Sep 06, 2007

MALIBU CELEBRATION OF FILM ANNOUNCES LINE UP OF

AWARD-WINNING FEATURE FILMS

Opening Night Film honors FILMS’COOL’ and The Motion Picture Fund with

“Man in the Chair”

MALIBU, CA (September 4, 2007) – Malibu Celebration of Film announced its line-up of “The Best of The Best” from 2007 of award winning feature films for its 2nd Annual film showcase on Sept 28th – 30th in Malibu, CA.   MCOF’s opening night screening will feature “Man in the Chair,” starring Christopher Plummer and Robert Wagner, directed by Michael Schroeder, the star-studded opening night will feature a special presentation hosted by The Motion Picture Fund and will take place at the Calamigos Ranch on Sept. 28th, 2007. 

Executive Director Kim Jackson and Artistic Director Nancy Collet selected the “Best of the Best” of award-winning films from US and International festivals including AFI, Sundance, Toronto, Zlin International Film Festival, Netherlands Film Festival and more. 13 films from 7 countries are scheduled to screen and have collectively won 35 film festival awards in several major categories.

Films’COOL’, The Celebration’s high school and undergraduate new talent short film competition co-chaired by Amy Madigan & Ed Harris and hosted by Daniel Stern, kicks off the festival on Friday, Sept 28th at 10:00 AM at Pepperdine University’s Smothers Theater.

MCOF is also screening retrospective films including “F For Fake”, the last major film completed by Orson Welles and a silent film screening of  “Heart O’ The Hills”, starring Mary Pickford, featuring a live score performed by The Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Scott Hosfeld and performances by Maria Newman.

Says Jackson, “We’re honored to have the opportunity to showcase such mindful and authentic storytelling.”

The closing night features a special advance outdoor screening of “Sharkwater” directed by Rob Stewart, held under the full moon at Malibu’s Bluffs Park.  The closing night Green themed celebration at the legendary Malibu Inn Bar & Restaurant, honors MCOF’s commitment to the environment and its partnership with The Hollywood Green Team.

Films in the Narrative Category include:

BELLA (Mexico)

Alejandro Gomez Monteverde – Director

Starring Eduardo Verastegui, Tammy Blanchard, Manny Perez, Ali Landry

An emotional tale of self-discovery, two people whose lives are about to be changed forever discover that sometimes it takes losing it all to finally appreciate the things that truly matter.

• People’s Choice Award at the 2006 Toronto Intl Film Festival

CUTTIN DA MUSTARD (USA)

Reed R. McCants – Director

A comedy that chronicles the lives of young aspiring actors who battle slings and arrows in the process of creating a community theater company.

• The Festival Choice Award at the 2007 Pan African Film & Arts Festival

GRACE IS GONE (USA)

James Strouse – Director

Starring John Cusack

Upon hearing his wife was killed the Iraq war, a father takes his two daughters on a road trip.

• Audience Award Winner for Drama and Sundance Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival

LITTLE HEROES (Israel)

Itai Lev – Director

Starring Avigail Ariely, Tzion Baruch, Daniel Damidov

A group of four children go on an adventurous journey throughout Israel’s scenic wilderness in hopes of finding some missing teens.

• Winner of the Golden Slipper for Best Feature Film for Children at the 2007 Zlin Intl. Film Festival for Children and Youth

MAN IN THE CHAIR (USA)

Michael Schroeder – Director

Starring Christopher Plummer, Michael Angarano, M. Emmet Walsh,

Robert Wagner, Joshua Boyd 

A rebellious 17 year old from a broken home is a fanatical film buff who longs to be an important cutting edge filmmaker. He gets the opportunity to pursue his dream when he enters a prestigious student competition, which offers the winner a scholarship to their Hollywood motion picture school.

• Winner of Best Ensemble Cast and Best Director’s Award at 2007 Method Fest
• Best American Film at the 2007 Santa Barbara Film Festival
• Best Feature Film at the 2007 Kent Film Festival
• Audience Choice Award and Best Feature at 2007 Stony Brook Film Festival
• Best Actor Christopher Plummer at 2007 Palm Beach International Film Festival

OWL AND THE SPARROW (Vietnam/USA)

Stephane Gauger – Director

Starring Cat Ly, The Lu Le, Han Thi Pham

In modern-day Saigon, three lonely strangers form a unique family as a ten-year old orphan plays matchmaker to a zookeeper and a beautiful flight attendant.

• Winner of the Audience Award, Best Narrative Feature at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival

Films in the documentary category include:

BUDDHA’S LOST CHILDREN (Netherlands)

Mark Verkerk – Director

A Thai Buddhist monk armed only with his faith and master boxer skills, wages an inspirational battle to help orphaned children, fight drug abuse, and preserve a vanishing way of life.

• Grand Jury Prize for Documentary at the 2006 AFI Festival
• Best Global Insight Film at the 2007 Jackson Hole Film Festival
• Winner of 2006 City of Rome Prize
• Winner of Silver Dove at 2006 DOK Leipzig Festival
• Crystal Film Award at the 2007 at the Netherlands Film Festival
• Jury Award Winner for Best Documentary at the 2007 Newport Beach Film Festival

HEAR AND NOW (USA)

Irene Taylor Brodsky – Director

Hosted by Women In Film LA

In this deeply personal memoir, filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky documents her deaf parents' complex decision to leave their world of silence and undergo a dangerous surgery to get cochlear implants -- the only one of its kind that can restore a sense.

• Winner of the Audience Award for Best Documentary Film at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival

PLEASE VOTE FOR ME (China)

Weijun Chen – Director

Director Weijun Chen conducts an experiment in democracy on a third grade class at Evergreen Primary School in Wuhan, a city in central China. The class has its

first encounter with this idea by holding an election for Class Monitor.  The purpose of Weijun Chen's experiment is to determine whether politicians all over the world behave the same ways, regardless of age or culture.

