IndependentFilm.com

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Oct. 10 /PRNewswire/ -- The Hollywood Film Festival(R), co-chaired by Paula Wagner and presented by STARZ, is pleased to be celebrating its 10th Anniversary. In keeping with its mission to bridge the gap between established Hollywood and the global creative community, the festival will once again present works of emerging filmmakers this year.

The festival's Board of Advisors has unveiled the line-up of the finalists for this year's festival, as well as the Hollywood Awards nominees and honorees. The announcement was made today by Carlos de Abreu, Founder and Executive Director of the festival. The films include features, documentaries, shorts, and music videos from around the world, including films from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Holland, India, Italy, New Zealand, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Uganda, the Ukraine, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The screenings will take place from October 18 to 22 at ArcLight Cinemas (6360 Sunset Blvd.)

With programming of both domestic and international films, the festival will present over 80 films, including gala and world premieres of 20th Century Fox's "FLICKA" by Michael Mayer, starring Alison Lohman and Tim McGraw, on Wednesday, October 18, STARZ's "BUY THE TICKET, TAKE THE RIDE: HUNTER S. THOMPSON ON FILM" by Tom Thurman, featuring Johnny Depp, Benicio Del Toro, Sean Penn, John Cusack, and Bill Murray, among others, on Thursday, October 19, and DreamWorks Animation's "FLUSHED AWAY," by David Bowers and Sam Fell, starring the vocal talents of Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, and Ian McKellen on Sunday, October 22.

"The films that were selected for the festival are truly outstanding and showcase a wide array of talented filmmakers," commented Mr. de Abreu. "This year's line-up will present an excellent cross section of independent cinema from around the world," he added.

Also, to continue with one of its mandates -- giving a voice to the voiceless through the visual medium -- some of its premieres include "IN A SOLDIER'S FOOTSTEPS," "UGANDA RISING," and "THE EMPIRE OF AFRICA." These films highlight the human atrocities plaguing Africa today, in the hope of contributing to the end of the brutality.

The festival's closing night screenings include Phillip Noyce's "CATCH A FIRE," a drama about terrorism in Apartheid-era South Africa, revolving around a policeman (Tim Robbins) and a young man (Derek Luke) who carries out solo acts against the regime.

The Hollywood Film Festival(R) also continues to honor excellence in the art of filmmaking with a special presentation of films by Academy Award- winning filmmaker Oliver Stone. The program will feature his award-winning films "SALVADOR" and "BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY" on Saturday, October 21, and "PLATOON" followed by "WORLD TRADE CENTER" on Sunday, October 22. A discussion with Oliver Stone will be held following the screenings of "BORN ON THE FOURTH OF JULY" and "WORLD TRADE CENTER."

In addition, this year's nominees for the Hollywood World Awards(R) are: "12:08 East of Bucharest" (Romania) directed by Corneliu Porumboiu; "Buenos Aires, 1977" (Argentina) directed by Adrian Caetano; "Climates" (Turkey, France) directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan; "Grbavica" (Austria, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Germany, Croatia) directed by Jasmila Zbanic; "The Lives of Others" (Germany) directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck; "Pan's Labyrinth" (Mexico, Spain) directed by Guillermo del Toro; "The Queen" (UK, France, Italy) directed by Stephen Frears; "Red Road" (UK, Denmark) directed by Andrea Arnold; "Volver" (Spain) directed by Pedro Almodovar; and "The Wind That Shakes the Barley" (Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Ireland, UK) directed by Ken Loach.

And the nominees for the Hollywood Movie of the Year Awards(R) are: "Cars" directed by John Lasseter; "The Da Vinci Code" directed by Ron Howard; "The Devil Wears Prada" directed by David Frankel; "Little Miss Sunshine" directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris; "Mission: Impossible III" directed by J. J. Abrams; "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" directed by Gore Verbinski; "Superman Returns" directed by Bryan Singer; "United 93" directed by Paul Greengrass; "World Trade Center" directed by Oliver Stone; and "X-Men: The Last Stand" directed by Brett Ratner. The winner is decided by the public voting at the Yahoo! Movies Website -- movies.yahoo.com

The festival is also presenting the Hollywood Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy Festival showcase of horror films on October 20, 21, and 22 in alliance with Film Threat.

This year's industry professionals who will be honored for their achievements at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony include Sony Pictures Classics' co-Presidents Michael Barker and Tom Bernard for leadership; the Film Foundation for film preservation; Robin Williams for career achievement; Oliver Stone for directing; Mike Medavoy for producing; Forest Whitaker, Penelope Cruz, Ben Affleck, and Sandra Bullock for acting, the cast of "Bobby" (Harry Belafonte, Joy Bryant, Nick Cannon, Emilio Estevez, Laurence Fishburne, Brian Geraghty, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt, Joshua Jackson, David Krumholtz, Ashton Kutcher, Shia LaBeouf, Lindsay Lohan, William H. Macy, Svetlana Metkina, Demi Moore, Freddy Rodriguez, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater, Sharon Stone, Jacob Vargas, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, and Elijah Wood) for ensemble acting; Eric Roth for screenwriting; Vilmos Zsigmond for cinematography; Joel Cox for editing; Gustavo Santaolalla for film composing; John Myhre for production design; Penny Rose for costume design; Kris Evans for make-up; John Knoll for visual effects; Disney/Pixar's "Cars," directed by John Lasseter, for animation; and Francine Maisler for casting. In addition, Derek Luke and Lindsay Lohan will be honored with the festival's Breakthrough Actor and Actress awards, and Ryan Murphy with the "Hollywood Breakthrough Director of the Year Award."

The 2006 Annual Hollywood Film Festival(R) will take place from October 18 to 23. The festival's screenings take place at ArcLight Theatres in Hollywood. Its Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, Monday, October 23.

Starz Entertainment Group LLC (SEG) is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. SEG offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz(R) and Encore(R) brands with approximately 14 million and 26 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment Group airs more than 1,000 movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HDTV, Starz On Demand and Vongo(SM). Starz Entertainment Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, http://www.starz.com/.

For more information and complete list of the line-up please go to http://www.hollywoodfestival.com/

Source: Hollywood Film Festival

Web site: http://www.hollywoodfestival.com/
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