Editorial:

Newport Beach is one happening place to be this weekend and during the next few days. We’d like to toast three events going on around town.

The 11th annual Newport Beach Film Festival is in full gear. It opened Thursday night as stars and other glitterati descended on the Edwards Islands cinema house outside Fashion Island for the world premiere of a feature film, “Five Star Day,� which was made by filmmakers with Orange County ties.

On Friday, the 63rd annual Newport-to-Ensenada International Yacht Race sailed off, only to be followed by Saturday’s start of the second annual Border Run, a Newport-to-San Diego regatta.

The film festival, which runs through Thursday, is particularly prestigious. With an international crowd and plenty of visitors from throughout the region, the screenings can only be a boon for local commerce, including restaurants, bars, and hotels.

The Newport Beach Film Festival isn’t one of the world’s most famous film fests: Cannes, Berlin and Venice.

And it may not be as well known as the Sundance Film Festival, but Newport is hip and seems to have some of the spirit of hungry, edgy and independent film-making that the Park City, Utah, festival originally had when Robert Redford founded it.

Although still relatively young, the Newport film fest has produced an Oscar-winner for best picture, the feature film “Crash,� which debuted at Newport and won the Academy Award in that category for the 2005-06 season.

This year’s festival will showcase up to 364 films, ranging from features, shorts and documentaries by filmmakers from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Europe and elsewhere. The festival also showcases some unique categories, such as its rubric on art, architecture and design, and an oh-so O.C. segment devoted to Action Sports.

This event is adding some exciting new venues to the program, including the new theater at the Sage Hill School in Newport Coast and the Regency South Coast Village Theater, the art house cinema that sits on the Santa Ana side of West Sunflower Avenue across from South Coast Plaza.

So go out, snap up at least one ticket — while tickets are still available — and enjoy the show!