. We’re also proud of the great number of comedies that we have, or films that have a comedic twist to them. At other film festivals around the world, finding a good comedy is exceptionally hard. Some of the very best comedies that are out there are here.”

Among the guests walking the red carpet Thursday evening was Susan Feniger, celebrity chef, cookbook author and owner of Border Grill restaurants. She was attending with her partner, Liz Lachman, director and writer of “Pin Up,” a psychological drama scheduled to play at 1:15 p.m. Sunday at The Triangle cinemas in Costa Mesa. The short film stars Christina Chang (“The Good Doctor”) and Angela Sarafyan (“Westworld”).

“We’re excited to be here, except for the two-hour drive from L.A.,” Feniger quipped. “We’re celebrating 23 years together.”

Janice Arrington, Orange County’s film commissioner, said she’s seen the Newport Beach Film Festival grow from a modest gathering to one of the biggest film events on the West Coast.

“I think it is a good ambassador for the county,” said Arrington, who also serves on the board of the festival. “We bring in a lot of people that know entertainment, travel, writing and film. They’re all working here on films, and we get, besides a lot of fun and entertainment for our community, we’re spreading the word about what our community offers to countries around the world. And we get to watch some good movies while we’re at it.”

Richard Chang is a contributor to Times Community News.