Newport Beach Film Festival
15 Years Under the Influence
April 24-May 1st, 2014
For the 15th annual Newport Beach Film Festival, the party began Opening Night and with large handful of films (over 350 films from 35+ countries) NBFF was an incendiary celebration of film, food, people and the arts all the way through Closing Night. There were documentaries, music videos, drama, comedy, action, shorts, foreign and number of excellent feature films. Last year’s Opening film was The Green Day documentary Broadway Idiot. This year NBFF switched gears to comedy, with the premiere of Love Sick starring Matt LeBlanc (Friends) and Chevy Chase (Caddyshack).
Love Sick was enjoyable and had a really great premise. The main character Charlie Darby (LeBlanc) realizes whenever he falls in love, he goes clinically insane. It is not the cliched “love makes you nuts,” kind of deal as he literally goes insane. The movie was also relatable and generally remained gender neutral. One of the best parts of the film was that Leblanc managed to do an entire movie as an audience member and you never felt “Joey” from friends was there.
The festival is very welcoming to press and after a great time on the red carpet (where staff always remember your name), a funny movie we were ushered to Fashion Island for a party that makes you think “I am coming back next year.” It is always the perfect opening of the week to come.
I stuck more with features and documentaries this year (but did catch some shorts). The most heart-warming documentary I took in was Following the Ninth. The film chronicles stories that involved incidents in Communist China, revolutionist activities Chile and the falling of the Berlin Wall. I attended the screening with a German friend who lived in East Berlin. He helped tear down the wall. This moment, was what Newport Beach Film Festival’s mission is, to bring audience’s together through film. It was not to get ticket money, the festival is here to bridge culture and enlighten humanity. We are all guilty of it, but as we (some groaned) were asked to turn off their phones, it was pure silence as we watched a film that depicted people not being allowed to go to their neighboring State/Country.
*****
I was informed of its accuracy and the audience had no words when a female character had a brother shot and killed two weeks before the wall came down, Strong Girls was the name of the Shorts program I took in (with films from Vietnam, The U.K. and the United States). One that stood out for me was written and directed by Jessica Elisa Boyd, Sogni D’oro (Dreams of Gold) is a film that appeals to the dreamer in us all. Set in Tuscany, it is an old fashioned fairytale about a young girl growing up in relative poverty on a farm with her father. Every Friday at 5 p.m., the local dress shop changes its window display and the girl rushes to see what imaginary delights each new dress will conjure. It is a silent film about the power of fantasy and the solitude of grief. The film has a heartwarming twist that keeps the story unfolding long after the credits run
The festival had numerous seminars including an excellent talk with Cinematographer Matthew Libatique (Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Tigerland Express) who gave us some excellent advice and behind the scenes stories.
Venues Include: Fashion Island Cinemas, Triangle Square Cinemas, South Coast Village, Edwards Big Newport and the famous, historical Lido Theater. The venues also host seminars, panels and after parties.
Article by Entertainment Writer, Paul Booth
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