Rolling With the Punches

Amber Medkiff trudged out of the darkened theater in Costa Mesa, chagrined. She’d come to see a love story from Thailand, but only three of the film’s six reels had arrived. After a 30-minute delay, management screened a substitute that Medkiff had already seen during the Newport Beach International Film Festival, which ended Sunday.

A day earlier at a different movie house, Medkiff had missed out on the U.S. premiere of an Indian film about Mahatma Gandhi because of a similar snafu.

“It is frustrating,” said the self-described film-fest junkie from San Francisco. “This would have never happened at [the venerable] San Francisco” festival.

Two mishaps in a row, however, hadn’t tarnished Medkiff’s fundamental opinion of the festival.

“I’ve enjoyed all the films so much,” she said, counting some 20 pictures she’d seen halfway through the 10-day event. “It’s only their second year, and none of this is the end of the world.”

Such satisfaction was unanimously shared by two dozen moviegoers interviewed during the festival. Grateful to have a local fest and impressed with the quality and range of foreign and art films they had seen, attendees took in stride the logistic problems that forced theaters almost daily--and frequently more often--to show films other than those scheduled.

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Mission Viejo resident Colin Brake arrived at one theater expecting to see “Darklands,” only to find that it was playing at a theater other than the one listed in the printed program. He had to return days later but said the rare opportunity to see a film from his native Wales was worth the hassle.

“The idea of the festival is a very good one,” said Brake, a movie enthusiast who once worked in the industry back home.

Not every participant was entirely pleased. One frustrated theater manager who requested anonymity said that films often were delivered to the theater at the last minute; one never showed up; theater employees had to pick up some prints themselves, and the print quality of at least two films was poor.

“I would do it again,” the manager said, “but I hope they learn from this for next year.”

The festival showcased more than 80 features, documentaries, short films and award-winning commercials from Iceland to Thousand Oaks at 10 venues around Orange County.

Many screenings were sold out, and several patrons said they encountered no mix-ups. The problems that did arise beset every film festival, veteran attendees and organizers said.

“We have the same experiences here every year,” said Craig Prater, executive director of Palm Springs’ 8-year-old fest. “It’s just the nature of a festival. I’d add that it’s part of the excitement. You arrive thinking you’re going to see one film, and you see something different--which could be even better.”

Even Robert Redford’s almighty Sundance Film Festival isn’t immune.

“These things happen,” said its director, Geoffrey Gilmore. “Do they happen more frequently with festivals with less experience? Yes.”

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In fact, only one of four scheduled films were shown Friday at Captain Blood’s Village Theatre in Orange. Roughly 15 other festivals in the United States and abroad run in April, a busy month in the burgeoning film-fest universe, and the three missing movies had been sent on for screenings elsewhere, said owner Todd Blood, who had been adjusting the theater’s schedule all week because of the mix-ups.

Jeffrey S. Conner, the Newport festival’s founder and executive director, admitted last week that such problems “are keeping me awake at night” but called them unavoidable. He’s received numerous letters and calls from gratified festival-goers, he said, fielded no serious complaints and stands firmly behind the effort.

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Problems with film delivery and transportation, Conner explained, stem from reliance upon inexperienced filmmakers in less technologically advanced countries as well as from cultural and diplomatic differences. He said that one producer, whom he refused to name, couldn’t get a visa out of Asia to bring his film here.

Producers who work on severely limited budgets may own only one or two prints of their films, Conner said, despite commitments at several festivals worldwide; Conner let at least one pull his film from the last of its O.C. screenings so it could be delivered elsewhere on time.

“Our films are higher quality and in bigger demand [than those screened last year], so it’s a nice problem to have,” said Conner, a real-estate developer who was new to the movie biz when he launched the festival last year.

With some 300 such fests around the world each year, there is no such thing as a better time to schedule Newport’s, he added.

Meanwhile, festival attendance fluctuated wildly. A 4 p.m. midweek screening of “Man of the Story” from India drew one viewer. Fest-junkie Medkiff said no more than 15 people attended any of the 20 films she saw, some of which ran in the evening.

Conner said he promoted the event heavily in minority as well as mainstream media. Even with the county’s large Vietnamese population, the Vietnamese “Nostalgia for Countryland” drew 20 people to its first screening at the Port Theatre in Corona del Mar, said the theater’s management. (Efforts to book a movie house in Little Saigon failed at the last minute, Conner said, but he will try again next year.)

Still, according to preliminary estimates, there were more sellouts, and every venue did better than last year. Ticket sales were up slightly over last year’s total of just under 12,000, Conner said. Single tickets went for $6.50 this year, up from $6 last year.

“I’ve always taken the view that if it takes time to build awareness, it’s OK,” Conner said, “because I made a commitment to stay with it until the numbers pick up.” Also until then, support from such major corporations as American Airlines and Coca-Cola Co. and rent-free use of several participating theaters is helping, he added.

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Next year, Conner may require filmmakers to deliver their films further ahead of their scheduled screenings but insisted that he won’t sacrifice adventuresome product from far-flung, untried filmmakers for security.

“That’s not our goal,” he said. “You need to do something that’s unique, and by definition that means risky.”

Conner may find continued support for that. Officials from Edwards Cinema Corp., which screened more films than any other chain, did not return calls from The Times. But Jackie Robbins, spokeswoman for Landmark, which runs the Port, said the movie house may well participate again.

Despite low attendance for most screenings there, “we probably would want to donate screen time again,” Robbins said, largely to increase interest in independent films, the Port’s exclusive focus.

Owners of the 155-seat Captain Blood’s, which sold out three of about 50 screenings, also are sanguine about a third festival. Blood said he could have grossed roughly $10,000 more last week by booking the current release “The Devil’s Own,” with superstars Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt, instead of film-fest entries. But . . .

“We like the idea of giving independent filmmakers a chance,” Blood said. “The whole purpose of opening this theater was to build careers.”

Times correspondent Hope Hamashige contributed to this article.

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O.C. Thriller ‘Sand Trap’ to Screen “Sand Trap,” winner of the audience award at the Newport Beach International Film Festival, will screen daily through May 1 at Captain Blood’s Village Theatre, 1140 N. Tustin Ave., Orange. The quirky thriller was written, directed and produced by Anaheim-raised brothers Harris and Erik Done, who will hold several Q&As; with viewers during the run. (714) 538-3545.