A Fresh Start for Film Festival

A group that is trying to revive the bankrupt film festival in Newport Beach announced Friday that it is planning the event for next spring, provided part of the $100,000 budget can be raised by the new year.

Organizers expressed confidence Friday that the funding would come through for a streamlined eight-day event, now scheduled to kick off March 30. Organizers said they will launch an official fund-raising campaign--seeking corporate and private sponsorships--on Monday and hoped to raise a quarter of the budget by Jan. 1.

“Right now it looks like we’re on track,” said Todd Quartararo, a public relations advisor who worked on the old festival and is among the dozen business people and film buffs working to bring it back.

The group has been on a fast-track to pick up the pieces of the now defunct Newport Beach International Film Festival after its founder, Jeffrey S. Conner, filed for bankruptcy Sept. 1.

“It’s been a Herculean task,” said Gregg Schwenk, a mergers and acquisitions executive based in Irvine for the Geneva Cos. and executive director of the new festival. “But this new festival has brought out the best in the film and business communities in both Orange County and in Los Angeles.”

Few involved with the former festival over its four-year history were surprised when it folded. Vendors and volunteers alike cited poor organization, unpaid bills and logistical foul-ups for its demise.

Still, many thought Conner’s idea of a seaside film festival--a la Cannes--in a well-heeled backyard of Hollywood was both visionary and brilliant.

“If you look at the success of other festivals throughout the world, and the prestige and economic benefit they bring to their communities, we feel this festival could do similar things for Newport Beach and its surrounding communities,” Schwenk said.

Among the volunteer organizers working to build the new festival are Rosalind Williams of the Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau and Bob Bassett, dean of Chapman University’s School of Film and Television.

Organizers said they hope the strong management team, a tighter program (down from 11 days to eight) and a new educational component will keep this festival afloat.

Still, an estimated $100,000 in cash--more with in-kind donations of a screening venue and advertising--must be raised in order to pull it off. One of the biggest expenses, office space, already has been donated by the Airport Plaza Center across from John Wayne Airport. And organizers said they already are talking to Newport Beach city officials about getting some financial assistance, as well as to other private and corporate businesses.

“We’ve been testing the waters,” Quartararo said. “Everyone seems to be very receptive.”

Although “International” has been dropped from the event’s title--in an effort to distance it from Conner’s failed experience--the new festival will remain global in scope.

Many other details have changed, however.

Organizers now are negotiating with Newport Center and Fashion Island to keep screenings and special evening VIP receptions local. Conner, they said, had misguidedly sought additional venues in Santa Ana and Costa Mesa.

And in a major departure, the new festival will have a strong educational component, thanks to stronger ties--and a new nod of confidence--from Chapman University’s film school, UC Irvine’s division of arts and humanities and professionals from the writers guild, directors guild and screen actors guild.

A daylong seminar series--stressing screenwriting and film production--is planned for April 1 at the Newport Beach Public Library in Newport Center.

“[We] want to introduce the community to the many roles there are in this collaborative art,” said festival board member Nancy Warzer-Brady, director of UCI Extension’s arts and humanities programs. “An educational component will add a different kind of depth,” she said.

The festival also will include a juried competition for film excellence, organizers said.

In all, about 75 feature-length, documentary and short films will be selected from hundreds of submissions to be screened and judged by a still-to-be-announced panel. New filmmakers and studio films are encouraged to apply.

Write for an entry application to: Programming Director, Newport Beach Film Festival, 4540 Campus Dr., Suite 100, Newport Beach, CA 92660, or download one from their Web site at: www.newportbeachfilmfest.com. Entry fees are $45 for features and documentaries; $30 for shorts. Notification of selections will begin in mid-January.