Max Naylor, Samantha Renzi and Amanda Salazar having fun at French 75 Tuesday night. Photo by Richard Chang/The Register.
All right, folks, thanks for coming back and reading this Newport Beach Film Festival blog!
On Tuesday, I called my friend and festival co-founder Todd Quartararo and asked him, “Should I go see “Arn,” the Swedish Spotlight?
He said, “No, I would recommend ‘Seraphine.’ I’ve heard it’s excellent filmmaking — one of the best films of the entire festival.”
Hmm, those were some good words of advice. However, a lot of other filmgoers heard that tip too. “Seraphine” was packed. Oversold, in fact, like a lot of other films during this festival.
I got in the theater and sat next to Jo King, who’s on the NBFF advisory board, Gregg Schwenk’s mother and her friend, a nice gentleman whose name I didn’t catch.
As people filled the seats, associate director of programming Amanda Salazar asked anyone who had an empty seat next to them to raise their hands. Hands went up, and those seats were filled.
But there were still ticket holders waiting to see the movie. So what to do? Well, Amanda — who is a very nice person and a great Trader Joe’s employee, I might add — made a startling announcement. She asked all members of the press to stand up, relinquish their seats and proceed to the very back of the theater, where they could stand. Or leave, if they wished to.
Talk about humiliation! Well, I pondered what to do. The nice gentleman to my left said, “Don’t worry, you’re our guest.” It quickly dawned on me who the bottom of the pecking order is at this gathering. The last man on the proverbial totem pole. It’s the lowly press! So what if you’re a premier sponsor? That doesn’t matter. And what if you’ve been covering the NBFF for 10 years straight, since its very beginning? Who cares. To the back, you ink-stained wretch!
Anyway, I’m not here to kill the messenger. Amanda got her marching orders, I understand. But why do they keep overselling these screenings?
Back to the movie. “Seraphine” was a long, dark French film, about an older woman housekeeper who talks to the trees and makes paintings in her spare time, the wee hours of the night and early morning. She finds a patron, an art critic and collector, but slowly goes insane. It wasn’t exactly a feel-good Hollywood-type movie, but it was the kind of flick you only get to see at an eclectic film festival such as Newport.
After the film, festival-goers proceeded to Design Within Reach and French 75 at Fashion Island. The restaurant was packed, and those mini-hamburger sliders disappeared pretty quickly. So did the red wine. Folks were stuck with Absolut Mango and Karl Strauss again. Confound it, man!
Anyway, it was a lively scene. Roly Quiambao, aka DJ OC After Dark, spun the tunes, and festival goers danced to weird mixes of Journey and Michael Jackson. I saw the old festival crew — Karen and Greg Adams, Geoff Patino, Miriam Saadati, Meghan McGarvey, Craig Lindberg, Emily Kim, Janet Lee, Jay Winterstein, Phillip Woo, etc. etc.
Also there — Joe and Tracy McGarvey, co-worker Kari Hall and Allen Freeman, publicist extraordinaire.
The gathering at Design Within Reach wasn’t quite as happening. I believe that’s because the alcohol ran out at 11 p.m.
Tonight, the best bets are “Gigantic” at 8 p.m. at Edwards Island 7 and the Walt Disney Studio Spotlight at 7:30 p.m. at the Lido Theater.
Get there early, and remember, purchased tickets take priority over passes. Even if you are a V.I.P.
Click on the thumbnails below to view images from Tuesday night at the film festival.
