Evening actress Mamie Gummer is interviewed on the red carpet in Newport. Behind her, at left, is co-star Claire Danes.

THE PROVIDENCE JOURNAL / Ruben W. Perez Ruben W. Perez

NEWPORT — It was lights, cameras and lots of action in Washington Square Park last night as actresses Claire Danes and Mamie Gummer (daughter of Meryl Streep), Hungarian-born director Lojos Koltai and screenwriter Michael Cunningham walked the red carpet.

The movie Evening, which was filmed in Newport and Tiverton, had a special screening at the Jane Pickens Theatre and Opera House Cinema. The official premiere of the film is tomorrow in New York City.

The street outside the theaters was closed off as more than 300 onlookers and 800 movie-goers watched the Hollywood-style festivities. Flashbulbs went off and the crowd applauded as celebrities, including the movie’s producer, Jeffrey Sharp, and TV’s Brotherhood co-stars Jason Isaacs and Jason Clarke, and such dignitaries as Governor Carcieri and his wife, Attorney General Patrick Lynch and Providence Municipal Court Judge Frank Caprio walked the red carpet into the sold-out Jane Pickens Theatre.

“I’d come back to Newport any time if I had the right script. It felt like home,” said director Koltai. “I will not be watching the movie tonight. I’ll be milling around the theater, and if something goes wrong in the projection room I’m here to help out.”

Danes, whose career took off after the short-lived TV series My So-Called Life, wore a purple dress under a black vintage knee-length coat with a giant black button at the neck. She finished off the outfit with gold strappy sandals.

She said that she planned to watch the movie with friends at the New York City premiere. She added that her parents, Chris and Carla Danes, met at the Rhode Island School of Design in the 1960s. “That’s my only connection to Rhode Island” she said.

Gummer said that she wore a blue cocktail dress to match the colors of Newport. “I wore ocean colors,” she said

In the movie based on Susan Minot’s book of the same name, Gummer plays her mother’s character in flashback scenes. She said that she didn’t do any acting with her mother, but they had discussed the character and considered giving her a limp.

The screening was part of the Newport International Film Festival’s closing night festivities. Among the crowd milling around the red carpet was the co-founder of the 10-year-old festival, Christine Schomer, who grew up in Barrington.

She left the festival about five years ago, Schomer said. She was glad to see how it had grown. “It swells my heart,” she said.

Ginny Hebert, of Grand Rapids, Mich., said that she was visiting the city and was hoping to get a glimpse of the stars. She had just met Lisa Cohane, of Newport, who landed a job as an extra in the film.

Cohane said she came to see who from the movie had returned for the screening. She said, “I enjoyed the [filming] experience so much.”

fzuckerm@projo.com