My Newport Beach Film Festival diary
When Features & Entertainment Editor Cameron Scherer and I received the email notification from the Newport Beach Film Festival that we were approved for press passes — I promise you, you could not have seen two more excited people. Getting told that we get to see a bunch of movies for free, interview stars and write about them for our job? We were living the dream.
It would be a lie if I said I have never been to a film festival before. I went to one showing at NBFF last year with past Features & Entertainment Editor Nick DeLucca. Our mutual friend’s father had a film, “Brave The Dark,” showing at the festival. That screening was a good time, but I wasn’t in the know like I was this year. Take this article as my small digital diary of the Newport Beach Film Festival — all the things I saw and experienced attending this year.
SATURDAY
I showed up at the Regal Edwards Big Newport to about three bright yellow school buses full of students. Picking up their small popcorns, sodas and Nerds gummy clusters, they were watching what I'm pretty sure was a screening of “Inside Out 2” in the theatre next to mine.
Right before I was about to enter the theatre, a large group of young people exited a screening — a curated collection of films from students at Cal State University at Long Beach. Two young filmmakers stepped out from the crowd, holding flowers, their filmmaker badges showing. They stood proudly in front of the NBFF purple photo wall, taking in the moment after showing their films at a film festival for likely the first time.
It was finally time for my first NBFF screening:
Short, Sweet, Queer Shorts
As I entered the auditorium for the screening, I was handed a little paper with the bold words “Voting Is So Gay” — an LGBTQ+ voter guide from Pride at the Pier.
I was then handed a little pencil and a piece of paper with the names of each of the short film screenings and boxes from one to five next to each title. We were asked to rate all the films and hand back our thoughts at the end of the showing.
The first film of the shorts bundle was “Skin,” directed by Leo Behrens and produced by Ilayda Cetinkaya — a Chapman class of 2020 film production alum. The short is a poetic exploration of identity that depicts a woman’s transformation into a man. This person sheds their old skin and embraces their true self. It won the Gold Medal in the alternative/experimental category at the 2023 Student Academy Awards.
What I felt during this film was this scary feeling that the person you are meant to be is frozen somewhere out of your reach, waiting to be defrosted. That true self stares at you from the other side of the mirror, hoping that you will reach out and grab it.
I am biased here because I got giddy as soon as the main character first spoke. My mother and her family are from Brazil, so hearing some Portuguese on screen in this film was music to my ears. “Wishful Thinking,” co-directed by and starring Rodrigo Carvalhedo, is Carvalhedo’s real-life coming out letter to his family. It follows an immigrant gay man split between his closeted identity in Brazil and his out reality in the U.S. On his birthday, he makes a wish that proves to be magical — sending him on an interesting coming-out journey back and forth between Brazil and the U.S.
I absolutely loved the short. It is about not being able to tell your family who you really are — but hoping, praying that they will love and accept you. What a really sweet film that I see feature-length potential in.
“KRISTIN DAN KUCHING KUCHINGNYA”
This short was a documentary by Michael Kam about the daily tasks of a 60-year-old trans woman, shunned by her family, living in a post-COVID-19 world.
It is a deeply saddening portrayal of not being accepted by the world around you, and turning to things like faith and 20 cats to keep you going.
What a great time. “Fire Fucking Fire,” directed by Julia Eringer and Rachel Paulson (who also plays the main character) is an anti-rom-com about a people-pleasing lesbian who sleeps with her rock star crush. She thinks things can’t get better until the rock star won’t leave her house — turning into a chaotic nightmare.
This short was super fun. It probably could have been a little bit shorter in length, but at the same time, I see the potential in this main character going through the trials and tribulations of being a lesbian in somewhere like Hollywood. All the weird people you come across, befriend and maybe even date.
“THE WORLD IS LIT BY LIGHTNING”
This short was a black-and-white film, directed by Greg Roderick, about the chance meeting of a random playwright and a young person of undefinable gender in the 1940s, and how that meeting inspired Tom (also known by the pen name of Tennessee Williams) to continue working on the play known as “The Glass Menagerie.”
I love a good reimagining of how things came about in history, especially when it comes to why movies, novels or plays are written. I think the reimagining of theater history is a really interesting concept that I think with a little more time filming could have really been something grander. However, there is a line in the film that stuck with me after the screening that went something like, “Thank God we are not all the same, because the world would be a plain place.”
“DON’T CRY FOR ME ALL YOU DRAG QUEENS”
This short was a documentary by Nic Cory and Danie Brooks that paid homage to a legendary drag queen in New Hope, Pennsylvania named Mother Cavallucci.
I will take one two-hour-long documentary about the LGBTQIA+ community in New Hope, Pennsylvania, please! This was such a joy to watch, to hear about the story of Mother Cavallucci and how much she cared about both the queer people in her community and all over the country. In New Hope, you can be anything you want to be.
A film by Alicia Coppola about a grandmother suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and her weekly meeting with her transgender grandson. While the past is the only thing she has to prove she exists, the past is something her grandson will do anything to erase.
The trans experience and how it changes family relationships is something only trans people will ever truly understand. However, I think a lot of people will be able to relate to having family members with Alzheimer’s disease — trying to share with them new parts of your life that they may not be able to remember the next time they see you. The short was a great final piece of this block of short films.
“Stealing Pulp Fiction”
Possibly one of the greatest moments of my career at The Panther Newspaper was conducting press on the red carpet for “Stealing Pulp Fiction.”
