WORLDFEST 2013 NEWS - the 46th
WorldFest-Houston News! November 25 2012

For immediate release: 15 DECEMBER 2012 NEWS…NEWS…NEWS…NEWS!
For more info: Contact ~ Kathleen Haney, Program & Artistic Director (713) 965-9955

46TH WORLDFEST-HOUSTON SETS NEW FINAL DEADLINE! JANUARY 15th, 2013! LATE FEE IS WAIVED! This is a "Mail-By" Deadline, entries do not have to reach us then...

“FORGET SUNDANCE! …WorldFest is one of the best conceived festival productions on the planet!” ~ Craig Outhier, film critic, Phoenix press; Tempe Times.

The 46th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival continues its totally dedicated Independent Film screening format for the upcoming April 12-21, 2013 unspooling. WorldFest will screen just 50-60 feature film premieres, with a total and absolute emphasis on the American and International Independent feature films and a continuing annual spotlight on award-winning short films and documentary films. Entry forms & complete entry information are on our website (www.worldfest.org) – Click on Enter Film Festival, then on History, FAQ, Categories, Entry Form… The EarlyBird Entry Deadline is Thursday, Nov. 15th 2012 – A Mail-By Ship-By Deadline! Entries do not have to arrive by this deadline. The NEW FINAL Entry Deadline is January 15, 2013.
WorldFest Artistic and Program Director, Kathleen Haney, stated, “We are fiercely dedicated to the Indie Feature and Short Film and look for a quality selection of individual films to maintain a smaller, yet effective program rather than an overly large and unwieldy slate of 150-300 films. Haney continued, “For the 2013 WorldFest we continue to use ‘A good story, well told’ as our time-tested approach to film selection”. (For complete winner info from the past 2012 WorldFest, go to – http://www.worldfest.org – click on View the 2012 Remi Winners).
After he received the WorldFest Grand Remi Award, Ridley Scott commented “WorldFest is in the business of validating excellence!” The mission of WorldFest is to recognize and validate creative excellence in film & video production in every facet and category of filmmaking. Many filmmakers report that a Remi Award from WorldFest opens doors to advance their careers.
WorldFest will continue with its annual Short Film Showcase, a special review of 100 new short and student films...from the festival that gave first top honors to Spielberg, Lucas, The Coen Brothers, Ridley Scott, Robert Rodriguez, Spike Lee, Gavin Hood, John Lee Hancock, Michael Cimino, Leslie Linka Glatter, Oliver Stone, Ang Lee, Atom Egoyan and David Lynch, among many others! Few other festivals have such a “Discovery” track record. WorldFest has emerged as the oldest continuous film festival management in the world with the same executive director, serving for 46 consecutive years. A few other festivals are older, but they have had as many as ten different directors. It is the oldest film festival in The South, and the 3rd oldest International Film/Video Festival in North America, after San Francisco & NYC.
The 45th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival concluded with a good 20% upturn in box office. Highlights of the 45th Annual WorldFest-Houston were: several hit films, a Gala Awards Banquet with top honors presented to up-and-coming attending filmmakers from over 35 countries from round the globe, Indie Panels, a VIP tour of NASA and an exciting Houston Yacht Club Sailing Regatta & Texas BBQ. Attendance at the 10-day Fest was over 25,000, up from 2011 box office figures. The overflowing Awards Dinner at Houston’s Hotel Marriott Westchase hosted the WorldFest Gala, on Saturday night (April 21) with a record number of more than 550 international filmmakers, award winning international Russian & Mexican dancers, and a special hi-energy dance presentation by Shawn Welling’s ELCX Planet Funk.

The WorldFest 2012 Grand Remi Statuette Awards went to:

• BEST THEATRICAL FEATURE ~ CHINESE TAKE AWAY (Un Cuento Chino) Argentina, Sebastián Borensztein, represented by Stuart Strutin from Panorama Entertainment, NY who personally accepted the award.
• BEST FILM & VIDEO ~ STEVEN CARAS: SEE THEM DANCE, Deborah Novak, WITEK & NOVAK, INC., Huntington, WV, USA.
• BEST TV & CABLE PRODUCTION ~ THREE KINGDOMS, Xiaojun Yang, BEIJING ORIENT HENGHE FILM & MOVIE CO. LTD., Beijing, CHINA.
• BEST NEW MEDIA ~ AXI: AVENGERS OF XTREME ILLUSIONS, Shawn Welling, WELLING FILMS, Houston, TX, USA
• BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM & VIDEO ~ TEN QUINTILLION, Romilly Spier, Director/producer, SWINBURNE SCHOOL OF FILM & TV, Prahran, AUSTRALIA.
• BEST SHORT SUBJECT ~ GOOD LUCK, MR. GORSKI, INSTANT FIRES, Taos, NM. USA.
• BEST STUDENT FILM, SHOOT THE MOON, Alexander Gaeta, CHAPMAN UNIVERSITY, Orange, CA., USA. (Actress Pamela Bower on hand to accept.)
• BEST MUSIC VIDEO ~ VUCCIRIA, Massimo Massara, NOTA PREZIOSA S.R.L.Palermo ITALY

WorldFest Best Actor Remi Awards go to Jed Rees, in Phil Volken’s Garbage, Filmmuse Prods. CA., USA; Gwendoline Yeo, Best Actress in Torque Entertainment’s, Heathens & Thieves, CA., USA; Alex Meraz, Best Supporting Actor in Camilo Vila’s City of Gardens, Four Fish Films, CA,USA: Nazneen Contractor, Best Supporting Actress (Séance: The Summoning, directed by Alex Wright, Berkshire Axis Media, BAM, Toronto, Canada.)

The Houston Film Critics Society presented two Critics Choice Awards selected from the World premieres submitted into competition Gotthard Schuh: A Sensual Vision of the World for the Best Documentary and Three of a Kind directed by Gregory James Green, Abruzzo Prdns., Boise, ID, USA for Best Feature. Other HF Critic’s Choice Awards this year were Best Actress, Jodi Russell (Three of a Kind), Best Actor, John Savage (Caporale’s The Black Dove) and two new awards, to best young actors; Brandon Tyler Russell (Opening night’s Smitty, Michael Baumgarten, Writer/producer) & Grace Powell (Larry Wade Carrell’s, Jacob, TX, USA). The Closing Film, America – was acquired by Panorama Ent.

The Russian-American Publication sponsored the Best Foreign film award which went to Chinese Take Away (Un Cuento Chino) directed by Sebastian Borensztein in Argentina and repped by Panorama Entertainment. NY. The Best Houston Production Remi Award went to Still Born, Thomas Jackson, Houston, TX. The Best Texas Production Award went to Damian Horan’s Children of the Air.

WorldFest began in August 1961, as Cinema Arts, an International Film Society. It began screening Independent, foreign & art films. It became an officially competitive International Film Festival seven years later, in April 1968, and has been in continuous operation since. It is one of the original three film festivals in North America, with San Francisco and New York as the first two events. Following WorldFest was Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, and Seattle. Then Sundance and SXSW, Toronto and Tribeca. Now there are more than 2,000 USA film festivals of various types, levels and quality, most being simply non-competitive screening events! WorldFest is international, competitive and invites filmmakers worldwide.

The 46th Annual WorldFest offers International Competition in; Features, Shorts, TV production, TV commercials, unproduced Screenplays & Teleplays, Experimental, Student, Documentary, Business & Industry, New Media, and Music Videos. WorldFest is the largest film & video competition in the world, in sheer number of actual category entries, with more than 4,300 category entries received in 2012. There are almost 200 sub-categories for competition, allowing each film to compete in its own individual genre.
WorldFest-Houston is sponsored by the State of Texas, the City of Houston, HBU Fitness Center, Kodak, NASA, AMC Theaters, Tippit and Moo, Service, Inc., Premier IMS, the Houston Film Commission, Boxer Properties, Wagner Media, The HQ Hotel Marriott Westchase, The Houston Chronicle, Regent University Film School and the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA).

For more information on the 46th Annual 2013 WorldFest-Houston, send your name and address to:
Entry Team WorldFest - 2013
PO Box 56566, Houston, Texas 77256-6566 USA
or call toll free: 1-866-965-9955 (or 713-965-9955) or fax: 1-713-965-9960

or simply email us at: entry@worldfest.org

The complete Entry Kit with Entry Forms - is on our website: http://www.worldfest.org
(The 46th Annual WorldFest-Houston is April 12-21, 2013) - Ver. 08.06.2012
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For immediate release: 3 NOV 2011 …NEWS …NEWS …NEWS …NEWS!
For more info: Contact ~ Kathleen Haney, Program Director (713) 965-9955

45th WORLDFEST TAPS NEW AD AGENCY OF RECORD: TIPPIT & MOO!

The 45th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival is excited to announce the selection of its new Ad Agency of Record, TIPPIT & MOO, a new creative agency in Houston, Texas whose principals and creative team bring decades of legendary creative achievements to the table, both on the general and multicultural markets. The new agency will be responsible for new creative design and graphics for the upcoming 45th Annual WorldFest-Houston, April 13-22, 2012. Tippit & Moo follows a long and exceptional series of great award-winning Houston Ad Agencies that have created exceptional design & graphics over the years for WorldFest. In fact, a recent agency for WorldFest, Bates SW, won the Best of Show Addy Award at the Houston Advertising Federation Awards just a few years ago. Tippit & Moo will also assist in Press & PR along with creative Web Design.

WorldFest Artistic and Program Director, Kathleen Haney, stated, “We are really thrilled to have the Tippit & Moo team join us to bring an exciting new dimension to the upcoming 45th WorldFest!” Haney continued “We know that their creative team will bring an exceptionally diverse and creative dimension to WorldFest that will interest & excite the film audiences of Houston. “We’re very excited to join forces with WorldFest. Our name says it all – our agency is all about overturning convention and creating fresh, exciting, challenging creative solutions. Our USDA, Prime A team of seasoned creative veterans is more than proud and ready to put its energy and creativity to work for such an iconic brand as WorldFest and to add to the legacy of that extraordinary body of work!”, explained Javier Gonzalez-Herba, Creative Director for Tippit & Moo.
WorldFest will continue with its annual Short Film Showcase, a special review of 100 new short and student films...from the festival that gave first top honors to Spielberg, Lucas, The Coen Brothers, Ridley Scott, Robert Rodriguez, Randal Kleiser, Spike Lee, Gavin Hood, John Lee Hancock, Michael Cimino, Steven Poster, Oliver Stone, Ang Lee, Atom Egoyan and David Lynch, among many others! Few other festivals have such a “discovery” track record. WorldFest has emerged as the oldest continuous film festival management in the world with the same executive director, serving for 45 consecutive years. A few other festivals are older, but they have had as many as ten different directors. It is the oldest film festival in The South.

WorldFest began in August 1961, as Cinema Arts, an International Film Society. It began screening Independent, foreign & art films. It became an officially competitive International Film Festival seven years later, in April 1968, and has been in continuous operation since. It is one of the original three film festivals in North America, with San Francisco and New York as the first two events. Following WorldFest was Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, and Seattle. Then Sundance and SXSW, Toronto and Tribeca. Now there are more than 1,000 USA film festivals of various types, levels and quality, most being simply non-competitive screening events! WorldFest is international, competitive and invites filmmakers worldwide.

The 45th Annual WorldFest offers International Competition in; Features, Shorts, TV production, TV commercials, unproduced Screenplays & Teleplays, Experimental, Student, Documentary, Business & Industry, New Media, and Music Videos. WorldFest is the largest film & video competition in the world, in sheer number of actual category entries, with more than 4,300 category entries received in 2011. There are over 200 sub-categories for competition, allowing each film to compete in its own individual genre.

WorldFest-Houston is sponsored by the State of Texas, the City of Houston, HP, Kodak, NASA, AMC Theaters, the Houston Film Commission, Boxer Properties, The Houston Yacht Club, Wagner Media, The HQ Hotel Marriott Westchase, and the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA).

“FORGET SUNDANCE! …WorldFest is one of the best conceived festival productions on the planet!” ~ Craig Outhier, film critic, Phoenix press; Tempe Times.
For more information on the 45th Annual 2012 WorldFest-Houston, simply send your name and address to:
Entry Team WorldFest - 2012
45th Annual WorldFest-Houston
PO Box 56566, Houston, Texas 77256-6566 USA
or call toll free: 1-866-965-9955 (or 713-965-9955) or fax: 1-713-965-9960
or simply email us at: entry@worldfest.org
The complete Entry Kit with Entry Forms - is on our website: http://www.worldfest.org
(The 45th Annual WorldFest-Houston is April 13-22, 2012) - Ver 11.02.2011

45th WORLDFEST-HOUSTON SETS FEST DATES, CALLS FOR ENTRIES!

“FORGET SUNDANCE! …WorldFest is one of the best conceived festival productions on the planet!” ~ Craig Outhier, film critic, Phoenix press; Tempe Times.

The 45th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival continues its totally dedicated Independent Film screening format for the upcoming April 13-22, 2012 unspooling. WorldFest will screen just 50-60 feature film premieres, with a total and absolute emphasis on the American and International Independent feature films and a continuing annual spotlight on award-winning short films and documentary films. Entry forms & complete entry information are on our website (www.worldfest.org) – Click on Enter Film Festival, then on History, FAQ, Categories, Entry Form… The EarlyBird Entry Deadline is Tueday, Nov. 15th 2011 – A Mail-By Ship-By Deadline! Entries do not have to arrive by this deadline.
WorldFest Artistic and Program Director, Kathleen Haney, stated, “We are fiercely dedicated to the Indie Feature and Short Film and look for a quality selection of individual films to maintain a smaller, yet effective program rather than an overly large and unwieldy slate of 150-300 films. Haney continued, “For the 2012 WorldFest we are using ‘A good story, well told’ as our time-tested approach to film selection”. (For complete winner info from the past 2011 WorldFest, go to – http://www.worldfest.org – click on View the 2011 Remi Winners).
After he received the Grand Remi Award in 1985, Ridley Scott commented “WorldFest is in the business of validating excellence!” The mission of WorldFest is to recognize and validate creative excellence in film & video production in every facet and category of filmmaking. Many filmmakers report that a Remi Award from WorldFest opens doors to advance their careers.
WorldFest will continue with its annual Short Film Showcase, a special review of 100 new short and student films...from the festival that gave first top honors to Spielberg, Lucas, The Coen Brothers, Ridley Scott, Robert Rodriguez, Spike Lee, Gavin Hood, John Lee Hancock, Michael Cimino, Steven Poster, Oliver Stone, Ang Lee, Atom Egoyan and David Lynch, among many others! Few other festivals have such a “discovery” track record. WorldFest has emerged as the oldest continuous film festival management in the world with the same executive director, serving for 44 consecutive years. A few other festivals are older, but they have had as many as ten different directors. It is the oldest film festival in The South.
The 44th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival concluded with a good 10% upturn in box office. Highlights of the 44th Annual WorldFest-Houston were: several hit films, a Gala Awards Banquet with top honors presented to up-and-coming attending filmmakers from over 35 countries from round the globe, Indie Panels, a VIP tour of NASA and an exciting Houston Yacht Club Sailing Regatta & Texas BBQ. Attendance at the 10-day Fest was over 25,000, up from 2010 box office figures. The overflowing Awards Dinner at Houston’s Hotel Marriott Westchase hosted the WorldFest Gala, on Saturday night (April 16) with a record number of more than 550 international filmmakers, award winning international dancers, and a special hi-energy dance presentation by Shawn Welling’s ELCX Planet Funk.

