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A Buffet of a Film Festival: History, Indie, Cartoons

The inaugural West Coast Film festival opens Aug. 21 at the Regency Theatre in downtown San Juan Capistrano.

There will be classics, documentaries and independent films. In the words of organizer Robert Kline, it will be “a buffet for movie fans.”

Taking place Aug. 21-25, the movie smorgasbord called the West Coast Film Festival includes screenings of new, small indie productions; rare, vintage Looney Toons cartoons; and a tribute to silent-film star Mary Pickford.

Because blockbusters generally come out to theaters midsummer, leaving a lull at theaters as fall approaches, the on Verdugo Street will host the festival, organized by San Juan Capistrano residents Kline and his wife, Stephanie Heredia.

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In the past year and a half, they've cultivated relationships with Regency CEO Lyndon Golin and local general manager, Larry Porricelli.

“I've had this vision for a long time, before Regency’s incredible restoration. It was much like Field of Dreams. If a theater was built, the people will come,” Heredia said of the inaugural festival. 

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Heredia is a producer of documentaries. On the Wings of Penguins, her most recent film, will be featured at the festival Wednesday afternoon as part of a double feature.

The festival will open at noon on Aug. 21 with a presentation from the Mary Pickford Museum, as, according to the Regency's website, “Pickford made many films in [San Juan Capistrano] for producer D.W. Griffith.”

The audience will see a Pickford film from 1915 and one that premiered in 1921.

Kline recently . Now he's pulling longer strings: Warner Bros. will be a key cog in the festival (it will give away 150 four-disc sets of Ben Hur and is responsible for the Looney Toons cartoons). And, according to Kline, there will be a world-premiere sneak preview of a high-profile action film from Lions Gate Entertainment.

Although he's yet to reveal the title, Kline said it's a movie about Marines. A group of Camp Pendleton’s military will be in attendance.

The festival, he said, “requires more work than one of my high-budget features, so I don’t want this to be simply a one-time thing. We will lay the foundation this year.”

To make the festival appealing to younger crowds, Kline and Heredia are sprinkling in some fresh indie films.

Spork earned the audience award at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival. It will screen along with Wuss, a comedy about an English schoolteacher beaten up by his students.

“There are plenty of options for everyone,” Kline said.

For more information about the film festival and to purchase tickets, visit the Regency's website.

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