Documentary Films

UCI Fall Film Program Hosts Pedro Costa, Tsai Ming-Liang, Stanley Kubrick, Yes Men, Kirby Dick and Closeted Gay Politicians

Kirby Dick is coming to Irvine to screen "Outrage," his documentary on closeted gay politicians.​UC Irvine's Film and Video Center was late in releasing details of its fall program because the FVC's tiny and tireless staff was unsure whether there would even be a program. (Thank you, UC system acr ... More >>

Film Exposes Locals to WWI American Soldiers Known as the Polar Bears

Dr. Peter Karpawhich, a Detroit area physician, plays a Bolshevik lieutenant firing a pistol at American soldiers as another re-enactor takes aim in waist-deep snow in "Voices of a Never Ending Dawn."​Voices of a Never Ending Dawn, a documentary on the 5,500 young American soldiers who were unexpe ... More >>

Wax On, Wax Off: "Echo Beach" Available on DVD

Echo Beach, a documentary film about the contagious, raucous surf scene that rooted itself in Newport Beach in the 1980s, is finally available on DVD. We've spent a lot of time looking at the Echo Beach era of Orange County's surf culture. There was the touring schedule of last year's documentar ... More >>

John Stern: Neither "Inglourious" Nor "Basterd"

​A filmmaker is exposing the world to the little-told story of Jewish Americans who banded together to fight Nazis during World War II.No, the filmmaker is not Quentin Tarantino and the story is not the fictional one told in his film Inglourious Basterds, which not only won at the weekend box offi ... More >>

Laguna Film Society Gets Local

For years, the Laguna Beach Film Society (LBFS) has presented foreign films and American independent features and documentaries to its members and non-members who attend screenings at South Coast Cinema or the Festival of Arts grounds. Keiko Beatie, formerly of the Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF) ... More >>

Jonathan Rach's Documentary Reveals the True Side of the Warped Tour

NBFF Art and Architecture Films Get Another Local Screening

Julius Shulman's most-famous shot.One of the better documentaries to screen at April's Newport Beach Film Festival was Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman, a love letter to the 98-year-old, Brooklyn-born Angeleno who photographed the architectural modern ... More >>

Seraphine is Big Winner at Newport Beach Film Fest

The "French Spotlight" film Seraphine, which is from France and Belgium, was the big jury-award winner at the just-concluded 10th anniversary Newport Beach Film Festival. The film nearly swept the jury's feature-film categories, winning best film, actor (Ulrich Tukur), actress (Yolande Moreau), dire ... More >>

Earth Day Gets the Shorts at Newport Beach Film Fest

Blue Gold: World Water WarsEarth Day is Wednesday, but the Newport Beach Film Festival (NBFF), in partnership with the Newport Bay Naturalists and Friends and the Orange County Parks Department, celebrates Sunday, April 26. A program of Earth Day-appropriate short films, curated by the festival's co ... More >>

KOCE Diocese of Orange Docu Blind To Reality

One of my favorite channels is KOCE-TV Channel 50's OC Channel, available only on digital antennas (and have you changed your analog TV yet to satisfy the NWO?). It airs nothing but Orange County-related material--not just reruns of KOCE's Real Orange and Inside OC with Rick Reiff, but also weird in ... More >>

OC Filmmaker's Larry Norman Doc to Screen in Town Where Father of Christian Rock's Music Career Took Off

Our cover story "Rock Angel: Garden Grove filmmaker David Di Sabatino is drawn to charismatic but damaged Christians. But nothing prepared him for Larry Norman" tells the story of the torture the director of Frisbee: The Life and Death of a Hippie Preacher experienced making his follow-up documentar ... More >>

[Special Screenings] Local Showings of 'A Hard Day's Night,' 'The Big Lebowski,' 'A Christmas Story'

[Special Screenings] Local Showings of 'The Mummy,' 'Fifth Element,' 'Network,' More

[Special Screenings] Local Showings of 'Iraq for Sale,' 'The Matrix,' More

[Special Screenings] Local Screenings of 'Sir! No Sir' and More

[Special Screenings] Local Showings of 'Back to the Future,' 'Scarface,' More

Darfur Now College Tour's SoCal Stop

A documentary film and a concert will take place on UCLA's campus May 28 and 29, respectively, in order to raise funds and awareness for Darfur Now, which is committed to helping alleviate humanitarian problems stemming from the ongoing conflict in Darfur, Sudan. Press release after the cut. Tra ... More >>

NBFF: That's a wrap for 2008

I've been hesitant to write the final blog post in the festival because doing so would acknowledge that it's over. But all things must pass. And if you gotta go out, go out with a blowout: the closing night party concluded with a massive electricity blackout at the Lido and surrounding area. Since t ... More >>

Bigger Than Life: Our Exclusive Preview of the Best (and Worst) at the Newport Beach Film Festival

[Special Screenings] Local Showings of 'El Brindis,' More

Special Screenings

Movie of the Week: New Year Baby

LAFF 2007: Dancin' to the Jailhouse Doc

Get Sicko This Saturday - Updated

Michael Moore's new film Sicko, a comedic documentary about the U.S. health care system, opens nationwide June 29—but this Saturday (June 23), the University Town Center theater will be hosting a special sneak preview, presumably to get ahead of all the bootlegs that have been leaking out. UPDAT ... More >>

Welcome to the Grindhouse

Newport Beach Film Festival is our very own cinematic grab bag

Twelve Films I'm Excited to See

(And eight I plan to avoid like the plague)

Special Screenings

The Princess Bride

The Awful Truth in Austin, Texas

The case against Michael Moore and for B-list celebs at SXSW

Special Screenings

Movie of the Week: Jacob's Ladder

Special Screenings

Movie of the Week: The Execution of Private Slovik

Iraq's Cinema of Longing

A conversation with director James Longley

Special Screenings

Movie of the Week: The Searchers

Special Screenings

Special 'choose your own movie of the week' week!

Special Screenings

Movie(s) of the Week: A Bucket of Blood and Bride of Frankenstein

Hardcore on Top

American Hardcore, the documentary about the rapid-fire aggro punk that exploded in Orange County circa 1980 (we just wrote about the film here and here), was last week's No. 1 movie at Edwards University in Irvine. That, of course, means it'll be sticking around awhile longer for you tatted, jack-b ... More >>

Special Screenings

Movie of the Week: Repo Man

All Charged Up

Who Killed the Electric Car? filmmaker Chris Paine turned anger to action

Electric Cars Zapped to Life?

We began our review of Who Killed the Electric Car? by describing the funeral that opens the new documentary. In his Newsweek column, Brad Stone does the same thing--before going on to say the funeral may have been premature.

Cult-Classic Cleavage

OnDVD: Beyond the Valley of the Dolls: Collectors Edition

After the Crash

2006 Newport Beach Film Festival has a tough act to follow

Revised for the Web!

Troubled Man

The deeply disturbed life and times of a musical prodigy

Whassup? Docs!

2005 is the year of the documentary at Newport Beach film fest

Get Your Geek On

NBFF presents movies youll be ashamed to love

Blind Spots, Indeed

Hitler, what a bastard . . . who knew?

Both Sides Now

Control Room director observed different perceptions of same Iraq war

Lush Life

Bukowski in and out of his cups

Agit-Docs

Moviehouses reflect the summer of our discontent

Newport Beach Film Festival: Schedule of events

Compiled by Greg Stacy

Eight Must-sees

Picture Perfect

Newport Beach Film Festival 2002