The 44th WorldFest's 2011 top honors- The Remi Grand Awards went to the following productions:

• BEST THEATRICAL FEATURE ~ PINPRICK (Switzerland) Director Daniel Young also winning the Best Foreign film and Best editing to Agi Mogor & Jann Ludin.
• BEST FILM & VIDEO ~ BLAU JEANS, Meaghan Kimball, MVK FILMS, New York, NY
• BEST TV & CABLE PRODUCTION ~ CHILDREN OF BLANKENESE, Ulrike Dotzer, NORDDEUTSCHER RUNDFUNK, Arte Dept. Hamburg, GERMANY
• BEST NEW MEDIA ~ ZOMETA Mechanism of Action, Kathryn Givan, SHAW SCIENCE PARTNERS, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
• BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM & VIDEO ~ CANOE, Shelagh Carter, DARKLING PICTURES Winnipeg, CANADA
• BEST TELEVISION COMMERCIAL ~ LEGENDARY BIRU, DENTSU CANADA INC. Toronto, ONTARIO, CANADA
• BEST SHORT SUBJECT ~ LASTRAIN, Melanie Romat, LOLITA PELICULITAS, Madrid, SPAIN
• BEST STUDENT FILM ~ BREAD & KISSES, Katherine Fitzgerald, CALLIOPE PICTURES, Toronto, CANADA
• BEST MUSIC VIDEO ~KIMBRA - 'SETTLE DOWN' Edward Goldner, MAMMAL FILMS,Vic. AUSTRALIA
• BEST SCRIPT ~ SHADOWS ON THE NILE written by Etienne Verhaegen, CINEMA DIRECT Theoule-Sur-Mer, FRANCE

The Houston Film Critics Society with the coordination of its president, Nick Nicholson presented two Critics Choice Awards selected from the World premieres submitted into competition LIBERIA 77 directed by Canadian Jeff Topham for the Best Documentary and PROJECT AETHER directed by Shawn Welling for Best Feature. Two new Critic’s Choice Awards this year were Best Actors, Joy Willard from PROJECT AETHER and to Tyler Hoechlin from OPEN GATE.

The Russian-American Publication sponsored the Best Foreign film award which went to PINPRICK. The Best Houston Production Remi Award went to PLAYING HOUSE directed by Tom Vaughan. The Best Texas Production Award went to THE WALL: A WORLD DIVIDED, KUHT, HOUSTON PBS. The recipient of the WorldFest Career Achievement Award was Randal Kleiser, director of many wonderful films such as GREASE, FLIGHT OF THE NAVIGATOR, THE BLUE LAGOON, BOY IN A BUBBLE, HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS among many others. Randal won his very first award at WorldFest back in 1973, for his short film PEEGE!

WorldFest began in August 1961, as Cinema Arts, an International Film Society. It began screening Independent, foreign & art films. It became an officially competitive International Film Festival seven years later, in April 1968, and has been in continuous operation since. It is one of the original three film festivals in North America, with San Francisco and New York as the first two events. Following WorldFest was Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, and Seattle. Then Sundance and SXSW, Toronto and Tribeca. Now there are more than 2,000 USA film festivals of various types, levels and quality, most being simply non-competitive screening events! WorldFest is international, competitive and invites filmmakers worldwide.
The 45th Annual WorldFest offers International Competition in; Features, Shorts, TV production, TV commercials, unproduced Screenplays & Teleplays, Experimental, Student, Documentary, Business & Industry, New Media, and Music Videos. WorldFest is the largest film & video competition in the world, in sheer number of actual category entries, with more than 4,300 category entries received in 2011. There are almost 200 sub-categories for competition, allowing each film to compete in its own individual genre.
WorldFest-Houston is sponsored by the State of Texas, the City of Houston, HP, Kodak, NASA, AMC Theaters, the Houston Film Commission, Boxer Properties, Wagner Media, The Renaissance Hotel, The Houston Chronicle, and the Houston Arts Alliance (HAA).

For more information on the 45th Annual 2012 WorldFest-Houston, send your name and address to:
Entry Team WorldFest - 2012
PO Box 56566, Houston, Texas 77256-6566 USA
or call toll free: 1-866-965-9955 (or 713-965-9955) or fax: 1-713-965-9960
or simply email us at: entry@worldfest.org
The complete Entry Kit with Entry Forms - is on our website: http://www.worldfest.org
(The 45th Annual WorldFest-Houston is April 23-22, 2012) - Ver 08.25.2011

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“Save the Date” April 8-17, 2011
Come see the brightest & best of the emerging cinematic talents…!
10 Great Days in April 2011
Come see the best in Independent Cinema at WorldFest first!

Who: The 44th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival

What: Important numbers~ 10 great days, 56 award-winning Indie films,111 great short films, 550 Indie filmmakers attending from around the globe, 6 Master Classes, One Grand Awards Gala & Cocktail Reception with the filmmakers, 2 Closing Day events ~ WorldFest Consular Regatta at HYC & VIP NASA/Space Center Houston Tour.

When: Film Festival: April 8 – April 17, 2011. Ten Great Days in April!
Daily Film screenings: 5 p.m., 7 p.m., and 9 p.m. (plus matinees at 1 & 3 p.m. Sat. & Sun)
Master Classes: Thursday, Friday and Saturday April 14, 15, & 16 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Grand Finale Consular Regatta and Barbecue: April 17 at 1 p.m. at The Houston Yacht Club, Shore Acres, on Galveston Bay.

Where: All films at AMC Studio 30 at 2949 Dunvale in SW Houston.
Master Class Seminars/ Awards Gala ~ Marriott Westchase.
Closing Day Consular Regatta ~ The Houston Yacht Club; VIP tour NASA/Space Center.

Ticket Info: Many options available starting at $7.00 for a single matinee (films at1, 3 @5pm), $10 per single admission; Film Buff $100 (11 admissions), Silver Screen~$150 (all films for one person), Gold Pass~$395 (all films, parties & Seminars for one person) to the ultimate VIP Platinum Pass~$500 (all films, parties, Seminars & Awards Gala for one person). Check www.worldfest.org for details. Opening night $15 per person, $30 to include after-party. Tickets available now online and up to capacity at Showtime at AMC Box-Office. All films, seminars and events are open to the public. Group discounts available on line.

Highlights: This year’s line-up of Indie films offers a record number of 21 World Premieres…! With over 23 nations represented to include ten female directors, several comedies, thrillers, 2 fantasies and 2 bio-pics, the 2011 program delivers much more than the usual great Docs and Dramas. Don’t miss the sing-along version of Grease personally introduced by its director, Randal Kleiser who will be receiving the WorldFest Remi Career Achievement Award.

Several great Houston productions such as Shawn Welling’s third film, Project Aether his venture into the sci-fi/thriller realm plus another intense thriller called Playing House (Tom Vaughan). Trisha Ray’s latest, Sugar Baby, partially shot in India and last but certainly never least is Chris Page’s sequel Into the Wind II: The Adventure Continues on powered hand-gliding (some of it shot in Russia) are not to be missed…!

Legendary Sci-fi author Philip K. Dick’s most auto-biographical work Radio Free Albemuth directed by John Alan Simon is another top liner. Harry Thomason’s The Last Ride on country music legend Hank Williams’ mysterious final days is a finely nuanced work interpreted by ET’s Henry Thomas as the iconic Hank Williams.

Returning alumni directors include Henry Jaglom with his Queen of the Lot, Jake Torem with his quirky comedy, Letting Go and Jennnifer Tadlock’s gripping Finding Hope Now based on Fresno’s true story of ‘Gangs to Jobs’ on the transformative work of Rev. Roger Minassian. WorldFest’s returning Documentary alumni are Hungarian Ferenc Moldovanyi with his compelling Another Planet and Kevin Knoblock with Pope John Paul II: 9 Days that Changed the World.

Background: WorldFest, founded in 1961, is the third oldest independent film festival in the United States. This annual event has evolved into a competitive Independent International film festival showcasing rising cinematic talents! WorldFest Houston is a non-profit educational and cultural organization with a 501 (c)-(3) status. Visit www.worldfest.org.

Full schedule plus trailers & ticketing info are now available on the website.

Media Contacts: 713-965-9955 Dustin Jesudason, opns@worldfest.org , Kallie Williams, features@worldfest.org

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For immediate release: 13 AUGUST 2010 …NEWS …NEWS …NEWS …NEWS!
For more info: Contact ~ Kathleen Haney, Program Director (713) 965-9955

44th WORLDFEST-HOUSTON SETS FEST DATES, CALLS FOR ENTRIES!

“FORGET SUNDANCE! …WorldFest is one of the best conceived festival productions on the planet!” ~ Craig Outhier, film critic, Phoenix press; Tempe Times.

The 44th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival continues its totally dedicated Independent Film screening format for the upcoming April 08-17, 2011 unspooling. WorldFest will screen just 50-60 feature film premieres, with a total and absolute emphasis on the American and International Independent feature films and a continuing annual spotlight on award-winning short films and documentary films. Entry forms & complete entry information are on our website (www.worldfest.org) – Click on Enter Film Festival, then on History, FAQ, Categories, Entry Form… The EarlyBird Entry Deadline is Friday, Nov. 15th 2010 – A Mail-By Ship-By Deadline! Entries do not have to arrive by this deadline. ENTRIES ARE NOW OPEN!
WorldFest Artistic and Program Director, Kathleen Haney, stated, “We are fiercely dedicated to the Indie Feature and Short Film and look for a quality selection of individual films to maintain a smaller, yet effective program rather than an overly large and unwieldy slate of 150-300 films. Haney continued, “For the 2011 WorldFest we are using ‘A good story, well told’ as our time-tested approach to film selection”. (For complete winner info from the past 2010 WorldFest, go to – http://www.worldfest.org – click on View the 2010 Remi Winners).
After he received the Grand Remi Award in 1985, Ridley Scott commented “WorldFest is in the business of validating excellence!” The mission of WorldFest is to recognize and validate creative excellence in film & video production in every facet and category of filmmaking. Many filmmakers report that a Remi Award from WorldFest opens doors to advance their careers.
WorldFest will continue with its annual Short Film Showcase, a special review of 100 new short and student films...from the festival that gave first top honors to Spielberg, Lucas, The Coen Brothers, Ridley Scott, Robert Rodriguez, Spike Lee, Gavin Hood, John Lee Hancock, Michael Cimino, Steven Poster, Oliver Stone, Ang Lee, Atom Egoyan and David Lynch, among many others! Few other festivals have such a “discovery” track record. WorldFest has emerged as the oldest continuous film festival management in the world with the same executive director, serving for 44 consecutive years. A few other festivals are older, but they have had as many as ten different directors. It is the oldest film festival in The South.
The 43rd Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival concluded with a good 20% upturn in box office. Highlights of the 43rd Annual WorldFest-Houston were: several hit films, a Gala Awards Banquet with top honors presented to up-and-coming attending filmmakers from over 35 countries from round the globe, Indie Panels, a VIP tour of NASA and an exciting Houston Yacht Club Sailing Regatta & Texas BBQ. Attendance at the 10-day Fest was over 25,000, up from 2009 box office figures. The overflowing Awards Dinner at Houston’s Renaissance Hotel hosted the WorldFest Gala, on Saturday night (April 17) with a record number of more than 550 international filmmakers, award winning international dancers, and a special hi-energy dance presentation by Shawn Welling’s ELCX Planet Funk.

The 43rd WorldFest's 2010 top honors- The Remi Grand Awards went to the following productions:

BEST THEATRICAL FEATURE to “THE YOUNGEST SON (IL FIGLIO PIU PICCOLO” - Director: Pupi Avati, Producer: Antonio Avati – Studio Biamonte, Rome, ITALY
BEST FILM & VIDEO to “CENTENARY: THE BP STORY” - Lone Star Productions - London, ENGLAND
BEST TV & CABLE PRODUCTION to “SCHABOWSKI'S NOTE - 24 HOURS OF WORLD HISTORY” Dirk Neuhoff, Director, NDR Television - Hamburg, GERMANY
BEST NEW MEDIA, “PIONEERING NEW FRONTIERS IN TUMOR ANGIOGENESIS" – Hugo Paice, Random42 Medical Animation – London, ENGLAND UK
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM & VIDEO to • “CUBIK” – Jason Brenizer - BRENIZER FANTHOME FILMS - Singapore
BEST SHORT SUBJECT to “HALLOWEEN SPOOKY HOUSE” - Chika Yamaguchi, Director – Naked, Inc. – Tokyo, JAPAN
BEST TV COMMERCIAL to "BZGA: "KNOW YOUR LIMIT" – Nikolaus Uthmann, Director – Naumann Film – Munich, GERMANY
BEST STUDENT FILM to “MAGELLAN” - Sebastian Davis, Director - Los Angeles, CA USA
BEST MUSIC VIDEO • “2009 CCTV MID-AUTUMN FESTIVAL GALA EVENING IN YICHUN” -
Xiaolu Chiu, Director – China Center Television – CCTV – Beijing, PR China
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM VISION AWARD to “GODFORSAKEN” Jamil Dehlavi, Director - London, ENGLAND UK
FEATURE FILM & VIDEO REMI AWARDS • BEST TEXAS PRODUCTION • “MOTHER’S MILK” – Kevin West, Director – Mission Pink Films - Katy, TEXAS USA
SHORT SUBJECT REMI AWARD FOR • BEST HOUSTON PRODUCTION • “ETERNAL PEACE” – Michael Darling, Director – SBJ Films - Houston, TEXAS USA
EASTMAN KODAK - CRYSTAL VISION AWARD BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY “MAGELLAN” - Sebastian Davis, Director - Los Angeles, CA USA
HOUSTON FILM CRITICS SOCIETY - CRYSTAL VISION AWARD to “FATHER VS SON” Joe Ballarini, Director – Hidden Staircase Productions – Los Angeles, CA USA

WorldFest began in August 1961, as Cinema Arts, an International Film Society. It began screening Independent, foreign & art films. It became an officially competitive International Film Festival seven years later, in April 1968, and has been in continuous operation since. It is one of the original three film festivals in North America, with San Francisco and New York as the first two events. Following WorldFest was Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, and Seattle. Then Sundance and SXSW, Toronto and Tribeca. Now there are more than 1,000 USA film festivals of various types, levels and quality, most being simply non-competitive screening events! WorldFest is international, competitive and invites filmmakers worldwide.
The 44th Annual WorldFest offers International Competition in; Features, Shorts, TV production, TV commercials, unproduced Screenplays & Teleplays, Experimental, Student, Documentary, Business & Industry, New Media, and Music Videos. WorldFest is the largest film & video competition in the world, in sheer number of actual category entries, with more than 4,300 category entries received in 2010. There are almost 200 sub-categories for competition, allowing each film to compete in its own individual genre.
WorldFest-Houston is sponsored by the State of Texas, the City of Houston, HP, Kodak, NASA, AMC Theaters, the Houston Film Commission, Boxer Properties, Becker Vineyards, Pillar Bluff Winery, Wagner Media, The Renaissance Hotel, The Houston Chronicle, and the Houston Arts Alliance. For more information on the 44th Annual 2011 WorldFest-Houston, simply send your name and address to:
Entry Team WorldFest - 2011
44th Annual WorldFest-Houston
PO Box 56566, Houston, Texas 77256-6566 USA
or call toll free: 1-866-965-9955 (or 713-965-9955) or fax: 1-713-965-9960
or simply email us at: entry@worldfest.org
The complete Entry Kit with Entry Forms - is on our website: http://www.worldfest.org
(The 44th Annual WorldFest-Houston is April 08-17, 2011) - Ver 08.13.2010

