TINSELTOWN SPYWITNESS.

Byline: Elizabeth Snead and Jennifer Sklar

HELLO MUDDAH, HELLO FADDUH: Everyone camped it up at the IFC premiere of ``Camp'' at the Wadsworth Theatre, followed by the Los Angeles Film Festival's closing night fete held outside on Saturday.

``Camp'' was written/directed by Todd Graff and based on Stagedoor, a real theatrical summer camp in the Catskills where top stars such as Robert Downey Jr. and Natalie Portman have spent summer vacations. The film is a funny, bittersweet, engaging and uplifting inside look at the confused lives of a dozen gifted youngsters, featuring a real score of fresh faces including Daniel Letterle and Joanna Chilcoat. ``Camp'' comes to theaters July 25.

Indie film hero John C. Reilly, who starred in two Oscar-nominated films this past year (``Chicago'' and ``Gangs of New York'') was on hand to present the festival awards, along with host/fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi. Also in attendance were Jake Gyllenhaal, Alessandro Nivola and his wife, Emily Mortimer, Jon Cryer, Bai Ling and Crystal Bernard (``Wings'').

The big-bucks festival winners: Paxton Winters for ``Crude,'' which won the best narrative feature; Tracy Droz Tragos for ``Be Good, Smile Pretty,'' best documentary; Peter Mullan's ``The Magdalene Sisters,'' winner of the audience award for best narrative; and Laura Gabbert's ``Sunset Story,'' audience award for best documentary.

Mizrahi, the subject of a '95 indie film, ``Unzipped,'' is ready for his next close-up. ``I think it's about time for another independent film, don't you?'' he asked the captive audience. Meanwhile he's whipped up a clothing line for Target, a major contributor to cultural arts events like the film festival. ``It's because of nights like these that I'm not at Wal- Mart,'' he joked.

IT'S BRAINTASTIC: Celebrities including emcee Mo'Nique, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, Debbie Allen, Orlando Jones and Montel Williams stopped by the Warner Bros. backlot in Burbank to have fun at the kid-packed Braintastic event benefiting the Brain Trust at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

``I am so blessed not to have cancer in my family, and it means a lot to me to come out and support the kids,'' said ``American Dreams'' co-star Vanessa Lengies, who made a little boy's day when she gave him a Harry Potter toy after he could not win one of the carnival games on his own. ``Just to see his tears turn to happiness was awesome,'' she said.

The Olsen sisters made 9-year-old Karla Barberena's day when they arrived to surprise the girl, who just last month went through an operation to remove a rare brain tumor. Karla had told someone at Cedars-Sinai that all she wanted was to meet the mogul twins, and it turned out that the son of one of the hospital's employees knew the Olsens. He asked them to join the the fun at Braintastic to surprise Karla, and they agreed.

A tent kept the activities safe from the weekend rain, which did not deter many from attending. Co-host Denzel Washington was scheduled to appear but could not make it, leaving his wife, Pauletta, to enjoy the festivities on her own. Kids and adults alike got fake tattoos, balloon animals, kettle corn and hamburgers, proving you don't need sun to have a carnival.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) LETTERLE, CHILCOAT: Good evening, ``Camp''-ers

(2) MARY-KATE and ASHLEY OLSEN: Brain activity.

Eric Charbonneay/BEImages