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Swingers 10th Anniversary Reunion with Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn & Ron Livingston; Six World Premiere Features Headline Aspen Film Line Up

Special Screenings of New Robert Altman, Dave Chappelle and Paul Weitz Films; Appearances by Chevy Chase, Douglas Coupland, Illeana Douglas, Patrick Fugit, Penelope Anne Miller & Damon Wayans Highlight Program of 23 Features and 23 Shorts at 12th Annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival

Special Screenings of New Robert Altman, Dave Chappelle and Paul Weitz Films; Appearances by Chevy Chase, Douglas Coupland, Illeana Douglas, Patrick Fugit, Penelope Anne Miller & Damon Wayans Highlight Program of 23 Features and 23 Shorts at 12th Annual U.S. Comedy Arts Festival

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NEW YORK, NY February 13, 2006 – HBO and The U.S. Comedy Arts Festival (USCAF) announced the lineup today for the USCAF’s Film Discovery Program, sponsored by HBO Films, at the 12th installment of the prestigious festival to be held March 8th – 12th in Aspen, Colorado. The film program line up showcases 23 features – including 6 world premieres and 3 US premieres – 23 shorts, a celebration of the hit film “Swingers” and the return of the popular “Fireside Chats” series with the some of the major producers, buyers and distributors of independent comedy film.

Headlining the film program, “Swingers” stars Jon Favreau, Vince Vaughn and Ron Livingston will reunite in Aspen to celebrate the 10th anniversary of their hilarious film that chronicled the dating lives of the young, hip Hollywood generation and made martini lounges and swing music cool again. David Wild will moderate the event.

The USCAF will also host the World Premieres of Damon Wayans’ “Behind the Smile,” Scott Lew’s “Bickford Shmeckler’s Cool Ideas,” Leslie Greif’s “Funny Money,” Eric Steven Stahl’s “I-See-You.com,” Bruce Leddy’s “Shut Up and Sing,” and Ari Palitz’s “Unbeatable Harold.”

“By programming films alongside live performances, Aspen affords filmmakers, film buyers, television executives, comedians, writers and actors the unique opportunity to be exposed to each other,” said Kevin Haasarud, Director of the USCAF’s Film Discovery Program. “Frequently this results in collaborations and this year’s line up represents a marked increase in films by talent that has grown up in the trenches of all disciplines of comedy.”

The complete line up for the 2006 Film Discovery Program includes:
Special Screenings:
American Dreamz, directed by Paul Weitz (USA)
A Prairie Home Companion, directed by Robert Altman (USA)
Dave Chappelle’s Block Party, directed by Michel Gondry (USA)

Feature Length Narratives In Competition:
Art School Confidential, directed by Terry Zwigoff (USA)
Behind the Smile, directed by and starring Damon Wayans (USA) – World Premiere
Bickford Shmeckler’s Cool Ideas, directed by Scott Lew and starring Patrick Fugit (USA) – World Premiere
Conversations with Other Women, directed by Hans Canosa (USA)
Festival, directed by Annie Griffin (UK)
Funny Money, directed by Leslie Greif (USA) starring Chevy Chase and Penelope Anne Miller – World Premiere
Friends With Money, directed by Nicole Holofcener (USA)
I-See-You.com, directed by Eric Steven Stahl (USA) – World Premiere
Keeping Mum, directed by Niall Johnson (UK) – US and North American Premiere
Kinky Boots, directed by Julian Jarrold (UK)
Opa, directed by Udayan Prasad (Greece/USA) – US Premiere
The Sasquatch Dumpling Gang, directed by Tim Skousen (USA)
Shut Up and Sing, directed by Bruce Leddy (USA) – World Premiere
Thank You For Smoking, directed by Jason Reitman (USA)
Unbeatable Harold, directed by Ari Palitz (USA) – World Premiere

Feature Length Documentaries In Competition:
· a/k/a Tommy Chong, directed by Josh Gilbert (USA)
· Fired!, directed by Chris Bradley and starring Illeana Douglas (USA)
· Souvenir of Canada, directed by Robin Neinstein’s starring Generation X author Douglas Coupland (Canada) - U.S. Premiere,

Foreign Language:
· Adam’s Apples, directed by Thomas Anders Jensen (Denmark)
The Death of Mr. Lazarescu, directed by Cristi Puiu (Romania)