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For Immediate Release – 20 April 2010 – NEWS – NEWS – NEWS
For further info: 713-965-9955 or mail@worldfest.org

WorldFest Wraps its 43rd Edition with Boxoffice up 24%!
(The 43rd Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival)

WorldFest-Houston, the 3rd longest-running International Film Festival in North America, celebrated the conclusion of its 10-day run of film, fun and fanfare in its 43rd annual independent film showcase with a 24% increase in overall audience attendance! Kick-off was the Texas premiere of Derrick Borte’s popular, The Joneses (Demi Moore, David Duchovny, Gary Cole) with producer, Doug Mankoff, a WorldFest alum winner on hand to present this slick Demi Moore-backed film. Italy’s Avati brothers, Pupi and Antonio were also on hand to personally receive their Career Achievement Award on Friday, April 9th, Opening night of the 43rd edition of WorldFest.
In collaboration with Francesca Valente, Director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Los Angeles, CA. (IIC), WorldFest celebrated its fifth annual Panorama Italia with the Avati’s The Youngest Son (Il Figlio Piu Piccolo), Francesco Campanini’s Il Solitario, Piero Tomaselli’s Velma and last but not least, Via Papale, The Lost Road of the Popes from Jeffrey Gilson, Paul Hendison, & Thomas Sammon. Closing weekend festivities included a Grand Awards Gala on Saturday night culminating with a morning VIP NASA & Space Center Houston whirlwind tour and a magical weather afternoon on Galveston Bay hosted by The Houston Yacht Club with Panasonic 3D HD trailers on site and a bevy of Texas cowgirls on their Longhorns to welcome all visiting filmmakers. To wrap up, WorldFest offered a tiered closing bill of The Avati brothers’ The Youngest Son (Il Figlio Più Piccolo) and the opulent Lost Road of the Popes (Via Papale) at 7pm. Final double billing was Robert Rothband’s Pizza with Bullets and Dennis Hopper’s inimitable Easy Rider at 9pm. WorldFest events are always open to the public.
WorldFest, founded as an International Film Society in August 1961, became the third competitive international film festival in North America, following San Francisco and New York. WorldFest evolved into a competitive International Film Festival in April 1968 and has a long list of “discovered” film greats such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, David Lynch, Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, Atom Egoyan, Randall Kleiser, Ang Lee, Robert Rodriguez, the Coen Brothers, John Lee Hancock and many others from their beginning efforts for film submissions early in their careers. Multi award-winning producer/director, Hunter Todd, founded this film festival to honor all categories of film and video production continuing his long dedication of “Discovery,” spotlighting emerging Independent filmmakers as “the Spielbergs & Ang Lees of tomorrow.”
WorldFest’s mission is to recognize and honor outstanding creative excellence in film & video, validate brilliant abilities and promote future filmmaking in Texas as well as enhance cultural tourism for Houston and environs. The 10-day festival ran to a smooth finish with several sold-out full houses, one of which was the iconic Anderson Fair story, a documentary shot in Houston, 11 World Premieres, 54 Indie feature productions, 68 award winning shorts. Over 450 USA and International filmmakers attended this year, despite the Icelandic volcanic eruption which did impact many of our European participants.
All film premieres screened at the Flagship AMC Studio 30 Theatres, a sixth year WorldFest-Houston Cinema partner. Other major VIP Partner/Sponsors include Eastman Kodak, Microsoft, The Marriott Hotels, The City of Houston, The State of Texas, The NEA, The Houston Arts Alliance, Budget Rent a Car, Wagner Media, NASA/Space Center Houston, Boxer Properties, The Wellness Center, HD 3D Panasonic, Amtrak, The Houston Yacht Club & St. Genevieve Wineries, the largest Texas vineyard.
WorldFest’s Remi Awards Gala on Saturday, April 17th was held in The Renaissance Hotel, VIP partner and official host hotel for the 43rd annual WorldFest. Festivities began with a cocktail reception hosted by The Houston Film Commission. Two members of the 5-time World Champion Bagpipe Band of Houston’s St. Thomas Episcopal School launched the awards segment by piping in festival founder, Hunter Todd followed by a bevy of Pastorini Bosby Talent award presenters. Dance entertainment was presented by Mahesh Mahbubani’s superb Indian dance troupe and a grand finale by Shawn Welling’s Planet Funk Academy’s premiere dancers who performed a high-energy dance mix created especially for the gala.
On April 15, 16, and 17th, WorldFest conducted Six Film Industry Seminars concluding with the Indie Forum of WorldFest feature film Directors. Laura Pennino, CEO of Pennino and Partners kicked-off with the ever popular Publicity for Indie seminar followed by The Write Stuff with Nick Nicholson, President of the Houston Film Critics Society. Jeremy Juuso was in from Los Angeles to present Getting the Money, do’s and don’ts for business plans for Indie filmmakers. Panorama Entertainment’s Stuart Strutin and reps from Ostrow and Company presented Distribution for Indies. Evgeny Afineevsky presented a seminar on Indie films, From Idea to the Oscar Road and the Indie Directors panel moderated by Pastor Shepherd’s Edwin Marshall rounded out the seminar line-up.

WorldFest 2010 Grand REMI Awards are:
• BEST THEATRICAL FEATURE ~ The Youngest Son (Il Figlio Piu Piccolo), WorldFest alums, Pupi and Antonio Avati, Duea Productions, Rome, Italy
• BEST FILM & VIDEO ~ Centenary: The BP Story, Brook Crowley, Lone Star Productions, London, England, UK
• BEST TV & CABLE PRODUCTION ~ Schabowski’s Note- 24 Hours of World History, Hamburg, Germany
• BEST NEW MEDIA ~ Pioneering New Frontiers in Tumor Angiogenesis, Hugo Paice, Random 42 Medical Animation, London, England, UK
• BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM & VIDEO ~ Cubik, Jason Brenizer, Brenizer Fanthome Films, Singapore
• BEST TV COMMERCIAL ~ BZgA: "Know Your Limit" Nikolaus Uthmann, Naumann Film, Munich, Germany
• BEST SHORT SUBJECT ~ Halloween Spooky House, Ryotaro Muramatsu, Naked, Inc. Tokyo, Japan.
• BEST STUDENT FILM & KODAK’s Crystal Vision Award ~ Magellan, Sebastian Davis, USA
• BEST MUSIC VIDEO, 2009 CCTV Mid-Autumn Festival Gala Evening in Yichun, Xiaolu Chiu, CHINA CENTER TELEVISION (CCTV), Beijing, China.

The Houston Film Critics Society with the coordination of its president, Nick Nicholson initiated a new award at WorldFest for the best World Premiere from this year’s 11 submitted World premiere entries and awarded their HFCS top award to the film, Father VS Son, directed by Joe Ballarini and produced by Houston’s own Michael Huffington. The World premiere Maya from Israel directed by WorldFest alumni, Michal Bat-Adam ran a very close second place to Father VS Son.
The Russian-American Publication sponsored two awards this year. Best new director went to Evgeny Afineevsky for his newest film, Oy Vey! My Son is Gay! and an original Russian art work by Alex Taymer for BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE film went to Godforsaken, Jamil Dehlavi, Dehlavi Films, UK. Dehlavi also won the REMI Special Jury Award in Suspense/Thriller Features and contended for Best Feature Film.
The Best Houston Production Remi Award went to Kevin West for Mother’s Milk, Mission Pink Films. The Best Texas Production Award went to Michael Darling for Eternal Peace, SBJ Films. Evgeny Afineevsky, a WorldFest alum was a multiple winner at WorldFest this year with a Special Jury Award in Comedy & the Amtrak Best Director award for his film plus a Silver Remi for the film’s music video, The Word is Love sung by Lulu.
All other award results from this year’s WorldFest competition are posted on our website at www.worldfest.org – There were more than 4,200 category entries in all film and video competitions, and only between 12-15% of submitted entries placed for WorldFest Remi awards.
During the 10-day festival, over 450 filmmakers from more than 32 nations around the world were in attendance to personally accept their various awards from this year’s WorldFest’s competition of thousands of submitted category entries. Dates for WorldFest-Houston #44th April 8-17th, 2011. Please check our website at - www.worldfest.org - for the full winners’ list or call 713-965-9955 for more information. “Call for Entries” for next year’s event will be mailed out in late August. Entries officially open August 1st, 2010. Main deadline is December 15, 2010. Download official entry forms from our website starting Aug. 1st.
WorldFest-Houston, PO Box 56566, Houston, Texas 77256-6566
713-965-9955 www.worldfest.org mail@worldfest.org

Media Advisory

“Save The Date” for WorldFest Houston Film Festival ~ April 9-18th, 2010 (ver 4.02)

Why: WorldFest showcases and celebrates the best and brightest emerging cinematic talents over 10 action-packed days in April 2010. Film lovers can be among the first to see and meet the stars and directors of tomorrow at the 43rd Annual WorldFest-Houston. 15 World Premieres, 25 North American Premieres and 10 Houston films.
Who: WorldFest is one of the longest-running independent film and video competitions in the world. The 43rd Annual WorldFest-Houston is scheduled for April 9-18th, 2010.
What: An annual cinematic competition that publicly screens the top winners selected by our North American film industry judges. WorldFest audiences get to meet the directors and talent, who made the cut for these 10 great days in April, 2010. WorldFest-Houston features:
• 55 award-winning Indie films
• 100 superb short films
• 450 Indie filmmakers from around the globe
• 6 Master Classes/Film industry seminars
• 1 Grand Awards Gala & Cocktail Reception with the International Filmmakers
• Closing Day Regatta/Barbecue & VIP NASA/Space Center Houston Tour
When: Film Festival: Friday April 9 through Sunday April 18, 2010
Daily Film screenings: 5:00, 7:00 & 9:00 PM (plus matinees @ 1:00 & 3:00 pm Sat & Sun)
Film Industry Seminars: Thursday, Friday and Saturday April 15, 16 and 17 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Grand Finale Regatta and Barbecue: April 18 at 1 p.m. at The Houston Yacht Club.
Where: All films will screen at AMC Studio 30 Dunvale located at 2949 Dunvale in Houston, TX 77063.
Film industry seminars/ Awards Gala will be held at the Renaissance Hotel, Greenway Plaza.
Closing Regatta and Barbecue will be held at the Houston Yacht Club on Galveston Bay.
Ticket Info: Options start at $7 for a single matinee (films before 6 pm) or $10 per single evening admission and range upward based on packages that customers purchase. Special group discounts available on line. Film Buff $100 (11 admissions), Silver Screen $150 (all films for one person), Gold Pass $395 (all films, all seminars for one person) & ultimate VIP Platinum Pass $500 (all films, all seminars & Awards Gala & HYC Regatta per person). Check www.worldfest.org for details. Tickets will be available mid-March online and up to theatre- capacity at show time at the Cinema Box Office. All films, seminars and events are open to the public. Opening Night Prices ~ $20 per person for Film & Program book. $30 per person for Film, Program book and Champagne Reception at Renaissance Hotel after the film
Hotel Info: Special Festival Room Discounts are available at the WorldFest headquarters hotel, The Renaissance. Guests should mention “WorldFest” and call 713-629-1200.
Background: WorldFest, founded in 1961, is the third oldest International film festival in the United States and the oldest Independent Film Festival in the world. This annual event has evolved into a competitive Independent International film festival showcasing the rising stars of tomorrow! WorldFest is managed by Hunter Todd and Kathleen Haney. WorldFest is produced by a core staff of key individuals, dedicated volunteers, and industry professionals who make the detailed work of running a world-class international film festival possible. WorldFest Houston is a non-profit educational and cultural organization with a 501 (c)-(3) status since 1961.

For more information about WorldFest, its annual competition, and past winners, visit www.worldfest.org.

Media Contacts:
Alexa Gabillard 713-965-9955 features@worldfest.org
Kathleen Haney, 713-965-9955, kathleen@worldfest.org
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For Immediate Release – 26 April 2009 – NEWS – NEWS – NEWS
For further info: 713-965-9955 or info@worldfest.org

WorldFest-Houston Wraps its 42nd Edition with a 10% Ticket Bump!
(The 42nd Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival)

WorldFest-Houston, the 3rd longest-running International Film Festival in North America, celebrated the conclusion of its 10-day run of film, fun and fanfare in its 42nd annual independent film showcase with a 10% increase in overall audience attendance! Kick-off was the world premiere of WorldFest alum, Jim Amatulli’s Flying By with film luminary and Oscar winner, Patricia Neal on-hand to receive her Lifetime Achievement Award on Friday, April 17th, Opening night of the 42nd edition of WorldFest. Mid-week, veteran actor Rip Torn and family jetted in to enjoy the premiere of his daughter Angelica’s, film, Lucky Days. Both French and British consuls feted their respective attending directors, Serge Bozon (La France) and David Rocksavage (Shadows in the Sun) with receptions to honor their film premieres at this year’s WorldFest. Closing weekend festivities included a Grand Awards Gala on Saturday night culminating with a morning VIP NASA & Space Center Houston whirlwind tour and an invigorating afternoon on Galveston Bay celebrating with a specially catered Bollywood feast (by Madras Pavilion Restaurant) hosted by The Houston Yacht Club. All things cinematic wrapped up with a double bill of John Crowley’s “Is Anybody There? and Houston’s own Shawn Welling with his encore screening of “The Messenger~ 360 Days of Bolivar.” All WorldFest events are always open to the public.

WorldFest, founded as an International Film Society in August 1961, became the third competitive international film festival in North America, following San Francisco and New York. WorldFest evolved into a competitive International Film Festival in April 1968 and has a long list of “discovered” film greats such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, David Lynch, Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, Atom Egoyan, Randall Kleiser, Ang Lee, Robert Rodriguez, Brian de Palma, the Coen Brothers and many others from their beginning efforts for film submissions early in their careers. Multi award-winning producer/director, Hunter Todd, founded this film festival to honor all categories of film and video production continuing his long dedication of “Discovery,” spotlighting emerging Independent filmmakers as “the Spielbergs & Ang Lees of tomorrow.”

WorldFest’s mission is to recognize and honor outstanding creative excellence in film & video, validate brilliant abilities and promote future filmmaking in Texas as well as enhance cultural tourism in Houston. The 10-day festival ran to a smooth finish with several sold-out full houses, 6 World Premieres, 51 Indie feature productions, 75 award winning shorts and over 450 USA and International filmmakers in attendance.

All film premieres screened at the Flagship AMC Studio 30 Theatres, a sixth year WorldFest-Houston Cinema partner. Other major VIP Partner/Sponsors include Eastman Kodak, Microsoft, The Marriott Hotels, The City of Houston, The State of Texas, The NEA, The Houston Arts Alliance, Budget Rent a Car, Wagner Media, NASA/Space Center Houston, Boxer Properties, The Wellness Center of Houston, Arts Houston Magazine, Royal Carriages Limousines, Barefoot Wine & Bubbly and The Houston Yacht Club.

WorldFest’s REMI Awards Gala on Saturday, April 25th was held in The Renaissance Hotel, VIP partner and official host hotel for the 42nd annual WorldFest. Festivities began with a cocktail reception hosted by The Houston Film Commission. Alex Lubrano, member of the 5-time World Champion Bagpipe Band of Houston’s St. Thomas Episcopal School launched the awards segment by piping in festival founder, Hunter Todd and guests. Local celebrity and veteran news anchor, Bob Beaudreaux was co-host. Dance entertainment was presented by Nelly Fraga’s Ambassador Intl. Ballet Folklorico followed by the Olympian Greek Dancers and the grand finale by Shawn Welling’s dynamic Planet Funk Academy’s premiere dancers who performed a high-energy dance mix created especially for the gala. The Remi After-Party was hosted by Travis “Hit Man” Hearn.