• Sterling Award for Best Feature at 2007 SILVERDOCS

SHARKWATER (Canada)

Rob Stewart – Director

Filmed in visually stunning, high definition video, Sharkwater takes the viewer into the most shark rich waters of the world, exposing the exploitation and corruption surrounding the world's shark populations in the marine reserves of Cocos Island, Costa Rica and the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador.

• Best Doc Winner, Spirit of Independents, People’s Choice at 2006 Fort Lauderdale Intl. Film Festival
• Jury Award Winner at 2006 Hawaii Intl. Film Festival
• People’s Choice at 2006 Atlantic Film Festival
• Best of the Festival at 2007 Palm Springs Intl. Film Festival
• Audience Award and Best Feature at 2007 Gen Art Film Festival
• Best Musical Adaptation at Antibes, France
• Prix Planete Thalassa at Antibes, France
• International Documentary Winner at 2006 Beverly Hills Hi-Def Film Festival
• Canada’s Top Ten at 2006 Toronto International Film Festival

WAR / DANCE (USA)

Andrea Nix Fine, Sean Fine – Directors

Three children living in a displacement camp in northern Uganda compete in their country's national music and dance festival.

• Directing Award at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival
• Audience Award Winner at the 2007 Wisconsin Film Festival

Retrospective Films include:

F FOR FAKE (FRANCE/IRAN/WEST GERMANY 1974) (USA 1975)

Orson Welles – Director

Trickery. Deceit. Magic. In Orson Welles’s free-form documentary F for Fake, the legendary filmmaker (and self-described charlatan) gleefully engages the central preoccupation of his career—the tenuous line between truth and illusion, art and lies.

Beginning with portraits of world-renowned art forger Elmyr de Hory and his equally devious biographer, Clifford Irving, Welles embarks on a dizzying cinematic journey that simultaneously exposes and revels in fakery and fakers of all stripes—not the least of whom is Welles himself. Charming and inventive, F for Fake is an inspired prank and searching examination of the essential duplicity of cinema. It also happens to be the last film completed by Welles.

HEART O’ THE HILLS (USA 1919)

(Silent Film Featuring a live performance by the Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra)

Hosted by The Film Musician Secondary Markets Fund

Sidney A. Franklin and Joseph De Grasse – Directors

Starring Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks

Wild, hell raising, Kentucky farm girl Mavis Hawn (Mary Pickford) has devoted her life to avenging the death of her father, shot by an unknown man. Meanwhile, her mother’s farm is threatened by rich city capitalists who are out to drive them off their coal-rich lands. Mavis experiences the outside world at its best and worst – love, revenge and murder – before she finds true happiness. As one inter-title reads, “Tragedies are quickly forgotten in the mountains.”

Produced by the Mary Pickford Co., “Heart O’ The Hills features the actress at the peak of her career, when she was one of the most famous women in the world. Pickford was also one of the founders of The Motion Picture and Television Fund.

During the Malibu Celebration of Film’s three-day event, audiences are estimated to be up to 1,000 per screening at diverse locations such as Calamigos Ranch for Opening Night, outdoors at Malibu Bluffs Park and indoors at two Pepperdine University theaters.

Panels:

Hosted by Diesel, A Book Store

Sept 29th, 2:00 PM Raitt Hall, Pepperdine University

From Page to Screen with Peter Dunne, Catherine, A. Jones, John Logan and Trevor Albert.

Sept 30th, 2:00 PM Raitt Hall, Pepperdine University

The Art of Film Criticism with Leonard Maltin and Kenneth Turan

Motion Picture and Television Fund

Established in 1921 as the Motion Picture Relief Fund, the Motion Picture and Television Fund (MPTF) has been enriching the lives of people in Southern California entertainment community by continuously evolving to meet their health and human services needs. MPTF is dedicated to offering programs and charitable services, which are provided with compassion and respect for the dignity of the whole person. Going far beyond traditional health care, MPTF offers a continuum of care for the very young and the elderly by providing quality medical and surgical services, health care, child care, residential living and care for older adults. For more information please visit the website. www.mptvfund.org

The Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra

The Malibu Coast Chamber Orchestra was formed in 2006 by Music Director and Conductor, Scott Hosfeld. Comprised of Internationally recognized chamber musicians and soloists, its members are among the finest in their field. Dedicated to bringing great music to the coast community of Malibu, the MCCO regularly gathers in the beach city, as well as convening for concert tours.

The Hollywood Green Team

The Hollywood Green Team (HGT) is a non-profit, all-volunteer organization that works with entertainment based events to make them more environmentally friendly by recycling and reducing the waste created at these events. Formed in 1999, the HGT has been invited to and/or given on-the-ground "greening" to some of the most important entertainment events in the world (Cannes Film Festival, Slamdance, AFI Fest, AVP.)

Malibu Celebration of Film

MCOF was founded by esteemed Malibu community locals Bob Klein, David Lyons and Delores Rivellino. The festival’s Board of Directors are Bob Klein, Judith Gersten, Marnie Mitze and Marc Sternberg. Seasoned film festival and entertainment industry professional Kim Jackson is the festival’s executive director.
 
MCOF has a prestigious Advisory Board of members from the Malibu community, which include Kathleen Quinlan Abbott, Bruce Abbott, Lisette Ackerberg, David Arquette. Robert and Joan Chimento, Roger Corman, Courtney Cox-Arquette, Grant Gerson, Brian Helgeland, Norman Jewison, Lora Kennedy, Tea Leoni, Ali MacGraw, Grace Slick, Douglas Day Stewart, Dick and Michelle Van Dyke.  For more information please visit the website. www.MCOF.org