By Zoe Luczaj | Special to the NB Indy
Let me set the scene.
The ocean hums softly behind the red carpet. The sun dips behind the sand as bulbs flash in its place. Another year of the Newport Beach Film Festival begins, and I was there to bear witness—not in the audience, but from behind the curtains as part of a team of creatives, storytellers, and media makers who bring the festival to fruition.
Interning as part of the festival’s marketing team under Kaipo Cavanh was my introduction to the vast inner workings of such an enterprise. Our office buzzed for weeks with emails, graphics, and phone calls.
The Newport Beach Film Festival is a vibrant ecosystem of Southern California’s creative community, where emerging voices collide with acclaimed talent in one glittering showcase.
That celebration began on Opening Night, October 16, with starlight: Jacob Elordi, fresh from his role in “Frankenstein,” sat down with The Hollywood Reporter’s “Awards Chatter” to discuss his role in Guillermo del Toro’s latest extravaganza.
The taping was followed immediately by the West Coast premiere of Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon,” a wistful meditation on time and memory that set the tone for the festival: intimate, reflective, and extravagant.
The gala that followed the screening turned the coastal venue into a luxurious rush of sequins and champagne, the perfect prelude to seven days of cinema.
From there, every day was a new adventure. I spent the week racing between venues with my camera, photographing filmmakers, actors, and events.
Rian Johnson talked about genre subversion following a screening of “Knives Out: Wake Up Dead Man,” while Scarlett Johansson spoke candidly about women in film ahead of her directorial debut.
Across four theaters and seven days, first-time directors and experienced filmmakers stood before packed crowds, watching their own films flicker across a screen, introduced and programmed by my fellow interns.
Midway through the festival, the festival’s glamorous crescendo arrived: the Honors Awards Ceremony, a luminous tribute to artistry and innovation, held along the shimmering waterfront of the Balboa Bay Resort.
Although though the event was staged in the afternoon, the stars aligned to receive their accolades, including industry veterans like Mark Hamill and Brendan Fraser, international superstars like Miky Lee and Park Chan Wook, as well as Variety’s rising stars, including Miles Caton and Chase Infiniti.
I found myself just a few feet away from Tessa Thompson and Scarlett Johansson, struck by the grace and devotion the filmmakers brought to their craft. Being in such close proximity to visionary creators felt surreal.
When the festival came to its conclusion with the closing night screening of Guillermo del Toro’s “Frankenstein,” I realized the story had come back around. From Elordi’s opening-night conversation to the sold-out screening, the festival had been bookended like a true filmic experience, and at the heart of it all were the people who made it possible: the interns, volunteers, and staff whose creativity and teamwork keep the magic of cinema alive long after the credits roll.
Students interested in interning at the Newport Beach Film Festival can visit www.newportbeachfilmfest.com/intern to learn more about next fall’s Newport Beach Film Festival, and the Newport Beach TV Fest next summer.