WorldFest conducted Six Film Industry Seminars concluding with the ever popular Indie Forum of WorldFest Directors moderated by Jon Scheide, a multi-award winner at WorldFest. Industry Entertainment’s Andrew Deane, a longtime festival friend returned to present his overview analysis of Agents, Managers & Studios and conducted those ever necessary pitching sessions. Scouting for new product, Panorama Entertainment’s Stuart Strutin presented his informative Distribution for Indies and Jon Scheide offered Protocol for Scriptwriters; Laura Pennino (Pennino and Partners) presented How to Promote your Indie Project and award-winning Canadian Documentarian Alan Mendelsohn presented his ever popular, Docs on a Dime.

WorldFest 2009 Grand REMI Awards are: BEST THEATRICAL FEATURE ~ Bitter/Sweet, WorldFest alum, Jeff Hare, Angel & Bear Productions, USA/
Thailand; BEST FILM & VIDEO ~ Mysteries of the Great Lakes, David Lickley, Science North, Canada; BEST TV & CABLE PRODUCTION ~ Moon Machines, Command Module, Duncan Copp,Dox Prdns., UK; BEST NEW MEDIA ~ The BMW Experience: Passion for Innovation, Scott Clements, Alp Communications, Canada;BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM & VIDEO ~ Intinahui- In the Eye of the Sun, Klaus Schrefler, Syndicate, Austria; BEST SHORT SUBJECT ~ Auf Der Strecke (On the Line), Ute Dilger, Academy of Media Arts Cologne, Germany; BEST TV COMMERCIAL ~ "My Houston" ZZ Top, Ballet, & Scrap Daddy, Zen Film, USA; BEST STUDENT FILM ~ Paris Mavroidis for Divers, USA; BEST MUSIC VIDEO to Barbara Misto for Goin’ Down to Mexico, USA. The Russian-American Publication & Gem Arts Studio sponsored a handsomely crafted gemstone award for the BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE film which went to God’s Little Garden, Jacek Bromski, Zebra Film Studio, Poland. God’s Little Garden also garnered 2 more awards; Best Music to composer, Henri Seroka, and REMI Special Jury Award contending for Best Feature Film. Moving Images Group & Coral Gate Media’s Chris Weatherhead was a triple-winner also for All for Liberty with a Special Jury Award, Best Art Direction and a Platinum in feature trailers. Kodak’s Crystal Vision award went to Tender as Hellfire, Jason Stone, USC, USA. The Texan award went to The Heart of Texas, Mitchell Wright & Dan Patrick, Plaid Shirt Pictures, USA. The Houston Award went to Las Luciernagas, (The Fireflies), Robert Minervini, Pulpa Entertainment, Houston, TX.

All other award results from this year’s WorldFest competition are now posted on our website at www.worldfest.org – There were more than 4,200 category entries in all film and video competitions, and between 12-15% of submitted entries won awards.

During the 10-day festival, over 450 filmmakers from more than 32 nations around the world were in attendance to personally accept their various awards from this year’s WorldFest’s competition of thousands of submitted category entries. Dates for WorldFest-Houston 43rd April 9-18th, 2010. Please check our website at - www.worldfest.org - for the full winners’ list or call 713-965-9955 for more information. “Call for Entries” for next year’s event will be mailed out in late August. Entries officially open August 15th, 2009. Main deadline is December 15, 2009. You may download official entry forms from our Internet website starting August 1st. We are now streaming particular Remi Award winners on our website! WorldFest-Houston – Fiercely Independent!
WorldFest-Houston, PO Box 56566, Houston, Texas 77256-6566
713-965-9955 www.worldfest.org mail@worldfest.org

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For Release – 13 April 2009–

Media Advisory
“Save The Date” for WorldFest Houston Film Festival ~ April 17-26, 2009

Who: WorldFest is one of the longest-running independent film and video competitions in the world. The 42nd Annual WorldFest is scheduled for April 17-26, 2009.
What: An annual cinematic competition that publicly screens the top winners selected by our North American film industry judges. WorldFest audiences get to meet the directors and talent, who made the cut for these 10 great days in April, 2009. WorldFest-Houston features:
• Opening Night Film Premiere and Champagne Gala After Party
• 56 award-winning Independent Feature Films
• 100 superb International short films
• 450+ Indie filmmakers from around the globe
• 6 Master Classes/Film industry seminars
• 1 Grand Awards Gala & Cocktail Reception with the filmmakers
• Closing Day HYC Regatta/Barbecue & VIP NASA/Space Center Houston Tour
When: Film Festival: April 17 – April 26, 2009
Daily Film screenings: 5 p.m., 7:00 p.m., and 9:00 p.m. (plus 1 p.m. & 3 p.m. both Sat & Sun)
Film Industry Seminars: Thursday, Friday and Saturday April 23, 24 and 25 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.
Grand Finale Regatta and Barbecue: April 25 at 1 p.m. at The Houston Yacht Club.
Where: All films will screen at AMC Studio 30 Dunvale located at 2949 Dunvale in Houston, TX 77063.
Film industry seminars/ Awards Gala will be held at the Renaissance Hotel, Greenway Plaza.
Closing Regatta and Barbecue will be held at the Houston Yacht Club on Galveston Bay.
Why: WorldFest showcases and celebrates the best and the brightest emerging cinematic talents over 10 action-packed days in April 2009. Film lovers can be among the first to see and meet the stars of tomorrow at WorldFest.
Ticket Info: Options start at $6 for a single matinee (films before 6 pm) or $10.00 per single evening admission and range upward based on packages that customers purchase. Film Buff $100, Silver Screen $150 and ultimate VIP Platinum Pass $500. Check www.worldfest.org for details. Tickets will be available mid-March online and up to theatre- capacity at show time at the Cinema Box Office. All films, seminars and events are open to the public. Opening Night Prices ~ $20 per person for Film & Program book. $30 per person for Film, Program book and Champagne Reception at Renaissance Hotel after the film. Special Group Discounts for small groups of 3 or more and 10 and more. These are listed on-line.
Hotel Info: Special Festival Room Discounts are available at the WorldFest headquarters hotel, The Renaissance. Guests should ask for Patricia in Reservations and mention “WorldFest” and call 713-629-1200. Check www.worldfest.org for other options.
Background: WorldFest, founded in 1961, is the third oldest Independent film festival in the United States. This annual event has evolved into a competitive Independent International film festival showcasing the rising stars of tomorrow! WorldFest is managed by Hunter Todd and Kathleen Haney. WorldFest is produced by a core staff of key individuals, dedicated volunteers, and industry professionals who make the detailed work of running a world-class international film festival possible. WorldFest Houston is a non-profit educational and cultural organization with a 501 (c)-(3) status.

For more information about WorldFest, its annual competition, and past winners, visit http://www.worldfest.org.
Media Contacts:
Sabrina Dreyer, 281/217-0242 - sabrina@penninoandpartners.com
Laura Pennino, 281/286-9398 - lp@penninoandpartners.com
Kathleen Haney, 713-965-9955 - kathleen@worldfest.org

NEWS – NEWS – NEWS
For further info: 713-965-9955 or mail@worldfest.org

WorldFest-Houston Wraps its 41st on Angelic note!
(The 41st Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival)

WorldFest-Houston, the 3rd longest-running International Film Festival in North America, celebrated the conclusion of its 41st Annual Independent Film Showcase with a Grand Awards Gala on April 19th and Closing Day Festivities on April 20th with a VIP NASA and Space Center Houston tour and Texas BBQ sponsored by The Houston Yacht Club and wrapped it up with a double bill of Claude Lelouch’s Roman de Gare and Turkey’s singing sensation Mahsun Kirmizigul’s debut film, White Angel. All WorldFest events are always open to the public.

WorldFest, founded as an International Film Society in August 1961, became the third competitive international film festival in North America, following San Francisco and New York. WorldFest evolved into a competitive Intl Film Festival in April 1968 and has a long list of “discovered” film greats such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, David Lynch, Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, Atom Egoyan, Randall Kleiser, Ang Lee, Robert Rodriguez, Brian de Palma, the Coen Brothers and many others from their beginning efforts with submissions early in their careers. Multi award-winning producer/director, Hunter Todd, founded this Int’l. Film festival to honor all categories of film and video production continuing his long dedication of “Discovery” in spotlighting emerging Independent filmmakers, “the Spielbergs & Ang Lees of tomorrow.”

WorldFest’s mission is to recognize and honor outstanding creative excellence in film & video, validate brilliant abilities and promote future filmmaking in Texas as well as enhance cultural tourism for Houston. The 10-day film festival ran to a smooth finish with several sold-out full houses, 15 World Premieres, 50 Indie feature productions, 76 award winning shorts and over 500 USA and International filmmakers in attendance.

All film premieres were screened at the Flagship AMC Studio 30 Theatres, a fifth year WorldFest-Houston Cinema partner. Other major VIP Partner/Sponsors of WorldFest include Eastman Kodak, Microsoft, The Renaissance/Marriott Hotels, The City of Houston, The State of Texas, The National Endowment for the Arts, The Houston Arts Alliance, Budget Rent a Car, Wagner Media, Plus8Digital, NASA/Space Center Houston, Boxer Properties, Green Mountain Energy, The Wellness Center of Houston, Redwood Creek and Barefoot Cellar Vineyards, The Houston Film Commission and The Houston Yacht Club.

WorldFest’s REMI Awards Gala on Saturday, April 19th was held in The Renaissance Hotel, VIP partner and official host hotel for the 41st annual WorldFest. Festivities began with a cocktail reception hosted by The Houston Film Commission. Five-time World Champion Bagpipe Band from Houston’s St. Thomas Episcopal School launched the awards segment by piping in festival founder, Hunter Todd, leading the parade of beautiful Page Parkes models, award presenters for the special evening. Local celebrity and veteran news anchor, Bob Beaudreault was Co-host. Dance entertainment was presented by MECA Mexican Folkloric Dancers of Houston followed by the Champion Scottish Highland St. Thomas Episcopal School dancers with a grand finale of Shawn Welling’s Planet Funk Academy’s premiere dancers who performed a high-energy dance mix created especially for the gala.

WorldFest conducted Six Film Industry Seminars concluding with the ever popular Indie Forum of WorldFest Directors moderated by David Winning, a multi-award winner at WorldFest. Producer DJ Paul a longtime festival friend returned with his directorial debut film B.O.H.I.C.A. and presented the Indie Financing Seminar. Panorama Entertainment’s Stuart Strutin presented Distribution for Indies, Hollywood’s Jon Scheide offered Protocol for Scriptwriters and Laura Pennino of Pennino and Partners presented How to Promote your Indie Project and award-winning Canadian Documentarian Alan Mendelsohn’s Docs on a Dime rounded out the WorldFest Master Class Production Seminars this year.

WorldFest 2008 Grand REMI Awards are:
BEST THEATRICAL FEATURE to Before the Rains, Santosh Sivan, Director & Ashok Rao, Executive Producer, Excalibur Pictures, USA/India;
BEST FILM & VIDEO to Stop the Aerial Hunting of Wolves in Alaska, Bill Burnett, GVI, DC;
BEST TV & CABLE PRODUCTION to Extraterrestrial, Nataliya Gerovska, STAR MEDIA, Kiev, UKRAINE;
BEST NEW MEDIA, Creative Capers Entertainment Website by Creative Capers of Montrose, CA;
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM & VIDEO to Pablo Millan for Long Path of Stone, ArteAutor, Lugo, SPAIN;
BEST SHORT SUBJECT to Bill Block for The Drummer, Bill Block Films, NY, USA;
BEST TV COMMERCIAL to Max Gutierrez for Guinness “At Last”, NY, USA; BEST STUDENT FILM to Julia Schwarz for Nachts Das Leben, GERMANY;
BEST MUSIC VIDEO to Rosemary Garner - Producer for Mixed Up S.O.B., Directed by Weird Al Yankovic, Seattle, WA
BEST INTERNATIONAL FILM to Mahsun Kirmizigül for White Angel, Istanbul, Turkey

All other award results from this year’s WorldFest competition are posted on our website at www.worldfest.org – There were more than 4,500 category entries in all film and video competitions, and around 15% of the entries won awards.

WorldFest Closing Day Festivities included a special VIP tour of NASA & Space Center Houston with a Regatta & Texas BBQ & Marimba Band party hosted by The Houston Yacht Club. Final event was back at the AMC cinema for two Closing Night films, Roman de Gare, directed by Claude Lelouch and White Angel, (Istanbul, Turkey) which won the Special Jury Award for Best Director (Mahsun Kirmizigul) and also the Best International Feature Gold Cup presented by the Russian-American Business Magazine.

During the 10-day festival, over 500 filmmakers from more than 33 nations around the world were in attendance to personally accept their various awards from this year’s WorldFest’s competition of thousands of submitted category entries. Dates for WorldFest-Houston #42 are April 18-April 27, 2009. Please check our website at - www.worldfest.org - for the full winners’ list or call 713-965-9955 for more information. “Call for Entries” for next year’s event will be mailed out in late September. Entries officially open August 15th, 2008. Main deadline is December 15, 2008. You may download official entry forms from our Internet website starting August 1st 2008. We are now streaming particular Remi Award winners on our website!
WorldFest-Houston, PO Box 56566, Houston, Texas 77256-6566
713-965-9955 www.worldfest.org mail@worldfest.org

For immediate release: 27 MARCH 2008…NEWS…NEWS…NEWS…NEWS!
For more info: Contact ~ Kathleen Haney, Program Director (713) 965-9955

41st WORLDFEST-HOUSTON SETS PREMIERES & THEATRES!

“ FORGET SUNDANCE! …WorldFest is one of the best conceived festival productions on the planet!” ~ Craig Outhier, film critic, Phoenix press; Tempe Times.

The 41ST Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival continues its totally dedicated Independent Film screening format for the upcoming April 11-20, 2008 unspooling. WorldFest will screen just 52 feature film premieres, with a total and complete emphasis on the American and International Independent Feature films and with a continuing annual spotlight on 75 award-winning Intl. Short films and Documentary films. For the 41ST WorldFest, all screenings will be at the AMC Studio 30 at Dunvale.

Complete Film schedule and ticket information are now on our WorldFest website (http://www.worldfest.org)

This year WorldFest is streaming Trailers and clips of all Feature and Short Films on its website - www.worldfest.org. Anyone can visit our website and click on the Short or Feature Film that they want to view, and it will stream via the very high band-width of WorldFest… The WorldFest Remi Award Winners from the past festivals have now been viewed by more than one million people all over the world.

The Opening Night World Premiere WorldFest is for BEFORE THE RAINS, directed by India director Santosh Sivan and presented by Executive Producer, Houstonian Ashok Rao. This epic film is set in 1937 Kerala, India on the lush tea and spice plantation of a British planter and his plans for expansion features Rahul Bose, Leopold Benedict, Linus Roach, Nandita Das and Jennifer Ehle. The Director and several cast members are expected to attend. The Closing Night Film is ROMAN DE GARE, a French comedic drama directed by Claude Lelouch starring Fannie Ardant as a popular mystery writer who goes to the vineyards in Burgundy to research her next pulp fiction.

