The 2016 Newport Beach Film Festival opened for its 17th edition with the quasi-family drama, After The Reality, to a six-screen, sold-out crowd at the Edwards Big Six in Newport Beach California. Movie-goers anxiously waited in a line that extended out onto the sidewalk of Newport Center Drive.

At approximately 7:47 P.M. the cinephiles in Theater Six were welcomed to the festival by Newport Beach Film Festival Founder and Executive Director Greg Schwenk. Schwenk reminisced about the last seventeen years before giving way to Newport Beach Mayor, Diane Dixon. Dixon, decked out in a striking red outfit stressed the vital role the festival has come to play in the airy Newport Beach community  and predicted it will continue to grow in stature as a major lifestyle film festival with its already present world-class appeal. While not downplaying the opening film, Dixon confessed she was already looking forward to seeing Dirty Old Wedge, a popular Newport surfing area with a storied history.

Without any more adieu, the 17th edition of the Newport Beach Film Festival was underway.