Posted: Sun Sep 07, 2008 6:58 am
LA Opera Season Opening Weekend - IL TRITTICO Directed by Woody Allen and William Friedkin
LOS ANGELES, CA - SEPTEMBER 06: Actor Don Johnson, director/actor Woody Allen, actor Sage Ryan and tenor Placido Domingo attend the LA Opera season opening weekend at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on September 6, 2008 in Los Angeles, California.

It’s a wrap for the Newport film fest
By RICHARD CHANG
The Orange County Register

The 2007 Newport Beach Film Festival wrapped its eighth annual gathering this weekend with record attendance, a balanced budget and more sellouts than in any previous year.

About 41,000 people attended the festival, according to CEO and executive director Gregg Schwenk. That’s a 12.3 percent increase over the 36,500 who attended last year. The festival presented about 400 films, including features, documentaries, shorts and animated works. A record 36 screenings sold out.

“It completely exceeded our expectations,” Schwenk said. “We had a record year for the festival, a record number of sellouts, amazing turnout from filmmakers and celebrities. It was an awesome 2007.”

The festival anticipates coming out a little bit ahead on its $400,000-$500,000 budget, Schwenk said, which doesn’t include about $2 million in in-kind services.

Celebrities who made appearances during the 11-day fest included Adam Sandler, America Ferrera, Hayden Panettiere, Michelle Trachtenberg, Chad Lowe, Rob Schneider and Gary Owens.

On Thursday, the film fest presented “Son of Rambow,” a British comedy/drama, as its closing night film, followed by a catered gala at Via Lido Plaza.

On Friday, the festival announced award winners and bestowed them at a ceremony at the Regency Lido Theater.

The Korean film “Tazza (The High Rollers)” was the big winner, taking home jury awards for best feature, actor (Seung-woo Cho), actress (Hye-su Kim) and director (Dong-hun Choi). “Buddha’s Lost Children” won the jury award for best documentary; “The Shovel” won the jury’s best short prize; “Phoenix Dance” won the jury’s best short documentary; “In Your Arms” took home the jury’s best animated short film award; and Brandon Trost won best cinematography for his work on “He Was a Quiet Man.” Special jury prizes went to “Jazz Sketchbook” and “Art in the Face of War.”

Outstanding achievement in filmmaking awards went to “Black Irish” for drama, “Eagle vs. Shark” for comedy, “Paprika” for animation, “Moola” for directing and “Sinner” for screenwriting. “Son of Rambow” also got one of these awards. Hayden Panettiere won an acting award for her role in “Shanghai Kiss,” as did Nathan Fillian for his part in “Waitress.”

Additional short-film winners were “Rose,” “Miraculum,” “Chiyo” and “The Problem with Percival.”

A “maverick filmmaker” award went to “The Sophisticated Misfit”; “Boxboarders!” was honored with an “OC feature film” prize; and two awards were given for best foreign-language film: “Pretendiento (Ugly Me)” from Chile and “Vanaja” from India and the U.S.

Winning documentaries included “The King of Kong,” “Forgotten on the Bayou: Rockey’s Mission to the White House,” Chasing the Dream,” “Chasing the Lotus,” The ArtFusion Experiment” and “Alice Neel.”

“Moondance Alexander” was honored in the family-film category, and “Waitress” took home an audience award for best feature.

The festival anticipates scheduling its 2008 festival at the same time next April, Schwenk said. “In 2008, we’ll be focusing on building our key relationships with critical industry players – studios and distributors,” he said.

He added that the festival would continue to grow and incorporate John Wayne films and programs next year.

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