Newport Film Festival Closes With Slight Gain in Attendance
The Newport Beach Film Festival took a risk on rapid growth in its third year, and organizers say it succeeded, although not as resoundingly as they had hoped.
The nine-day event, which ended with an awards ceremony Friday, offered 73 features and 16 programs of short films--up from 56 features and 14 bills of shorts a year ago. The festival branched out from two screens to three, adding the Lido Theater on Balboa Peninsula to the two screens at Fashion Island’s Edwards Island Cinemas that had been used in the past. The festival also offered two days of free seminars at the Newport Beach Public Library, featuring screenwriters, directors, composers, designers and technical experts.
The result was an increase in attendance from 17,000 to about 19,500--although that fell short of the goal of 20,000 or more that organizers had set.
“It’s not as much as I’d hoped, but for our third year, we’re pleased,” Gregg M. Schwenk, the festival’s executive director, said Friday.
Schwenk said he did not have complete figures from box-office returns, but “We’re hopeful we’ll walk away with a small profit that can be the seed for next year’s film festival.” Schwenk said the attendance figure includes guests who were showing their films as well as ticket-buying film buffs.
Schwenk said the festival raised about $125,000 in cash this year; factoring in donated goods and services, including the value of the time put in by scores of volunteers, he put the festival’s cost at $800,000, up from $500,000 a year ago. At this point, the festival can afford to pay only a modest stipend to key workers; it has no salaried employees. The city of Newport Beach, which has nurtured the festival as a magnet for tourism, was the leading cash donor with. a $75,000 contribution.
Some Fests Downsize in Wake of 9/11, Recession
Schwenk said that some other West Coast festivals, including ones in Santa Barbara and Seattle, had downsized this year because of the recession and the fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Being able to expand under those circumstances was “a testament to the strength of this festival and [Newport Beach] being an important regional market,” he said.
For local film buffs, the festival brought in dozens of independent features and documentaries that otherwise would not have been screened in Orange County. Nevertheless, most of this year’s award-winning titles sported name actors rather than unknowns.
“Each year, the depth and quality and sophistication increase in the world of independent film,” Schwenk said.
“With that, you see name talent willing to be associated with those filmmakers, [The jurors’ choices] are a reflection of where independent film is going.”
Three films--one each from Italy, Australia and the Netherlands-took the six top awards for non-documentary features.
“Ti Voglio Bene, Eugenio (Eugenio, I Love You)” was named best film, and its star, Giancarlo Giannini, received the best actor award for his portrayal of a good-hearted janitor in a rest home for accident victims.
Robert Connolly won the best director and best screenplay awards for his film, “The Bank.”
The Australian thriller features Anthony LaPaglia as an unscrupulous financier. “Nynke,” a Dutch film about the relationship troubles of a children’s book author, won for best cinematography, and Monique ‘Hendrickx was named best actress in the title role.
The best documentary was “Dogtown and Z-Boys.”
Narrated by Sean Penn, it traces how a group of ragtag 1970s skateboarders who practiced in empty swimming pools originated the high-flying daredevil style that is now a hallmark of the extreme sports industry.
An Irish film, “On the Nose,” won the Audience Award for best feature. It stars Robbie Coltrane as a problem gambler who works as a janitor at a Dublin medical college--then finds a secret method for winning at the racetrack. Dan Aykroyd plays a supporting role.
Four other full-length films that lost out in the jurors’ and audiences’ selections received Awards of Merit from the festival’s organizers: the German film, “As Far as My Feet Will Carry Me”; “When the Rain Lifts,” from Japan; “In the Bosom of the Enemy,” from the Philippines; and “Crash Boats,” a U.S. documentary about the crewmen who manned small boats during World War II and the Korean War.
