The Newport Beach Film Festival kicked off its 23rd year with over 300 films from several different countries. What first began in 1999 has turned into an international event, attracting hundreds of passionate film lovers.
The Newport Beach Film Festival provides an opportunity for the community, aspiring filmmakers and film-watchers to appreciate independent films.
From Oct. 13 to Oct. 20, viewers were able to watch films from a wide variety of categories. Categories include action sports, cinema on cinema, culinary, environmental, family and short documentaries. There were 64 films in total under the short documentary category.
For the collection of CSULB student-made films, Big Newport theaters was their host. Listed under Collegiate Showcase, 11 films were shown on Oct. 16 and depicted different categories of film from animation to short documentaries.
Yasmin Hurtado is a third-year transfer at Long Beach State majoring in Film and Electronic Arts. She previously attended Orange Coast College and worked in sound production for three student films that were featured in the collegiate showcase.
“On each film, I was an on-set sound technician,” Hurtado said. “My job was to hold the boom mic and check the sound levels to make sure they were okay and never peaked.”
She worked as an on-set sound technician for “Die Robot, Who is Sean?” and “War Makes me Misread.” “War Makes me Misread” is a poem reading about the war in Ukraine.
Although Hurtado was unable to see the films she worked on with other Newport Film Fest attendees, she was able to see two at a small theater she volunteered at.
“It was awesome to see my name in the credits,” she said. “The directors for these projects are such creative people and I am proud that I helped achieve their vision.”
Aside from independent and student films, other known films were highlighted.
Sold-out featured narrative Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery features Daniel Craig as the southern detective Benoit Blanc. The film played on Oct. 20, the last day of the festival at The Newport Theater.
Jacob Bishai is an attendant working at Triangle Cinemas, leading attendants and featured directors to the right area of the theater.
“The turnout has been pretty good, Friday was a little hectic,” Bishai said. “Friday night when I was here there was a large gathering right here that was crazy.”
The annual event allowed attendees to gather in support of aspiring filmmakers and indie films.