Oceanside Film Festival announces 2016 schedule

It’s been five years since Dmitriy Demidov and the Oceanside Cultural Arts Foundation revived the Oceanside International Film Festival. In that time it’s grown from a few-day gathering to a weeklong celebration that lays claim to being the biggest festival of its kind in North County.

This year’s 60-film lineup boasts entries from the U.S., Spain, Greece, Singapore, Ireland, Turkey, United Kingdom, Malaysia, Canada, Denmark, Switzerland, and Australia.

The red carpet rolls out at 2 p.m. on Sunday, August 7 with an Opening Day Gala at the Star Theatre, 402 North Coast Hwy. The first film scheduled to hit the screen is Keep in Touch, winner of last year’s OIFF Jury Award for Best Picture and Audience Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature Film.

The festival runs through Sunday the 14th with titles packaged in blocks to, as the press release states, “suit everybody’s taste.” This year’s categories include Environmental, Animation, Science-Fiction & Fantasy, Drama, World Beat, Coming of Age, Comedy, Gay & Lesbian, Horror, Emotional & Sentimental Appeal, Social Awareness, Military, and Surfing.

Tickets for the opening night festivities run $25, while seats for the closing-night awards gala fetch $35. One-day admission tickets go for $15 with a $5 discount for seniors, military, or students. The $50 festival pass ($35 for seniors, military, or students) buys you six days of movies! For more information, visit their site.

One minor quagmire. According to the festival schedule, the Star “used to be the largest movie theater in San Diego County.” What does “largest” mean? Screen size? Number of seats? Auditorium dimension? According to CinemaTreasures.org, the Star opened in August, 1956. The number of seats has decreased over the years from an opening day high of 986 to its current capacity of 446. The California, the abandoned shell of which still sits on the corner of Fourth and C, could accommodate 1750 and probably had the Star’s screen beat by a good 20 feet.

Surely there must be one cinephile among us that can help put this question to rest. Your help would be greatly appreciated.