Ready for Their Close-Up

Call it Almost Sundance.

The third annual Laguna Beach Film Festival previews tonight, and over the next four days, like Robert Redford’s celebrated Utah film forum, it showcases a widely varied group of independent features, shorts, documentaries and foreign movies.

For some filmmakers, many of whom will be on hand this weekend to discuss their movies, Sundance’s loss is Laguna’s gain, as some films that didn’t make the cut to be shown in Utah are getting a second shot at audience and jury exposure in Laguna.

“There are some leftovers from Sundance,” said event chairman John Fazio, adding that 10 movies to be shown in Laguna were given high marks by other festivals’ screening committees but weren’t screened simply because of a glut of good independent films.

This year’s offerings include “Wrestling With Alligators,” a 1998 comedy exploring femininity from various perspectives; “Some Nudity Required,” a documentary about the B-movie slasher-action genre; “Goodnight, Gorilla,” a family film adapted from the popular children’s novel; and “Lola and Bilidikid,” a collaborative German-Turkish film examining gay life in present-day Berlin.

“The community comes together on this,” Fazio said. “We make sure we offer a cross-section of [films] to reach the majority of lifestyles in our ocean-side community” and beyond.

A preview of the acclaimed “Get Bruce!” will kick off the festival tonight. The 75-minute documentary’s subject is comedy writer Bruce Vilanch and includes interviews with many of the top-rank comics for whom he has worked, including Billy Crystal, Whoopi Goldberg, Robin Williams and Bette Midler.

By contrast, “Lola and Bilidikid,” which screens Sunday night, is “a dark movie,” said Fazio, “but significant in looking at alternative lifestyles.”

“Wrestling With Alligators,” also being shown Sunday, gained attention at Sundance for its tomboy mechanic’s take on the goings-on in a house of independent women toward the end of the 1950s. It stars Claire Bloom (“Crimes and Misdemeanors”) and Aleska Palladino (“Deconstructing Harry”) and Joely Richardson (“I’ll Do Anything”).

“Some Nudity Required,” screening Sunday, was produced and directed by Odette Springer, a classically trained musician and opera singer who went to work as a music supervisor for B-movie kingpin Roger Corman.

Event organizers also have put together a Friday afternoon family-friendly lineup with “Goodnight, Gorilla,” “The Floys of Neighborly Lane,” about being a new kid in a strange neighborhood, and “A Weekend With Wendell.”

Another special screening is “The Making of ‘Everest,’ ” which takes a behind-the-scenes look at the critically acclaimed Imax film that has broken records for the giant-screen format with $71.6 million at the box office reported to date. “Everest” was produced by Laguna-based MacGillivray-Freeman Films.

The jury for the Laguna festival consists of Kip Konwiser, producer of “Miss Evers’ Boys” for HBO; Robert A. Miller, producer of “The Crucible”; and Jon McIntyre, former road manager for the Grateful Dead.

Awards for best feature and short film, best overall artistic achievement and audience favorite will be given Sunday at the Laguna Art Museum.

Along with the film screenings, all of which will be held in the Festival of Arts Forum Theater, there will be more than 20 seminars about the movie industry. Topics include independent film development, acting, entertainment law, special-effects makeup and breaking into the business. Seminars will be held at two locations: Laguna Beach City Hall, 505 Forest Ave., and at the Wells Fargo Bank Building, at 260 Ocean Ave. Admission is $15 per person per seminar.

Organizers are anticipating double the attendance of last year’s festival, which was about 2,000.

The event is sponsored by the Laguna Beach chapter of the Exchange Club, a national organization that focuses on youth-related issues.

Money raised goes directly to local agencies to help prevent child abuse. More than $60,000 has been raised over the last two years for such local charities as the Orange County Abuse Prevention Center and Laura’s House Educational Center, a San Clemente domestic violence shelter.

BE THERE

Laguna Beach Film Festival, Festival of Arts Forum Theater, 650 Laguna Canyon Road. Sneak preview program at 7 tonight. Opening-night party at 7:30 tonight at the Surf and Sand Hotel, 1555 S. Coast Highway, Laguna Beach. $55. Awards party at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive. $35. Tickets for individual screenings are $8; seminars are $15 each. The festival runs through Sunday. (949) 494-1313 or (888) 386-8497. On the Web: www.la gunafilmfestival.org.

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Laguna Beach Film Festival

The third annual Laguna Beach Film Festival kicks off this evening with a sneak-preview screening and runs through Sunday. Here are where the events will be staged:

OPENING-NIGHT GALA: Opening-night party, Friday at 7:30 p.m., Surf and Sand Hotel, 1555 S. Coast Highway.

SCREENINGS: Festival of Arts, 650 Laguna Canyon Road.

SEMINARS: Laguna Beach City Hall, 505 Forest Ave.

Wells Fargo Building, 260 Ocean Ave.

AWARDS SHOW: Laguna Art Museum, 307 Cliff Drive.

Source: Laguna Beach Film Festival.