How do you top the 2024 Newport Beach Film Festival, which featured a slew of movie premieres, A-list talent, independent filmmakers, and memorable after-parties as part of the Festival’s 25th anniversary?
Easy: Welcome to the 2025 Newport Beach Film Festival, which runs October 16 through 23. During those eight days, the Festival will screen an international selection of more than 100 feature films and 250 short subjects, from narrative dramas and fascinating documentaries to exciting action sports features and culinary exposés. An impressive list of industry actors and filmmakers will be honored during the festival.
“I think last year was a wonderful year for us—it was such a beautiful way to celebrate our 25th anniversary,” Gregg Schwenk, CEO and Executive Director of the Newport Bech Film Festival, told the NB Indy. “The other aspect is TV Fest (held June 5-8). It was so well received. We’re so happy that the expansion of our franchise into television has gone so well. Now, for our 26th anniversary, we’re again exceptionally proud of the lineup and excited for the people that we can recognize, both in front of and behind the camera.”
The 26th annual Newport Beach Film Festival will open on October 16 with a screening of Richard Linklater’s “Blue Moon” starring Ethan Hawke, Margaret Qualley, Bobby Canavalle and Andrew Scott. Closing Night on October 23 will be a screening of “Frankenstein” directed by Guillermo del Toro and starring Jacob Elordi, Mia Goth, Oscar Isaac & Christoph Waltz.
Film highlights include Nia DaCosta’s “Hedda” starring Tessa Thompson; Richard Linklater’s “Nouvelle Vague” starring Zoey Deutch; Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” starring Stellan Skarsgård, Elle Fanning and Renate Reinsve; and Rian Johnson’s “Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery,” starring Daniel Craig, Josh O’Connor, Glenn Close, Josh Brolin, Mila Kunis, Jeremy Renner, Kerry Washington, Andrew Scott, Cailee Spaeny, Daryl McCormack and Thomas Haden Church.
In addition to the film screenings, the Film Festival is once again hosting its 2025 Festival Honors that takes place on Sunday, Oct. 19 at Balboa Bay Resort in conjunction with Variety Magazine’s 10 Actors to Watch.
This year’s honorees attending the Festival Honors event include Diane Lane (“Anniversary”), Mark Hamill (“Life of Chuck”) and Academy Award Winner Brendan Fraser (“Rental Family”), who will each receive the Icon Award; Kerry Condon (“F1” & “Train Dreams”) and Jenny Slate (“Dying for Sex”) who will both receive the Artist of Distinction Award; Tessa Thompson (“Hedda”) will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Acting Award; Noah Schnapp (“Stranger Things”) who will receive the Spotlight Award; Francine Maisler (“Sinners” & “Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere”) who will receive the Casting Visionary Award and Steven Gaydos (Journalist & Screenwriter) who will be honored with the Arts Champion Award. Actress and Filmmaker Scarlett Johansson will receive the Legend & Groundbreaker Award, and actress Kerry Condon will receive a special award.
The Honors event will be filmed for broadcast and aired in the key awards voting window in January on PBS SoCal. The 26th edition of the festival will be held from October 16-23 and will spotlight over 100 feature films from around the world.
“The ten-year-old me is exceptionally over the moon for Mark Hamill,” said Schwenk, referring to Hamill’s legendary role as Luke Skywalker in the “Star Wars” saga dating back to 1977. “And Diane Lane and Jenny Slate we’ve been wanting to recognize for a number of years now, so we’re happy to fit it in with this year’s celebration. And then Scarlett Johansson and Kerry Condon are such wonderful actresses and are due for the recognition that they will be receiving. Just one of them would be exciting, but to have them all here in Newport Beach is pretty incredible.”
The Festival Honors event will also recognize Variety 10 Actors to Watch: Milly Alcock (“Supergirl”), Ella Anderson (“Song Sung Blue”), Tonatiuh (“Kiss of the Spider Woman”), Inga Ibsdotter Lilleaas (“Sentimental Value”), Miles Caton (“Sinners”), Guillaume Marbeck (“Nouvelle Vague”), Mari Yamamoto (“Rental Family”), Chase Infiniti (“One Battle”), and Jay Lycurgo (“Steve,” “Peaky Blinder”).
This year’s honorees will also be joined by Rian Johnson, who will receive a Best Director Award at a screening of “Wake Up Dead Man” on Friday, October 17.
The cinematic entries into this year’s Newport Beach Film Festival come from 32 countries. One of the international spotlights shines a light on films from Ireland.
“We have a wonderful delegation coming out from Ireland,” noted Schwenk. “We have four Irish spotlights this year, including an Irish language film called ‘Báite.’ That’s a wonderful murder mystery, a great thriller. We have ‘Christy,’ which is a kind of a family drama. Then we have ‘A Sip of Irish,’ which is a documentary on all things Irish and alcoholic. And then we have ‘The Unsinkable Entrepreneur,’ which is about an Irish yachtsman who attempts an around the world race. All of our Irish spotlight films will have talents and representation this year.”
And like always, Muldoon’s Irish Pub in Fashion Island will host an Irish-themed party after the movies on Sunday.
Among the film screenings are a handful of documentaries and action sports focused on Orange County, and in one case Newport Beach.
“We are very proud to be the largest celebration of cinema in Southern California or coastal Southern California, but we have obviously never forgotten our roots right here in Newport and Orange County,” said Schwenk.
The Film Festival is partnering with Style Week OC for two films on fashion: “Akris: Fashion With a Heritage” and “Thom Browne: The Man Who Tailors Dreams.” Style Week OC will be hosting weekend events October 18 and 19 at the Neiman Marcus – Bloomingdale’s Courtyard in Fashion Island.
“It’s very much a Newport experience of going out to Fashion Island, sit back and relax and listen to these people talk about their areas of expertise within fashion and film,” said Schwenk.
Planning for the annual Newport Beach Film Festival takes months and includes hundreds of volunteers and interns.
“We have an impressive and dedicated group of people,” agreed Schwenk. “We’ll have close to 100 interns and nearly 1,000 volunteers this year.”
For more information including tickets to Newport Beach Film Festival screenings, visit https://newportbeachfilmfest.com.