For its 41st festival WorldFest is presenting 10 World Premieres with all directors attending;

B.O.H.I.C.A. ~ DJ Paul, USA-Drama
Dubble (Doppio) ~ Eric Alexander, Italy-Comedy
Film Camp ~ Garret Maynard, USA-Kids Comedy
The Fragility of Seconds ~ Matthew Stephen Tompkins & Julio Cedillo, Texas/Mexico-Drama
Geeta in Paradise ~ Benny Mathews, USA-Comedy
Magazine Gap Road ~ Nicholas Chin, Hong Kong-Drama
Ray of Sunshine ~ Jennifer Tadlock,USA-Forensic Drama
The Road to Partition (featurette) ~ Alan Mendelsohn Pakistan/ Canada/India-Documentary
Sounds ~ Ryan Humphries, USA-Comedy
Swamp Devil ~ David Winning, Canada- Horror/Mystery
The Journey: The Greek American Dream ~ Maria Iliou, USA/Greece-Documentary

In addition, WorldFest is premiering 42 additional feature films and 75 Short Films, including many with Houston and Texas connections with most of their directors in attendance as well plus many of the producers, writers and actors too.

An American in China ~ Ron Berrett, China / USA-Comedy
Arabian Nights ~ Paul Kieffer, Luxembourg- Drama
The Blissful ~ Sergey Strusovsky, Russia-Drama
Chamame ~ Cosima Lange, Germany/Argentina-Documentary
Coyote Funeral ~ Jason May & Phelps Harmon, USA-Drama
Death Game ~ Menahem Golan, Belarusse -Action Drama
Eduart ~ Angeliki Antoniou, Greece-Drama
The Émigré ~ Istvan Darday, Hungary-Drama
The Errand of Angels ~ Christian Vuissa, USA/Austria-Drama
Flight of the Navigator ~ Randal Kleiser, USA-Family SCI-FI
Float ~ Calvin Simmons, USA-Comedy
Four Wings & A Prayer ~ Nick de Pencier, Canada - Documentary
Greetings from the Shore ~ Greg Chwerchak, USA-Drama
Hotel Very Welcome ~ Sonja Heiss,Germany - Docu-drama
Immensity of Justice ~ Wieslaw Saniewski, Poland-Drama
Iska’s Journey ~ Csaba Bollok, Hungary-Drama
Kings ~ Tom Collins, Ireland-Drama
Labou ~ Greg Aronowitz, USA-Kids Adventure
Mahek ~ Kranti Kanade, India-Kids Comedy
Maui Boyz ~ Carsten Maaz, USA/ Germany-Documentary
The Metro Sexual ~ Adam Kaufman, USA-Comedy
Mother Toyoko ~ Masamoto Sakurai, Japan-Docu-drama
The Nuremberg Epilogue ~ Jerry Antczak, Poland-Docu-drama
One Night (Una Notte) ~Toni D'Angelo, Italy-Drama
Perfect Sport ~ Anthony O'Brien, USA-Coming of Age - Drama
Daily Planet: India Unleashed (featurette) ~ Anne Marie Varner, Canada/India-Documentary
Saving Luna ~ Suzanne Chisholm & Michael Parfit, Canada-Documentary
Slam ~ Jonathan Lim, China-Kids Action
The Stone Angel ~ Kari Skogland, Canada/UK-Drama
Svani ~ Soso & Badri Jatchvliani , Republic of Georgia-Drama
The Ante ~ Max Perrier, Canada-Mystery
They Wait ~ Ernie Barbarash, Canada-Fantasy
This Beautiful City ~ Ed Gass-Donnelly, Canada-Drama
Tressette ~ Drazen Zarkovic & Pavo Marinkovic, Croatia-Drama
True Love ~ Henry Barrial, USA-Drama
When Autumn Sunlight Comes (Khi Nang Thu Ve) ~ Bui Trung Hai, Vietnam-Drama
White Angel ~ Mahsun Kirmizigul, Turkey-Drama
With One Voice ~ Xavier de Lauzanne, France -Documentary

For its 41st Festival, WorldFest is once again honoring Italy, with a pair of old favorites plus two newly and Independently-made films from Italy, along with their directors, in person. These films include:

PANORAMA ITALIA - WORLDFEST HONORS ITALY FOR 2008
Bread and Tulips (Pane e Tulipane) ~ Silvio Soldini,Italy-Comedy
Night of the Shooting Star (La Notte di San Lorenzo) ~ Paolo & Vittorio Taviani, Italy Retrospective /Drama
Dubble (Doppio) ~ Eric Alexander, Italy-Comedy
One Night (Una Notte) ~ Toni D'Angelo, Italy-Drama
L’Oro Rosso (The Red Gold) ~ Short Film

WorldFest Artistic and Program Director, Kathleen Haney, affirms that, “WorldFest continues its focus on a quality selection of individual films to maintain a smaller, yet effective program rather than an overly large and unwieldy slate of 150-300 films shown in too many venues. In consideration of both our festival audiences and the independent filmmakers, we feel that a solid high-quality program of no more than 60 features is optimum in a ten-day festival with nine screening slots (on three theater screens) per day.” Haney continued, “Our mantra is ‘A good story, well told’ as our classic approach to film selection. We have special sidebars of International Visions Section, Children/Family Film Section plus Remi Award winning Documentaries. All of our films are totally Indie productions, and each film is well represented by their filmmakers, who attend to personally introduce their films!”
WorldFest will continue with its annual Short Film Showcase, a very special review of 75 new short and student films...from the festival that gave first honors to Spielberg, Lucas, Oliver Stone, Ang Lee, David Lynch, the Coen Bros. among many others! No other festival has such a “discovery” track record. WorldFest has emerged as the oldest film festival management in the world with the same director, continuously for 41+ consecutive years. A few other festivals are older, but have had as many as ten different directors.

Most USA film festivals today have evolved into publicity platforms for major studio distributors. WorldFest showcases the true independent film, offering a fiercely dedicated special venue for directors searching for an independent forum for their works. WorldFest continues with a focused emphasis on new, premiering films that are seeking a distributor. The Festival also screens DVD video via the Barco R20 Digital DLP Projection and Wagner Media with Plus8Digital, major sponsors of the festival, in addition to 35mm film.

WorldFest-Houston is presented by - The Houston Film Society, HP, Eastman Kodak, The Houston Chronicle, Chron.com, Boxer Properties, The Houston Arts Alliance, The National Endowment for The Arts, Texas Commission for the Arts, Phonoscope, Inc., Barefoot Sparking Wines, Redwood Creek Vineyards, San Pellegrino and Acqua Panna Waters, The Houston Film Commission, The Renaissance & Marriott Hotels, NASA, Space Center-Houston, The Houston Yacht Club, Royal Carriages Limousines, The Wellness Center, Wagner Media, The Homestead Resort and many others.

The 108-page WorldFest program book is distributed to every major film festival in the world and to every known major distributor in the world. This detailed film catalogue has become an invaluable reference document for film acquisition and film review.

WorldFest traces its actual beginnings to August 1961, when it began screening foreign & art films as Cinema Arts, an international film society. It became a competitive international film festival seven years later, in April 1968, and has been in continuous operation ever since. It is one of the original three film festivals in North America, with San Francisco and New York as the first two venues. Now there are over 900 USA film festivals of various levels and quality, most being non-competitive screening events! It is perhaps the longest-running film festival in the world operating under the same director.

The 41st Annual WorldFest also offers international competition in 12 major categories, including TV production, TV commercials, unproduced Screenplays & Teleplays, Experimental, Student, Documentary, Business & Industry, New Media and Music Videos. WorldFest is the largest film & video competition in the world, with more than 4,300 total category entries received in 2008. There are almost 200 sub-categories for competition, allowing each film to compete in its own genre.

For more information on the 41st Annual 2008 WorldFest-Houston,
Call: 1-713-965-9955 or fax: 1-713-965-9960 or email: info@worldfest.org
The complete Info kit with ticket purchase forms is on our website: www.worldfest.org

“Before there was Sundance or SXSW, Toronto or Tribeca, there was WorldFest!”

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For immediate release: 1 January 2008…NEWS…NEWS…NEWS…NEWS!
For more info: Contact ~ Kathleen Haney, Program Director (713) 965-9955

41st WORLDFEST-HOUSTON SETS FEST DATES, CALLS FOR ENTRIES!

“ FORGET SUNDANCE! …WorldFest is one of the best conceived festival productions on the planet!” ~ Craig Outhier, film critic, Phoenix press; Tempe Times.

The 41st Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival continues its totally dedicated Independent Film screening format for the upcoming April 11-20, 2008 unspooling. WorldFest will screen just 50-60 feature film premieres, with a total and absolute emphasis on the American and International Independent feature films and a continuing annual spotlight on award-winning short films and documentary films. The EarlyBird Discount Deadline is Thursday, November 15th 2007, the Main Entry Deadline is Saturday, December 15th 2007, with a FINAL Deadline of January. 31st, 2008 (the famous $15 late fee has been - abolished/waived!). Entry forms & complete entry information is on our website (http://www.worldfest.org) – Click on Enter Film Festival, then on History, FAQ, Categories…

WorldFest Artistic and Program Director, Kathleen Haney, stated, “We are fiercely dedicated to the Indie Feature and Short Film and look for a quality selection of individual films to maintain a smaller, yet effective program rather than an overly large and unwieldy slate of 150-300 films. Haney continued, “For the 2008 WorldFest we are using ‘A good story, well told’ as our time-tested approach to film selection”. (For complete winner info from the 2007 WorldFest, go to – http://www.worldfest.org – click on View the 2007 Remi Winners).

After he received the Grand Remi Award in 1985, Ridley Scott commented “WorldFest is in the business of validating excellence!” The mission of WorldFest is to recognize and validate creative excellence in film & video production in every facet and category of filmmaking. Many filmmakers report that a Remi Award from WorldFest opens doors to advance their careers.

WorldFest will continue with its annual Short Film Showcase, a special review of 100 new short and student films...from the festival that gave first top honors to Spielberg, Lucas, The Coen Brothers, Ridley Scott, Robert Rodriguez, Spike Lee, Gavin Hood, John Lee Hancock, Michael Cimino, Steven Poster, Oliver Stone, Ang Lee, Atom Egoyan and David Lynch, among many others! Few other festivals have such a “discovery” track record. WorldFest has emerged as the oldest continuous film festival management in the world with the same executive director, serving for 41 consecutive years. A few other festivals are older, but they have had as many as ten different directors.

The 40th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival concluded with a good upturn in box office. Highlights of the 40th Annual WorldFest-Houston were: several hit films, a Gala Awards Banquet with top honors presented to up-and-coming attending filmmakers from over 37 countries from round the globe, Indie Panels, a VIP tour of NASA and an exciting Houston Yacht Club Sailing Regatta & Texas BBQ were Attendance at the 10-day Fest was over 25,000, up from 2006 box office figures. The overflowing Awards Dinner at Houston’s Renaissance Hotel hosted the WorldFest Gala, on Saturday night (April 27) with a record number of more than 550 international filmmakers, award winning international dancers, plus a special hi-energy dance presentation by ELCX Planet Funk.

The 40th WorldFest's 2007 top honors- The Remi Grand Awards went to the following productions:

BEST THEATRICAL FEATURE to; “CHOSYU FIVE” - DIRECTOR: SHO IGARASHI, PRODUCER: KIYOSHI MIZUNO, JAPAN.
BEST FILM & VIDEO to; “ATHENA – REBIRTH OF GRANDEUR” - TOM NITSCH, DIRECTOR – GERMANY.
BEST TV & CABLE PRODUCTION to; “BROKEN TRAIL” - WALTER HILL, DIRECTOR, AMC – AMERICAN MOVIE CHANNEL – USA.
BEST NEW MEDIA to; “PRENATAL DEVELOPMENT & PREGNANCY EDUCATION” - THE ENDOWMENT FOR HUMAN DEVELOPMENT – USA.
BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM & VIDEO to; “THE EVENT” - MITCHELL ROSE, DIRECTOR – USA BEST SHORT SUBJECT to; “DEATH IN VEGAS” - RAMZY TELLEY, DIRECTOR – USA.
BEST TV COMMERCIAL to; “UNSCRUPULOUS” - CARVIN SEDER, INC. - USA
BEST STUDENT FILM to; “DISCONNECTED” - CHEOL-WOO PARK, DIRECTOR – KOREA - USA
BEST SCREENPLAY to: “DIFFERENT DRUMMERS” - LYLE HATCHER & DON CARON, USA
BEST MUSIC VIDEO to; “KUCH NAHI TEREY BIN (THE DANCE OF COURTSHIP”
KHANNU SAMRAT & MEHRUNNISA HASSAN - PAKISTAN

WorldFest began in August 1961, as Cinema Arts, an international film society. It began screening Independent, foreign & art films. It It became an officially competitive International Film Festival Seven years later, in April 1968, and has been in continuous operation since. It is one of the original three film festivals in North America, with San Francisco and New York as the first two events. Following WorldFest was Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, and Seattle. Then Sundance and SXSW. Now there are more than 1,000 USA film festivals of various types, levels and quality, most being simply non-competitive screening events! WorldFest is international, competitive and invites filmmakers worldwide.

The 41st Annual WorldFest offers International Competition in; Features, Shorts, TV production, TV commercials, unproduced Screenplays & Teleplays, Experimental, Student, Documentary, Business & Industry, New Media, and Music Videos. WorldFest is the largest film & video competition in the world, in sheer number of actual category entries, with more than 4,500 category entries received in 2007. There are almost 200 sub-categories for competition, allowing each film to compete in its own individual genre.