Before Cameron and I received the red carpet press coverage invitation, “Stealing Pulp Fiction” was at the top of our lists of things to see (we would have still seen the film anyway even if we didn’t get this opportunity).
We got to interview two Chapman alums who were producers on the film, along with more producers, the director and some cast members. If you want to read our interviews, hear about our experience on the red carpet and our thoughts on the film, read our coverage coming soon.
Similarly to the short films I saw in the morning, at each of the following screenings that Cameron and I attended, we were handed a little paper rectangle with its four corners labeled “Excellent,” “Good,” “Poor” and “Fair.” After watching the film, you rip off the corner that applies to what you thought and then drop it in a box. The votes are totaled at the end of the festival to give out the Audience Award for most loved film. (You will have to read Cameron and I’s coverage to find out what we thought!)
SUNDAY
The story of how I got a ticket to this screening is quite lovely. I got a press email for this short film with the email title reading, “THE SHORT GAME Coverage? | Directed by Frank Sanza, Starring Ben Krieger & Owen Himfar.” The world premiere was sold out. I scrolled down and saw the face of Ben Krieger on the poster — we went to high school together and have been in touch over the years about his music, other projects, etc.
I was able to snag a press ticket to the film and reunite with my friend and his sister Charlotte Krieger — who was in my grade in high school — after many years. The film was so cute (and maybe I am biased because my friend is the lead!).
If you want to learn more about this film and read an interview that I did with my friend and star Ben Krieger, read my coverage coming next week.
This film has been high on my watchlist this year, so when I saw it was screening at Newport I was thrilled! The screening also included a Q&A afterward with director Gia Coppola, writer Kate Gersten and one of the film’s stars, Kiernan Shipka.
I am a sucker for a found family story, so this film hit close to home. The entire film was shot in 18 days, and was originally written as a play by Kate Gersten in grad school — and then her and Gia Coppola met on the set of “Mozart in the Jungle,” the series that Gia Coppola’s uncle Roman Coppola created. The film was in development for a while and the filmmakers were, at one point, struggling to find someone to play the lead role of Shelly. However, Gia Coppola and the producers watched a documentary series about star Pamela Anderson — and knew she was the person for the role. Gia Coppola got in contact with Anderson’s brother, who shared the script with her — and the rest was history.
Shipka shared that Coppola’s film “Palo Alto” was a seminal film for her as an actress, and that she has been wanting to work with the filmmaker for a long time. Shipka also received the Newport Beach Film Festival Artist of Distinction Award at the end of the night for her work in this film, in addition to her workover her career.
MONDAY
Finneas Composer Spotlight
If I really wanted to exaggerate this event, I would say that it was a reunion for me and Finneas. A little over a year ago, Billie Eilish and Finneas came to Chapman for a Master Class, pre-winning the Academy Award for “What Was I Made For?” It was lovely to be able to hear Finneas talk about how his career has changed since then.
This event was a Composer Spotlight honoring Finneas for his contributions to music and his work on the soundtrack for Alfonso Cuarón’s new show “Disclaimer*.”
Finneas mentioned that all the scenes that we as audiences watch in films — whether we are actively thinking about it or not — have an impactful score. It is likely that a large reason you like a scene is because of how the movie subconsciously makes you feel when you watch it.
Cuarón came to a show Eilish and Finneas were performing in 2018 with his daughter. Cuarón and Finneas exchanged contacts, shared music playlists with each other over the years and then many years later Cuarón asked him to score “Disclaimer.” There are a total of 88 pieces of music in the show.
Finneas is going on tour soon, for the first time without his sister — they will be touring at the same time, but separately. It is a new challenge that he is prepared for. He said something lovely that I think a lot of creatives can relate to, that connects back to his first time scoring a TV show and also this new tour experience.
“The undiscovered thing is the thing that excites me.”
PHOTO OF FINNEAS ONSTAGE
Overall, it was a fun event. I do wish it was more interactive with the audience — maybe accepting some audience questions or taking approved questions ahead of time.
THURSDAY
“A Real Pain” - Closing Night Film
Newport was really getting into the spooky season, because the town was extremely foggy on my drive down to the festival on its final day. The mist must have been coming up from the ocean because the air smelled slightly salty. I will also say that I was probably not the expected demographic to be in attendance for this film, but I was excited nonetheless.
Just like “The Last Showgirl,” “A Real Pain” has been high on my watchlist this entire year. In Jesse Eisenberg's second feature film as writer and director, Eisenberg and Kieran Culkin play two mismatched cousins, David and Benji, who take a tour of Poland to honor their recently deceased grandmother. Their adventure becomes complicated as tensions resurface while exploring their family history.
Eisenberg has had a large cultural impact on my generation — specifically with his work in “The Social Network.” It feels like he has never had a chance, at least in mainstream films, to really tackle something deeply emotional as both an actor, writer and director. The way that he mixes together deadpan humor and dark themes is so perfect. There is an entire scene where he writes about how beautiful his own feet are.
Kieran Culkin is a star. The Culkin brothers aren't new to Hollywood: Macaulay Culkin starred in the Home Alone movies, and Rory Culkin appeared in “Waco.” Kieran Culkin made his biggest splash in the TV show “Succession” — it surely was my first introduction to him. His performance in this film is so organic, raw and impactful.
I think this film is going to sit with all the people who saw it with me in that theater for a long time.
I had a lovely time at this year's Newport Beach Film Festival, and hopefully it is a week that future Panther Features & Entertainment writers are able to experience for themselves. I love movies, and it is very clear that the entire NBFF team does too.