Classics:
· Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One, directed by William Greaves

Shorts In Competition
· American Storage, directed by Andrew Jay Cohen
· Angry Unpaid Hooker, directed by Steve Dildarian
· Available Men, directed by David Dean Bottrell
· A Black and White World, directed by Adam White
· Catching Kringle, directed by Jeff Wadlow
· Check Out, directed by Dan Eckman
· Chutzpah, This is?, directed by Rick Kent
· City Paradise, directed by Gaëlle Denis
· Confessions of an Animation, directed by Steve Baker
· Dupe, directed by Chris Waitt
· Every Thirty Seconds…, directed by Jeremy Corray
· Gnome, directed by Jenny Bicks
· Gopher Broke, directed by Jeff Fowler and Tim Miller
· Hooked, directed by Richie Keen
· Insight into the Enemy, directed by Sketch Armstrong
· In the Rough, directed by Paul Taylor and Tim Miller
· Jellybaby, directed by Ronan Burke and Rob Burke
· K-7, directed by Christopher Leone
· The Mustache Contest, directed by Mike Hollingsworth
· The Receipt, directed by Tim Garrick
· Road Kill, directed by Mark Mardini
· Whole, dir. Matt Flynn
· 10, directed by Scott Smith

Shorts Spotlight Screening
· Ringling School of Art & Design

Film Discovery Program Special Events
· The USCAF Film Jury Awards sponsored by Variety,and the Audience Award sponsored by Cinemax, which will be announced on Saturday, March 11th , followed by special screenings of the winning films at the Isis Theater in Aspen on Sunday, March 12th

· The Fireside Chat Series sponsored by The Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition with Bob Berney (President, Picturehouse), Daniel Battsek (President, Miramax), Lisa Henson (Co-Chairman, The Henson Co), Debbie Liebling (EVP, 20th Century Fox), Kent Alterman (EVP, New Line), and Keri Putnam (EVP HBO Films), among others.

The USCAF Mile High Club sponsored by Kodak, which brings together industry executives and filmmakers in formalized 12-minute “speed-dating” type meetings.

Ticket packages for the 2006 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen are on sale now through the USCAF box office at 1-866-350-3369 or online at www.hbocomedyfestival.com. The USCAF Aspen is sponsored by HBO, HBO Comedy, TBS, AOL, Sierra Mist, Entertainment Weekly,
NetJets, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, the Center for American Progress, the American
Film Institute and Stay Aspen Snowmass. The USCAF’s Film Discovery Program is sponsored by HBO Films, Cinemax, The Wall Street Journal Weekend Edition and Kodak

About HBO
Home Box Office, Inc. is the premium television-programming subsidiary of Time Warner Inc., providing two 24-hour premium television services, HBO and Cinemax. Together, both networks reach approximately 39 million subscribers in the United States via cable and satellite delivery. Home Box Office’s international joint ventures bring HBO branded services to more than 50 countries around the globe.

About USCAF
Since its inception in 1995, the U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen has become known as a primary launching pad for comedic talent and for hosting one-of-a-kind events such as reunions of Monty Python, SCTV, Sex and the City, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Saturday Night Live, as well as of the casts of Cheers, Animal House, Waiting for Guffman and In Living Color; The AFI Star Awards to Jim Carrey, Diane Keaton, Mike Myers, Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, Steve Martin, Billy Crystal, Albert Brooks, Rob Reiner, Robin Williams, Whoopi Goldberg; the original The Simpsons Live, and the Freedom of Speech Awards which have honored George
Carlin, Bill Maher, Dick Gregory, The Smothers Brothers, Michael Moore, August Wilson and Garry Trudeau.

In the past, strong USCAF performances by Ray Romano, Camryn Manheim, Jack Black, Eddie Izzard, Anthony Clark, Candy Ford, Bob Odenkirk, David Cross, Jason Kravitz, Loni Love and The Hollow Men among others, helped attract or solidify network deals.

The 2005 USCAF featured appearances by Jim Carrey, Conan O’Brien, cast of “Waiting for Guffman,” Garry Trudeau, Aaron McGruder; Richard “Cheech” Marin and Tommy Chong and World Premiers of features films Sarah Silverman’s “Jesus Is Magic” and Scott Marshall’s “Lucky 13.” More information is available at www.hbocomedyfestival.com

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