WorldFest-Houston is sponsored by the State of Texas, the City of Houston, HP, Kodak, NASA, AMC Theaters, the Houston Film Commission, Boxer Properties, Pillar Bluff Winery, Wagner Media, The Renaissance Hotel, The Houston Chronicle, and the Houston Arts Alliance.
For more information on the 41st Annual 2008 WorldFest-Houston, simply send your name and address to:

Entry Team WorldFest - 2008
41st Annual WorldFest-Houston
PO Box 56566, Houston, Texas 77256-6566 USA
or call toll free: 1-866-965-9955 (or 713-965-9955) or fax: 1-713-965-9960
or simply email us at: entry@worldfest.org
The complete Entry Kit with Entry Forms - is on our website: http://www.worldfest.org
(The 41st Annual WorldFest-Houston is set for April 11-20, 2008)

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SPECIAL BULLETIN -- Following is the Initial and Preliminary 2007 Screening list of selected Feature & Short Films. It is being amended often. (Please do not call or email us if you do not see your film listed as of yet, as it will just slow us down and delay the decisions!) We will inform all entrants in all categories of the jury results over the next three weeks.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  The 40th Annual WorldFest-Houston Film Festival ........................   2007 WorldFest Jury Remi initial selections of Feature Films. Short Films listed below Feature Films! .....   THIS IS THE CURRENT JURY SELECTION - IT IS SUBJECT TO CONSTANT REVISION! THIS LIST IS IN ALPHA ORDER, AND IT SHOWS ONLY TITLE, DIRECTOR AND THE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN. THIS LIST WILL BE AMENDED DAILY. SHORT FILMS ARE LISTED AFTER THE FEATURES. THIS LIST DOES NOT SHOW THE SCREENING TIMES OF THE FILMS! WE WILL POST SHOW TIMES IN A FEW DAYS. WE DO EXPECT TO FINALIZE THE SELECTIONS BY 16 MARCH. WE WILL POST THE DAY/DATE/TIME SCHEDULE THIS WEEK FOR FEATURES, NEXT WEEK FOR SHORT FILMS & VIDEOS! 14 WORLD PREMIERES - (LISTED BY: TITLE - DIRECTOR - COUNTRY): 11 MINUTES AGO - BOB GEBERT - CALIFORNIA 20,000 MILES ON A HORSE - TOM JENNINGS - CALIFORNIA EINSTEIN'S GREATEST MISTAKE - BRANKO KARABATIC - CROATIA GRADUATION - MICHAEL MAYER - CALIFORNIA HIGH WATER BLUES - ALAN MENDEHLSON - CANADA HOUSE OF DREAMS - SHAWN WELLING - TEXAS KING OF BEGGARS - URI PASTER - LITHUANIA / ISRAEL ONE LONG NIGHT - DAVID SIQUEIROS - USA / MEXICO - OPENING NIGHT FILM RETURN WITH HONOR - MICHAEL AMUNDSEN - USA SAIGON ECLIPSE - OTHELLO KHANH - VIETNAM SHAKESPEARE'S RICHARD III - SCOTT ANDERSON - CALIFORNIA SOMETHING BENEATH - DAVID WINNING - CANADA THE WAITER - JASON KONOPISOS - TEXAS THE WHISPERERS - RAJEEV MAROJ VIRANI - INDIA / USA NORTH AMERICAN, USA & REGIONAL PREMIERES: 5 UP 2 DOWN - STEVEN KESSLER - NEW YORK AMOUR LEGENDE - MI-SEN WU - TAIWAN, ROC AURORE - LUC DIONNE - CANADA BEN'S BIOGRAPHY - DAN WOLMAN - ISRAEL BOLLY DOUBLE - ARUN BHARALI - CANADA CHOSYU FIVE - SHO IGARASHI - JAPAN CHILDREN OF THE MOON - (MONDSCHEIN KINDER) - MANUELA STACKE - GERMANY THE COLLECTOR - FELIKS FALK - POLAND CRIME & PUNISHMENT - MENACHEM GOLAN - RUSSIA THE DUKES - ROBERT DAVI - CALIFORNIA - CLOSING NIGHT FILM EYE OF THE DOLPHIN - MICHAEL SELLERS - CALIFORNIA FERN HILL - COLE CLAASSEN - CALIFORNIA FRANK - DOUGLAS CHENEY - CALIFORNIA FRENCH FOR BEGINNERS - CHRISTIAN DITLER - GERMANY THE GARAGE - CARL THIBAULT - CALIFORNIA GREYFRIARS BOBBY - JOHN HENDERSON - SCOTLAND HOLLYWOOD DREAMS - HENRY JAGLOM - CALIFORNIA HUNTING FOR ENGLISHMEN - BERTALAN BAGO - HUNGARY THE INEVITABLE UNDOING OF JAY BROOKS - JENNIFER SHARP - CALIFORNIA INFINITE JUSTICE - JAMIL DEHLAVI - ENGLAND UK THE JAMMED - DEE MCLACHLAN - AUSTRALIA JUST SEX & NOTHING ELSE - KRYSZTINA GODA - HUNGARY KING OF THE BEGGARS - URI PASTER - LITHUANIA / GREECE KOKODA - ALISTER GRIERSON - AUSTRALIA LABOUR EQUALS FREEDOM - DAMJAN KOZOLE - SLOVENIA THE LITTLE THINGS - STEPHEN PADILLA - NEW YORK LOSERS AND WINNERS - ULRIKE FRANKE / MICHAEL LOEKEN - GERMANY MEXICAN SUNRISE - ROWDY STOVALL - TEXAS PANDORA - GEORGE STAMBOULOPOULOS - GREECE PYAAR KE - SIDE/EFFECTS - SAKET CHAUDHARY - INDIA RARE BIRD - LUCINDA SPURLING - BERMUDA STEEL TOES - DAVID GOW / MARK ADAM - CANADA SUNDAY IN KIGALI - ROBERT FAVREAU - CANADA TRUTH BE TOLLED - WILLIAM MOLINAS - TEXAS URANYA - COSTAS KAPAKAS - GREECE VANAJA - RAJNESH DOMALPALLI - INDIA VINETA: THE SECRET PROJECT - FRANZISKA STÜNKEL - GERMANY WHOLETRAIN - FLORIAN GAGG - GERMANY THE WONDER OF IT ALL - JEFFREY ROTH - CALIFORNIA PANORAMA ITALIA - WORLDFEST HONORS ITALY FOR 2007 ALLA LUCE DEL SOLE - director - ROBERTO FAENZA THE BICYCLE THIEF - (Ladri di biciclette) 1948 - director - VITTORIO De SICA DOPPO MEZZANOTTE - director - DAVIDE FERRARIO LA FEBBRE - director - ALESSANDRO D'ALATRI IL POSTO - director - ERMANNO OLMI FLOWERS OF ST. FRANCIS - director - ROBERTO ROSSILLINI SHORT FILM PREMIERES - DIGITAL & 35MM: 3 IN 34 - JAE SONG - NEW YORK A KISS ON THE NOSE - LAURA NERI - CALIFORNIA AU SUIVANT - DOUGLAS BENSADOUN - CANADA BY CHARLIE WALKER - PRIYA RAO - CANADA THE COW THIEF - CHARLES WILLIAMS - AUSTRALIA THE CLAP - KIM JACOBS - ENGLAND UK CIRCLE - MAGYAR FILM - HUNGARY THE DANCE OF COURTSHIP - MEHRUNNISA HASSAN - KENTUCKY THE DANISH POET - NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA - CANADA DARTSVILLE - TONY WEST - CALIFORNIA DEATH IN VEGAS - RAMZEY TELLEY - TEXAS DISCONNECTED - CHEOL-WU PARK - CALIFORNIA DISTANT MEMORY (MARIES LACHELN) - MICHAEL SHAFER - GERMANY A DYING FALL - ROBERT WILLIAM WILSON - CANADA EL CANTO DEL GRILLO - FRANC PLANAS - SPAIN EL HOYO - CARLOS CEASERO RUIZ - SPAIN EL INTRUSO - DAVID CANOVAS - SPAIN EL VIAJE DE SAID - ISABEL GUERRERO - SPAIN EMPTY ROOM - SHIELA PYE - CANADA ENERGY - TINA OLIVARES - SPAIN EVERYTHING WILL BE OK - DON HERTZFELDT - CALIFORNIA EVOL - CHRIS BINCZE - ENGLAND UK FACE MACHINE - JUSTIN SIMMS - CANADA FIVE DOORS - CARL KNUTSON - CANADA GREETINGS FROM EARTH - KIM JACOBS - CALIFORNIA GUIDE DOG - BILL PLYMPTON - NEW YORK HAJIME - KENSHIN NAWA - JAPAN THE HIGHER CALLING OF MARTY PIMLOTT - JAMES VILLEMAIRE - NEW YORK HOUSE OF THE OLIVE TREES - THOULY DOSIOS - GREECE HURRICANE ON THE BAYOU - MACGILLIVRAY- FREEMAN FILMS - CALIFORNIA IN BETWEEN - JOSE E. INGLESIAS VIGIL - POLAND IOWA STORIES - FRANCESCO PALADINO - ITALY KOONIKLASTER - MARIKO SAGA - POLAND LA PRIMAVERA - RUBEN OBREGON CASAS - CALIFORNIA LA ULTIMA PAGINA - CESAR RODRIGUEZ-MOROY - SPAIN LE REVEIL - VERONIQUE LEVOIE-MARCUS - CANADA LILY - HIROSHI NAKAJIMA - CALIFORNIA LOOK BOTH WAYS - DANIEL ORON - CANADA MCLAREN'S NEGATIVES - MARIE-JOSEE SAINT-PIERRE - CANADA MOURNFUL THINGS - JOSEPH SULPIZI - CANADA NEVER LOSE SIGHT OF FREEDOM - TOM RADFORD - WEST VIRGINIA NO ONE LOVES YOU AS I DO (NEIMAND LIEBT DICH S0 WIE ICH) - LUCA ZAMAI & OLIVIER KAYSER - GERMANY NOIR TOTAL - FRANCOIS JAMIN - FRANCE ON THE EDGE - LUBO VILUDA & IVAN KRSIAK - SLOVAKIA PORTABLE LIVING ROOM - RANSOM RIGGS - CALIFORNIA THE PRINCESS TURNED INTO A FROG - ROBERT TURLO - POLAND RAZOR SHARP - MARCUS PERRY - CALIFORNIA REGARDING SARAH - M PORTER & AMY BELLING - CANADA ROSE - HOKU UCHIYAMA - CALIFORNIA THE SAD STORY OF KNAVE - ANNE LARRICQ - FRANCE SAVING SAM - SCOTT WILLIAM ALVAREZ - CALIFORNIA THE SCARLET LETTERS - JEFFREY RUBIN - VIRGINIA SCREENING - ANTHONY GREEN - CANADA SINGLE BED - GEORGE KOUVARAS - GREECE SKINHEADS - MICHAEL VASS - CANADA SOMEWHERE IN THE CITY - RAMSEY DENISON - CALIFORNIA SOONER OR LATER - Magyar Filmunió - HUNGARY SPOONFED - MARIE HORODYSKI - CANADA STELLA - ANKE HENTSCHEL - GERMANY STILL LIFE - MAHESH PAILOOR - CALIFORNIA THE SUNDAY MAN - DANIELLE SHAMASH - CALIFORNIA TORSIA - JAKSA BORIC - CROATIA TYTTONEN (THE YOUNG GIRL) - FABIAN GIESSLER - FINLAND/GERMANY TZARITZA - NATIONAL FILM BOARD OF CANADA - CANADA THE WANNABE - ALTHEA WASOW - NEW YORK WAVES. DAY RETURN - MACIES PISAREK - POLAND WHO GUARDS THE GUARDIANS - GORAN STANKOVIC - SERBIA WISHING IN THE PARK - SAM SMALL - ENGLAND UK (This is the FINAL Short Film list as of 11:30pm CDST, Friday, April 06. It is updated on a regular basis - as the results from the WorldFest Selection Committees come in. We are contacting both Short & Feature filmmakers via email over the next few days. Please check the list regularly for updates! We have now posted the Day/Date/Time Screening Schedule and we are posting clips and trailers on all selected films at this time. Our sincere congratulations to the listed filmmakers. More than 500 Intl Features and 1,500 Intl Shorts were entered in the 2007 Remi Competition! Please note: we hope to have jury results on all other competition categories during the week of April 9 and will post all the nominees in all other categories on this website. You do not have to be screened to win a Remi Award!) For immediate release: 12 MARCH 2007…NEWS…NEWS…NEWS…NEWS! For more info: Contact ~ Kathleen Haney, Program Director (713) 965-9955 40th WORLDFEST-HOUSTON SETS PREMIERES & THEATRES! “FORGET SUNDANCE! …WorldFest is one of the best conceived festival productions on the planet!” ~ Craig Outhier, film critic, Phoenix press; Tempe Times. The 40th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival continues its totally dedicated Independent Film screening format for the upcoming April 20-29, 2007 unspooling. WorldFest will screen just 56 feature film premieres, with a total and complete emphasis on the American and International Independent Feature films and with a continuing annual spotlight on 96 award-winning Intl. Short films and Documentary films. For the 40th WorldFest, all screenings will be at the AMC Studio 30 at Dunvale. Complete Film schedule and ticket information are now on our WorldFest website (http://www.worldfest.org) This year WorldFest is streaming all of its Short Film winners, and trailers of all Feature Films on its website - www.worldfest.org. Anyone can visit our website and click on the Short or Feature Film that they want to view, and it will stream via the very high band-width of WorldFest… Some of the WorldFest Remi Award Winners from the past festival have now been viewed by more than 135,000 people all over the world. For its 40th festival WorldFest is presenting 14 World Premieres; 11 MINUTES AGO - BOB GEBERT - CALIFORNIA 20,000 MILES ON A HORSE - TOM JENNINGS - CALIFORNIA EINSTEIN'S GREATEST MISTAKE - BRANKO KARABATIC - CROATIA HIGH WATER BLUES - ALAN MENDEHLSON - CANADA HOUSE OF DREAMS - SHAWN WELLING - TEXAS KING OF BEGGARS - URI PASTER - LITHUANIA / ISRAEL MEXICAN SUNRISE - ROWDY STOVALL - TEXAS ONE LONG NIGHT - DAVID SIQUEIROS - USA / MEXICO - OPENING NIGHT PREMIERE RETURN WITH HONOR - MICHAEL AMUNDSEN - USA SAIGON ECLIPSE - OTHELLO KHANH - VIETNAM SHAKESPEARE'S RICHARD III - SCOTT ANDERSON - CALIFORNIA SOMETHING BENEATH - DAVID WINNING - CANADA THE WAITER - JASON KONOPISOS – TEXAS In addition, WorldFest is premiering 42 additional feature films and 96 Short Films, including many with Houston and Texas connections; 5 UP 2 DOWN - STEVEN KESSLER - NEW YORK AMOUR LEGENDE - MI-SEN WU - TAIWAN, ROC AURORE - LUC DIONNE - CANADA BEN'S BIOGRAPHY - DAN WOLMAN - ISRAEL CHOSYU FIVE - SHO IGARASHI - JAPAN CHILDREN OF THE MOON - (MONDSCHEIN KINDER) - MANUELA STACKE - GERMANY THE COLLECTOR - FELIKS FALK - POLAND CRIME & PUNISHMENT - MENACHEM GOLAN - RUSSIA EYE OF THE DOLPHIN - MICHAEL SELLERS - CALIFORNIA FERN HILL - COLE CLAASSEN - CALIFORNIA FRANK - DOUGLAS CHENEY - CALIFORNIA FRENCH FOR BEGINNERS - CHRISTIAN DITLER - GERMANY THE GARAGE - CARL THIBAULT - CALIFORNIA GRADUATION - MICHAEL MAYER - CALIFORNIA GREYFRIARS BOBBY - JOHN HENDERSON - SCOTLAND HOLLYWOOD DREAMS - HENRY JAGLOM - CALIFORNIA HUNTING FOR ENGLISHMEN - BERTALAN BAGO - HUNGARY THE INEVITABLE UNDOING OF JAY BROOKS - JENNIFER SHARP - CALIFORNIA INFINITE JUSTICE - JAMIL DEHLAVI - ENGLAND UK THE JAMMED - DEE MCLACHLAN - AUSTRALIA JUST SEX & NOTHING ELSE - KRYSZTINA GODA - HUNGARY KOKODA - ALISTER GRIERSON - AUSTRALIA THE LITTLE THINGS - STEPHEN PADILLA - NEW YORK LOSERS AND WINNERS - ULRIKE FRANKE / MICHAEL LOEKEN - GERMANY PYAAR KE - SIDE/EFFECTS - SAKET CHAUDHARY - INDIA RARE BIRD - LUCINDA SPURLING - BERMUDA STEEL TOES - DAVID GOW / MARK ADAM - CALIFORNIA SUNDAY IN KIGALI - ROBERT FAVREAU - CANADA VANAJA - RAJNESH DOMALPALLI - INDIA VINETA: THE SECRET PROJECT - FRANZISKA STÜNKEL - GERMANY WHOLETRAIN - FLORIAN GAGG - GERMANY THE WONDER OF IT ALL - JEFFREY ROTH – CALIFORNIA For its 40th Festival, WorldFest is honoring Italy, with an exciting survey of new films from Italy, along with their directors, in person. These films include; PANORAMA ITALIA - WORLDFEST HONORS ITALY FOR 2007 ALLA LUCE DEL SOLE - director - ROBERTO FAENZA DOPPO MEZZANOTTE - director - DAVIDE FERRARIO IL REGISTA DI MATRIMONI - director - MARCO BELLOCCHIO LA FEBBRE - director - ALESSANDRO D'ALATRI WorldFest Artistic and Program Director, Kathleen Haney, said, “We continue our focus on a quality selection of individual films to maintain a smaller, yet effective program rather than an overly large and unwieldy slate of 150-300 films shown in too many venues. In consideration of both our festival audiences and the independent filmmakers, we feel that a solid high-quality program of no more than 60 features is optimum in a ten-day festival with nine screening slots (on three theater screens) per day.” Haney continued, “We are looking for ‘A good story, well told’ as our classic approach to film selection. We have special sidebars of Foreign, Children’s and Family Film Sections plus Remi Award winning Documentaries. All of our films are totally Indie productions, and each film is well represented by their filmmakers, who attend to personally introduce their films!” WorldFest will continue with its annual Short Film Showcase, a very special review of 96 new short and student films...from the festival that gave first honors to Spielberg, Lucas, Oliver Stone, Ang Lee, and David Lynch, among many others! No other festival has such a “discovery” track record. WorldFest has emerged as the oldest film festival management in the world with the same director, continuously for 38 consecutive years. A few other festivals are older, but they have had as many as ten different directors. Most USA film festivals today have evolved into publicity platforms for major studio distributors. WorldFest showcases the true independent film, offering a fiercely dedicated special venue for directors searching for an independent forum for their works. WorldFest continues with a focused emphasis on new, premiering films that are seeking a distributor. The Festival also screens DVD video via the Barco R20 Digital DLP Projection and Wagner Media, major sponsors of the festival, in addition to 35mm film. WorldFest-Houston is presented by - The Houston Film Society, HP, Eastman Kodak, The Houston Chronicle, Chron.com, Boxer Properties, TV5 France, The Houston Arts Alliance, The National Endowment for The Arts, Texas Commission for the Arts, Media A Team, Pillar Bluff Winery, The Houston Film Commission, The Renaissance & Marriott Hotels, NASA, Space Center-Houston, Houston Yacht Club, The Wellness Center, Wagner Media, The Homestead Resort and many others. The 108-page WorldFest program book is distributed to every major film festival in the world and to every known major distributor in the world. This detailed film catalogue has become an invaluable reference document for film acquisition and film review. WorldFest traces its actual beginnings to August 1961, when it began screening foreign & art films as Cinema Arts, an international film society. It became a competitive international film festival seven years later, in April 1968, and has been in continuous operation ever since. It is one of the original three film festivals in North America, with San Francisco and New York as the first two venues. Now there are over 800 USA film festivals of various levels and quality, most being non-competitive screening events! It is perhaps the longest-running film festival in the world operating under the same director. The 40th Annual WorldFest also offers international competition in 12 major categories, including TV production, TV commercials, unproduced Screenplays & Teleplays, Experimental, Student, Documentary, Business & Industry, New Media and Music Videos. WorldFest is the largest film & video competition in the world, with more than 4,300 total category entries received in 2007. There are almost 200 sub-categories for competition, allowing each film to compete in its own genre. For more information on the 40th Annual 2007 WorldFest-Houston, Call: 1-713-965-9955 or fax: 1-713-965-9960 or email: info@worldfest.org The complete Info kit with ticket purchase forms is on our website: www.worldfest.org “Before there was Sundance, Toronto or SXSW, there was WorldFest!” ====================================== OLD NEWS RELEASES FROM LAST YEARS... For Immediate Release – 1 May 2006 – NEWS – NEWS – NEWS For further info: 713-965-9955 or mail@worldfest.org Grand Finale of 2006 WorldFest-Houston (The 39th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival) WorldFest-Houston, the 3rd oldest film festival in North America, celebrated the conclusion of its 39th annual independent film showcase with a Grand Awards Gala on April 29th & Closing Day April 30th with a VIP NASA and Space Center Houston tour and Texas BBQ sponsored by The Houston Yacht Club. All events are open to the public. WorldFest, founded as an Int’l Film Society in August 1961, became the third competitive international film festival in North America, following San Francisco and New York. WorldFest evolved into a competitive Int’l. Film Festival in April 1968 and has a long list of “discovered” film greats such as Steven Spielberg, George Lucas, Ridley Scott, David Lynch, Ridley Scott, Oliver Stone, Atom Egoyan, Randall Kleiser, Ang Lee, Robert Rodriguez, the Coen Brothers and many others from their beginning efforts with submissions early in their careers. Multi award-winning producer/director, Hunter Todd, founded this Int’l. film festival to honor all categories of film and video production continuing his long dedication of “Discovery” in spotlighting emerging Independent filmmakers, “the Spielbergs & Ang Lees of tomorrow.” WorldFest’s mission is to recognize and honor outstanding creative excellence in film & video, validate brilliant abilities and promote future filmmaking in Texas as well as enhance cultural tourism for Houston. The 10-day film festival ran to a smooth finish with several sold-out full houses, 14 being Houston and Texas productions. Directors, producers and actors representing their premiering films flew in from all over the globe such as: Nicole van Kilsdonk (Johan) Romantic comedy, Holland; Fernando Kalife (7 Days) Mexico; Piero Sanna (La Destinazione) Italy; Renos Haramlambidis (The Heart of the Beast) Greece; Layia Giourgou (Liubi) Greece; Norman Stone (Kerrigan’s Passion ~ Man Dancin’) UK; Christopher Buchholz (Horst Buchholz…mein Papa) Germany, Branko Ivanda (The Horseman) Croatia, Valery Ogorodnikov (Red Sky. Black Snow) Russia; Sergej Stanojkovski (Kontakt) Macedonia; Darko Mitrevski (Bal-Can-Can) Macedonia; Rob Rombout (Amsterdam via Amsterdam) Holland and Deepa Mehta (Water) Canada plus hundreds of others from the International Short Film competition. All film premieres were screened at the Flagship AMC Studio 30 Theatres, a third year WorldFest-Houston Cinema partner. Other major VIP Partner/Sponsors of WorldFest include Hewlett Packard, Eastman Kodak, Microsoft, The Marriott Hotels, The City of Houston, The State of Texas, The NEA, The Cultural Arts Council of Houston, The Houston Chronicle, Budget Rent a Car, Wagner Media, NASA/Space Center Houston 247Show.com and The Houston Yacht Club. The Awards Gala on Saturday, April 29th was held in the Greenway Ballroom of The Renaissance Hotel, VIP partner and official host hotel for the 39th annual WorldFest. The festivities began with a cocktail reception hosted by The Houston Film Commission. Four-time World Champion Bagpipe Band from St. Thomas Episcopal School in Houston, launched the awards segment by piping in festival founder, Hunter Todd, leading the parade with a bevy of beautiful Page Parkes models, presenters of the plaques to the winning filmmakers. Local celebrity and news anchor, Bob Beaudreault was Master of Ceremonies. Dance entertainment was presented by MECA Folkloric Dance Troupe of Houston followed by the Champion Scottish Highland dancer, Pillar McKay with a grand finale and a standing ovation for Shawn Welling’s Planet Funk Academy’s premiere dancers who performed a high-energy dance mix created especially for the gala. Top honoree of the evening was Deepa Mehta (Fire, Earth, and Water) awarded the WorldFest 2006 Career Achievement Award for her superlative work in expressing the voice of a new India through film. The Award Gala was the hot item in Houston that night with over 450 US and International filmmakers from over 30 nations here to personally accept their well-deserved Remi Awards. Of note were Robert Campbell (Arizona Highways photog), Joe Estevez, Buck Taylor (Truce), Jeffrey Wells (Hollywood Elsewhere), Consuls Maggipinto (Italy); Gavai (India) and Mikhailov (Russia) to enjoy the festivities. Also on hand were producers Andrew Deane of Industry Entertainment, Jon Scheide, LA director/ writer both from Hollywood and Stuart Strutin of Panorama Entertainment from