The Hollywood Film Festival(r) and Hollywood Awards(r), presented by STARZ, has unveiled the line-up of the finalists for this year’s festival, as well as the Hollywood Awards(r) nominees and honorees. The announcement was made today by Carlos de Abreu, Founder and Executive Director of the festival. HFF also announced the nominees for the Hollywood World Awards(r) and the Hollywood Movie of the Year Awards(r).
The 11th Annual Hollywood Film Festival(r) will take place October 17 to 21 at ArcLight Cinemas. This year’s festival, once again, will highlight the films of emerging filmmakers. The program includes the opening night USA premiere of Norway’s Oscar(r) contender, “GONE WITH THE WOMAN,” by Petter Naess, the centerpiece premieres of STARZ’s “BLOODSUCKING CINEMA,” by Barry Gray, MGM’s “MUSIC WITHIN,” directed by Steven Sawalich and starring Ron Livingston, Rebecca De Mornay and Michael Sheen; James Franco’s “GOOD TIME MAX”; director Charles Oliver’s “TAKE,” starring Minnie Driver and Jeremy Renner; Stephen Eckelberry’s “THE MIRROR,” starring Kelly LeBrock, Erin Cahill and Thaao Penghlis; and Amir Mann’s “THE FIFTH PATIENT” starring Nick Chinlund, Isaach DeBankole and Brendan Fehr and the closing night premiere of director Uwe Boll’s uncensored cut of “POSTAL.” In attendance will be Uwe Boll, Chris Coppola, Zack Ward, Chris Spencer, Jackie Thon, Michael Benyar and Dave Foley
The festival’s programming includes features, documentaries, shorts and music videos from around the world, including films from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. For film program, screening schedule, and festival event information, please visit the festival’s website at HollywoodFestival.com
Continuing its mandate of giving a voice to the voiceless through the visual medium, the festival will also showcase important documentaries highlighting individuals and their hardships — from Teddy Leifer’s “WE ARE TOGETHER,” Karen Gehres’s “BEGGING NAKED,” and Johnson McKelvy’s “KABUL GIRLS CLUB” to Sara Bavar’s “GENERATION TEHRAN” and Aida Schlaepfer’s “GANGS OF BAGHDAD.”
The festival will also continue its tradition of highlighting genre films by screening horror shorts and features. The closing night premiere will be director Uwe Boll’s uncensored cut of “POSTAL.” In attendance will be Uwe Boll, Chris Coppola, Zack Ward, Chris Spencer, Jackie Thon, Michael Benyar and Dave Foley
In addition, the festival has announced the nominees, chosen by a Blue Ribbon Selection Committee, for their “Hollywood World Awards(r).” The award has become a key predictor of foreign films that are set to receive kudos in the year’s awards season. The festival has also announced the nominees for this year’s “Hollywood Movie of the Year Awards(r).” The winner will be decided by the public voting at the Yahoo! Movies website – movies.yahoo.com
This year’s nominees for the “Hollywood World Awards(r)” are: “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days” (Romania) directed by Cristian Mungiu; “Alexandra” (Russia) directed by Aleksandr Sokurov; “The Band’s Visit” (Israel) directed by Eran Kolirin; “Control” (UK) directed by Anton Corbijn; “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (France) directed by Julian Schnabel; “The Edge of Heaven” (Germany/Turkey) directed by Fatih Akin; “Import/Export” (Austria) directed by Ulrich Seidl; “Persepolis” (France) directed by Vincent Paronnaud and Marjane Satrapi; “Secret Sunshine” (South Korea) directed by Chang-dong Lee; and “Silent Light” (Mexico) directed by Carlos Reygadas.
This year’s nominees for the “Hollywood Movie of the Year Awards(r)” are: “300” directed by Zack Snyder; “The Bourne Ultimatum” directed by Paul Greengrass; “Hairspray” directed by Adam Shankman; “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” directed by David Yates; “Ocean’s Thirteen” directed by Steven Soderbergh; “Ratatouille” directed by Brad Bird; “Shrek the Third” directed by Chris Miller; “The Simpsons Movie” directed by David Silverman; “Spider-Man 3” directed by Sam Raimi; and “Transformers” directed by Michael Bay.
The festival is also presenting the Hollywood Horror, Sci-Fi and Fantasy Festival showcase of horror films on October 19, 20, and 21 in alliance with Film Threat.
This year’s industry professionals who will be honored for their achievements at the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony include Richard Gere, Marion Cotillard, John Travolta, Jennifer Connelly, Ellen Page and Casey Affleck for acting, the cast of “Hairspray” (John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Queen Latifah, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, Allison Janney, and Nikki Blonsky) for ensemble acting; Ben Affleck and Mark Forster for directing, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron for producing, Christopher Hampton and Diablo Cody for screenwriting, “Ratatouille,” directed by Brad Bird, for animation, Mark Isham for film composing, Stephen Goldblatt for cinematography, Joe Hutshing for editing, Scott Farrar for visual effects and Dante Ferretti for production design.
The 2007 Annual Hollywood Film Festival will take place from October 17 to 22. The festival’s screenings take place at ArcLight Theatres in Hollywood. Its Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Monday, October 23.