Pt. Chester, NY all jetting in to present their annual hard-hitting but very well received WorldFest Production Seminars. Everyone was invited to enjoy the Asian-Fusion-inspired menu of The Renaissance Hotel’s own Executive Chef ~ the ever exuberant Todd Haggerton! The Indie Directors Panel featured Nicole van Kilsdonk (Johan), Zhenya Kiperman (I Will Avenge You Iago!), Letia Miller (Into the Dark) Shira-Lee Shalit (A-List), Tom Anton (…At Last) moderated by (David Winning (Andromeda, Stargate:Atlantis) the prolific Canadian filmmaker and past WorldFest multiple award-winner. WorldFest 2006 Grand Awards are: BEST THEATRICAL FEATURE to Nicole van Kilsdonk, Edgmond Film, The Netherlands; BEST FILM & VIDEO to Bill Haney for, A Life Among The Whales, Uncommon Productions, Inc USA; BEST TV & CABLE PRODUCTION, Plague City: SARS in Toronto, SWE / Plague City Productions, CANADA; BEST NEW MEDIA to The Encyclopedia of Personal Finance/NBR by NBR Enterprises/WPBT Miami, USA; BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM & VIDEO to Facechasers by Matt Parker, LaSalle Holland, USA; BEST SHORT SUBJECT to Blue, Ryotaro Muramatsu, Naked, Inc, JAPAN; BEST TV COMMERCIAL to Timelord, by Brooke Jones, Bearcage Productions, AUSTRALIA; and BEST STUDENT FILM to El Gusano (The Worm) by Christopher Rutter, USA, and BEST MUSIC VIDEO to Strays Don’t Sleep for their album Strays Don’t Sleep – featuring Love Don’t Owe You Anything, USA, who played at the Awards Gala by special invitation. Opening Night Film, Lorraine Senna’s Paradise, Texas, starring Timothy Bottoms, Meridith Baxter and Polly Bergen received a Remi Gold in the Feature Film Family category. All other award results from this year’s WorldFest competition are posted on our website at www.worldfest.org – There were more than 4,500 category entries in all film and video competitions, and around 15% of the entries won awards. Wonderful Closing Day Festivities included a special VIP tour of NASA & Space Center Houston with a Regatta & Texas BBQ & Mariachi party hosted by The Houston Yacht Club. Final event was back at the AMC cinema for the Closing night film, Johan, which was awarded the Grand Remi Award BEST of SHOW feature film directed by Nicole van Kilsdonk, in from The Netherlands to accept her Remi Statuette. Over 550 filmmakers from more than 33 nations around the world were in attendance to personally accept their various awards from this year’s WorldFest’s competition of thousands of submitted category entries. Dates for WorldFest-Houston #40 are April 20-April 29, 2007. Please check our website at - www.worldfest.org - for the full winners’ list or call 713-965-9955 for more information. “Call for Entries” for next year’s event will be mailed out in late September. Entries officially open August 15th, 2006. Main deadline is December 15, 2006. You may download official entry forms from our Internet website starting August 1st. We are now streaming particular Remi Award winners on our website! WorldFest-Houston, PO Box 56566, Houston, Texas 77256-6566 713-965-9955 www.worldfest.org mail@worldfest.org For immediate release: 22 MARCH 2006 …NEWS…NEWS…NEWS…NEWS! For more info: Contact ~ Kathleen Haney, Program Director (713) 965-9955 39th WORLDFEST-HOUSTON SETS the 2006 PREMIERES & SCHEDULE! OFFICIAL THEATER IS THE AMC STUDIO 30 AT DUNVALE! “ FORGET SUNDANCE! …WorldFest is one of the best conceived festival productions on the planet!” ~ Craig Outhier, film critic, Phoenix press; Tempe Times. The 39th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival continues its totally dedicated Independent Film screening format for the upcoming April 21-30, 2006 unspooling at the AMC Studio 30 at Dunvale - located between Richmond and Westheimer. WorldFest will screen just 56 feature film premieres, with a total and absolute emphasis on the American and International Independent feature films and with a continuing annual spotlight on 96 award-winning short films and documentary films. Complete Film schedule and ticket information are now on our WorldFest website (http://www.worldfest.org) This year WorldFest is streaming its Short Film winners, and trailers of all Feature Films via a partnership with www.247Show.com. Anyone can visit our website and click on the Short or Feature they want to view, and it will stream via the very high band-width of 247Show.com … Anyone can read and post comments on the films and the top entries will win cash prizes based on total votes received. WorldFest-Houston is the first and only international film festival offering a program like this. Some of the WorldFest Remi Award Winners have been viewed by more than 15,000 people all over the world. The Opening Night World Premiere for WorldFest is Paradise, Texas starring Timothy Bottoms, Meredith Baxter, Polly Bergen, and 1st time Houston actor, Ben Estus. They are all expected to attend. This year the festival is premiering a total of 12 Houston-connected films, including both Shorts and Features. Other Houston connected films include A-List - Shira-Lee & Damon Shalit, ELCX-Planet Funk - Shawn Welling, Boy Next Door - Travis Davis, Into The Wind - Chris Page, Jack Everyman - Larry Czach, Miles To Surf - James Fulbright, The Fax - Matthew Kowalski, Be Bop Babies - Gail Reaben, Thumb POW - Joey Clark, Half Empty - Robert Peters, Common Practice - Marcos Efron. WorldFest Artistic and Program Director, Kathleen Haney, said, “We are continuing our focus on a quality selection of individual films to maintain a smaller, yet effective program rather than an overly large and unwieldy slate of 150-300 films. In consideration of both our festival audiences and the independent filmmakers, we feel that a solid high-quality program of no more than 60 features is optimum in a ten-day festival with nine screening slots (on three theater screens) per day.” Haney continued, “We are looking for ‘A good story, well told’ as our time-tested approach to film selection. We have special sidebars of Foreign, Children’s and Family Film Sections plus Remi Award winning Documentaries. All of our films are totally Indie productions, and each film is well represented by their filmmakers, who attend to personally introduce their films!” WorldFest will continue with its annual Short Film Showcase, a very special review of 96 new short and student films...from the festival that gave first honors to Spielberg, Lucas, Oliver Stone, Ang Lee, and David Lynch, among many others! No other festival has such a “discovery” track record. WorldFest has emerged as the oldest film festival management in the world with the same director, continuously for 38 consecutive years. A few other festivals are older, but they have had as many as ten different directors. Most USA film festivals today have evolved into publicity platforms for major studio distributors. WorldFest showcases the true independent film, offering a fiercely dedicated special venue for directors searching for an independent forum for their works. WorldFest continues with a focused emphasis on new, premiering films that are seeking a distributor. The Festival also screens DVD video via the Barco R20 Digital DLP Projection and Wagner Media, major sponsors of the festival, in addition to 35mm film. WorldFest-Houston is presented by - The Houston Film Society, HP, Eastman Kodak, The Houston Chronicle, AMC Theatres, TV5 France, CACHH (The Cultural Arts Council of Houston/Harris County), The National Endowment for The Arts, Texas Commission for the Arts, Media A Team, 247Show.com, Becker Vineyards, The Houston Film Commission, The Renaissance & Marriott Hotels, NASA, Space Center-Houston, Houston Yacht Club, The Wellness Center, Wagner Media, The Homestead Resort and many others. The 108-page WorldFest program book is distributed to every major film festival in the world and to every known major distributor in the world. This detailed film catalogue has become an invaluable reference document for film acquisition and film review. WorldFest traces its actual beginnings to August 1961, when it began screening foreign & art films as Cinema Arts, an international film society. It became a competitive international film festival seven years later, in April 1968, and has been in continuous operation ever since. It is one of the original three film festivals in North America, with San Francisco and New York as the first two venues. Now there are over 600 USA film festivals of various levels and quality, most being non-competitive screening events! The 39th Annual WorldFest also offers international competition in 12 major categories, including TV production, TV commercials, unproduced Screenplays & Teleplays, Experimental, Student, Documentary, Business & Industry, New Media and Music Videos. WorldFest is the largest film & video competition in the world, with more than 4,300 total category entries received in 2006. There are almost 200 sub-categories for competition, allowing each film to compete in its own genre. For more information on the 39th Annual 2006 WorldFest-Houston, Call: 1-713-965-9955 or fax: 1-713-965-9960 or email: info@worldfest.org The complete Info kit with ticket purchase forms is on our website: http://www.worldfest.org “Before there was Sundance, Tribeca , Toronto or SXSW, there was WorldFest!” _________________________________________________________ 38th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival Advance Event Info! The Initial Menu from WorldFest - WorldFest-Houston Film Festival Announces our 38th Unspooling! "Fiercely Independent" Houston, Texas - March 2, 2005 "What's Cooking?!" at 2005 WORLDFEST-HOUSTON - 38 Years of Independent Films - DATES: April 22 through May 1, 2005 - LOCATION: AMC Meyer Park 16 Theatres - The HQ Renaissance Hotel - ALL EVENTS ARE OPEN TO THE GENERAL PUBLIC Each year WorldFest creates another delectable menu of film-fare from around the world for our local audiences! The 38th annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival will offer an appetizing array of Norwegian films to commemorate Norway's Centennial Year in a special "Tribute to Norway." The main course features 40-50 new International and Independent films as well as an assortment of film industry seminars and a Kodak workshop. WorldFest- Houston will also present 100 award-winning short film subjects as tasty desserts. WorldFest will screen approximately 50 feature films, with an absolute emphasis on American and International Independently made feature films. A Tasty Film menu at the 38th WorldFest... Have you tried the unusual Norwegian dish of "Prawns in Beer Jelly with Caviar and Crème Fraiche?" Prawns and beer jelly??? Don't knock it till you've tried it! The "Prawns in Beer Jelly" recipe can be found at - www.norway.org - under the "What's Cooking?" icon. To honor Norway's centennial year in 2005, WorldFest is pleased to join the Royal Norwegian Consulate General in presenting a delightful Commemorative Sidebar of Norwegian films. This list of intriguing Norwegian films includes "United" by Magnus Martens, "Hold My Heart" by Trygve Allister Diesen, "Coastal Life"" by Oyvind Sandberg, and "The Woman of My Life" by Alexander Eik with more Norwegian titles still under consideration. We will also present an assortment of Norwegian short films TBA. WorldFest-Houston also considers the educational appetite, thus we offer a set of rotational film and video workshops covering Cinematography, Script Writing and Pitching, Distribution, Producing, Directing, Casting, Acting, Special Effects for the Indie Budget and Getting/Started in the Film/Television Industry. As a highlight to the seminar program, WorldFest will include a specialized Kodak workshop on cinematography and lighting for film and video for Indie filmmakers, along with a panel discussion presented by twelve leading directors and producers of independent film. Workshops are open to both professionals, film buffs and students for a fee. The Houston Film Society (the membership and supporting arm of WorldFest-Houston) helps fund scholarships for 200 outstanding students from the media arts, film and television programs of local high schools and colleges. WorldFest-Houston Film Festival: A Good Story, Well Told! For more than three and a half decades, WorldFest has offered cinematic fare to audiences with a taste for international flavor. As one of the oldest film festivals in the world, it was founded in August 1961 as an International Film Society. WorldFest evolved into a competitive International Film Festival in 1968, becoming the third competitive international film festival in North America, following San Francisco and New York. This organization has the distinct honor of having "discovered" film greats like Steven Spielberg, the Coen Brothers, Ang Lee, George Lucas, Ridley Scott plus many others with some of their first cinematic awards. WorldFest continues to present the true independent film and its filmmakers, offering a new venue for directors seeking to present their works without support of the major motion picture distributors. Through local community support, national collaboration, and international marketing, the visionary WorldFest has become a leading source of independent film and educational offerings. Official Website: http://www.worldfest.org (Final Jury decisions for all entry categories due in a few weeks!) For those who desire an international cuisine in cinema, consider what's cooking for this year's WorldFest menu. Besides the delightful Norwegian smorgasborg, we offer an aromatic Asian "Rice Rhapsody", a tasty Czech dumpling named "Smart Philip", a Russian entree titled "Black Snow, Red Sky" and the Palestinian delight of "The Olive Harvest." Still in the mix for final consideration are some tasty German strudels, Japanese sushi, Asian Dim sum and some satisfying Hungarian goulash (titles TBA.) For some "down home" delectables, WorldFest will offer a Houston production that has a dash of Indian saffron, "Dancing in Twilight" with more titles as American as apple pie. "Top of the World," a delightful adventure for the entire family depicting a trek to Nepal and Mt. Everest has just been added to the program. Another intriguing feature for this year's program is "Checking Out," an off-beat comedy about how three adult children (Judge Reinhold, Laura San Giacomo, David Paymer) attempt to deflect their fathers' (Peter Falk) determined intention to kill himself. "Chrystal" is another USA independent film which deals with a tragic automobile accident and how a husband (Billy Bob Thornton) must come to terms with his wife's strange long term effects from it. "Confronting Iraq" is an insightful documentary about the truth of the differing factions in the USA and throughout the globe in regards to the war against terrorism. "Vakuum" is a science-fi feature which explores the near future through the filter of a German post-bionic dystopia. WorldFest is dedicated to using the best, freshest and most natural ingredients available and is a non- profit educational and cultural organization. Our goal is to recognize and honor outstanding creative excellence in film and video, validate brilliant abilities, promote cultural tourism for Houston, develop film production in the region, and add to the rich culture of cinema. All screenings are open to the public, most 35mm features will be screened twice and the festival theater is conveniently located at the AMC 16 Meyer Park Cinema in Southwest Houston just of 610 South Loop and Post Oak at West Bellfort. Festival tickets start at $6.00, 20% discounts available on Festival Passes for current Houston Film Society Members. To become an HFS member and receive sneak preview passes throughout the year, please check our website at www.worldfest.org - Check our website and The Houston Chronicle, too, for the full schedule once the final selections are confirmed. WorldFest hopes to have tantalized you with aromatic hints of these coming Independent cinematic offerings. The jury's final results will determine the final grand buffet of tasty international morsels. Your selections are guaranteed to be satisfying yet completely non-caloric. If something tasty in Independent and International cinema appeals to you, come enjoy the offerings at WorldFest this April 22nd through May 1st. See you at the movies! WorldFest-Houston Film Festival Team WorldFest email: info@worldfest.org phone: 713-965-9955 The 38th Annual WorldFest will offer 55 new intl Feature films and 100 award-winning shorts, plus six technical production seminars sponsored by Eastman Kodak and Hewlett Packard, plus an Awards Gala, Festival Regatta, VIP Tour of NASA and Texas BBQ. WorldFest is sponsored by The Houston Chronicle, HP, Kodak, CACHH, TCA, NEA, RM Crowe, The City of Houston, The State of Texas, The Houston Film Commission, The Houston Yacht Club, NASA, Space Center Houston, Wagner Media and AMC Theatres. WorldFest-Houston Film Festival Press Contact: Kathleen Haney Program & Artistic Director email: kathleen@worldfest.org voice: 713-965-9955 The feature film list is tentaive and subject to change. There will be changes due to print availability and screening conflicts. WorldFest makes every possible effort to keep to the final schedule, but there will always be some changes. The "Cut in Stone" program schedule will be posted on the web March 31st. Most every short and feature film will be introduced by its director, writer, producer or representative. You can personally meet them at the Festival Club at The HQ hotel, the Renaissance Hotel in Greenway Plaza after the film each night. Details are on our website.     FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  37th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film & Video Festival ........................ Entries are now Officially Closed! You may enter the 2005 WorldFest August 1st, 2004! .....   Houston Film Festival Announces Entries are now Officially Closed! The New Official Entry Opening for the 2005 WorldFest is August 1st, 2004 ! Houston, Texas - January 30th, 2004 - Hola! from Houston... and we wish you a Bountiful New Year! Just a short reminder that due to an overwhelming demand and the bad storms and weather in Canada and on the East Coast, the FINAL Entry Deadline for the 37th Annual WorldFest- Houston has been extended to Friday, February 13th, 2004 is the "BRICK-WALL BE-HERE-BY" deadline. Entries must reach us by February 13th, 2004. Competition for Indie Features, Shorts, Documentaries, Experimental, Student, Music Videos, TV Production, TV Commercials, Scripts, Radio & Print. Complete entry information and Entry Forms await you at www.worldfest.org Join us for the 37th Annual WorldFest Film & Video competition. Be part of the festival that gave the first honors and awards to Stephen Spielberg, Ang Lee, George Lucas, David Lynch, Randall Kleiser, John Lee Hancock, The Coen Brothers, Robert Rodriguez, Ridley Scott, Steve Poster and many more. We offer juried competition in 12 major award categories and more than 200 sub-categories. Compete for more than $25,000 in awards. The HP Crystal Vision Awards, The Kodak Cinematography Award, The Grand Remi Award for Best Feature, Best Short, Best Documentary, etc. We also offer nine professional production seminars during the festival, which wraps up with a Grand Awards Gala Dinner and Sailing Regatta and Texas BBQ at the Houston Yacht Club. More than 500 international filmmakers attend each year. NEW FINAL Main Entry Deadline EXTENSION - to Friday - February 13th, 2004 Friday, Feb. 13th is the New FINAL Extended Entry Deadline. This is a "BE-HERE-BY" Deadline. Your entry must reach us by that time. After Jan. 15 the entry late fee is WAIVED, and they must reach us no later than Feb. 13th, 2004. Complete entry info at www.worldfest.org - click on Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ), Categories and Entry Form. We offer the entry forms in several different compatible versions including a one page Adobe Acrobat Entry Form. Award winners in WorldFest go on to find distribution offers, job opportunities and exceptional validation of your creative excellence. Read Filmmaker Comments on our website to see that a Remi Award from WorldFest opens doors and gets solid results for our winners. WorldFest is the 3rd oldest film festival in North America. WorldFest was founded August 1961 as an international film society and became a true competitive film & video festival for features, shorts and documentaries in April 1968. The 37th Annual WorldFest-Houston Intl Film & Video Festival. For 37 years WorldFest has provided Awards, honors and validation of excellence for outstanding film and video makers from all over the world. The last Festival, in April 2003, more than 37 countries were represented with over 4,500 film and video productions in the international competition. Company Website: http://www.worldfest.org Houston Film Festival Press Contact: Kathleen Haney Program & Artistic Director email: kathy@worldfest.org voice: 713-965-9955   WorldFest, WorldFest-Houston and the Houston International Film Festival, Inc. are federally registered, copywrited and protected trademarks of HIFF, Inc. WorldFest is a non-profit, tax-exempt IRS 501-(c)-(3) educational and cultural organization.

For immediate release: 19 August 2003…NEWS…NEWS…NEWS…NEWS! For more info: Contact ~ Kathleen Haney, Program Director (713) 965-9955 37th WORLDFEST-HOUSTON SETS FEST DATES, CALLS FOR ENTRIES! “ FORGET SUNDANCE! …WorldFest is one of the best conceived festival productions on the planet!” ~ Craig Outhier, film critic, Phoenix press; Tempe Times. The 37th Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival continues its totally dedicated Independent Film screening format for the upcoming April 16-25, 2004 unspooling. WorldFest will screen just 50-60 feature film premieres, with a total and absolute emphasis on the American and International Independent feature films and a continuing annual spotlight on award-winning short films and documentary films. The EARLY BIRD (discount) Deadline for entries is Nov. 15th 2003; the main Entry Deadline is Dec. 15th 2003, with a FINAL Deadline of Jan. 15th 2004 (late fee). Entry forms & complete entry information is on our website (www.worldfest.org) - Entries officially open August 1st, 2003 for competition in the 37th Annual WorldFest. WorldFest Artistic and Program Director, Kathleen Haney, stated, “We are continuing our focus on a quality selection of individual films to maintain a smaller, yet effective program rather than an overly large and unwieldy slate of 150-300 films. In consideration of both our festival audiences and the independent filmmakers, we feel that a solid high-quality program of no more than 60 features is optimum in a ten-day festival with twelve screening slots (on three theater screens) per day.” Haney continued, “We are looking for ‘A good story, well told’ as our time-tested approach to film selection. We have special sidebars of Foreign, Children’s and Family Film Sections. All of our films are totally Indie productions, and each film is well represented by their filmmakers, who attend to introduce their films!” All 35mm & DVD films are screened at the NOVA Meyerland Theater, host of the 2004 WorldFest, the Indie Film Festival for the New Millennium. (For complete winner info from 2003, go to www.worldfest.org) WorldFest will continue with its annual Short Film Showcase, a special review of 100 new short and student films...from the festival that gave first honors to Spielberg, Lucas, The Coen Brothers, Ridley Scott, Robert Rodriguez, Oliver Stone, Ang Lee, and David Lynch, among many others! No other festival has such a “discovery” track record. WorldFest has emerged as the oldest film festival management in the world with the same director, continuously for 37 consecutive years. A few other festivals are older, but they have had as many as ten different directors. Most USA Film Festivals today have evolved into publicity platforms for major studio distributors. WorldFest showcases the true independent film, offering a fiercely dedicated special venue for directors searching for an independent forum for their works. WorldFest continues with a focused emphasis on new, premiering films that are seeking a distributor. The Festival also screens DVD video via Christie Digital DLP Projection and Wagner Media, major sponsors of the festival, in addition to 35mm film. By having a small, highly selective schedule of new Indie films, WorldFest can better showcase each film and spotlight its individual character, rather than merely act as a preview platform for an upcoming regional release from a large US distributor. Most of the so-called ‘Independent Films’ featured at other festivals are actually high budget films produced by one of the major studios’ special “Indie” divisions. In fact, most of the films featured at Sundance actually already have their distribution deals well in place. The 120-page WorldFest program book is distributed to every major film festival in the world and to every known major distributor in the world. This detailed film catalogue has become an invaluable reference document for film acquisition and review. WorldFest traces its actual beginnings to August 1961, when it began screening foreign & art films as Cinema Arts, an international film society. It became a competitive international film festival seven years later, in April 1968, and has been in continuous operation since. It is one of the original three film festivals in North America, with San Francisco and New York as the first two events. Now there are more than 600 USA film festivals of various levels and quality, most being just non-competitive screening events! The 37th Annual WorldFest also offers international competition in TV production, TV commercials, unproduced Screenplays & Teleplays, Experimental, Student, Documentary, Business & Industry, New Media, Radio, Print and Music Videos. WorldFest is the largest film & video competition in the world, with more than 4,300 category entries received in 2002. There are almost 200 sub-categories for competition, allowing each film to compete in its own genre. WorldFest offers more than $25,000 in cash grants and film & equipment awards, including the $2500 Eastman Kodak Student Award. For more information on the 37th Annual 2004 WorldFest-Houston, plus the free four-color 26x36 poster designed by the creative team at Bates Southwest, with the entry & information kit on back of the poster, send your name and address to: Entry Team WorldFest - 2004 37th Annual WorldFest-Houston PO Box 56566, Houston, Texas 77256-6566 USA or call: 1-713-965-9955 or fax: 1-713-965-9960 or simply email us at: entry@worldfest.org The complete Entry Kit with Entry Forms is on our website: www.worldfest.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 14 APRIL 2003 2 pages… FOR MORE INFO: (713) 965-9955 or mail@worldfest.org 36th ANNUAL WORLDFEST-HOUSTON ANNOUNCES 2003 AWARDS “ FORGET SUNDANCE! …WorldFest is one of the best conceived festival productions on the planet!” ~ Craig Outhier, film critic, Phoenix press; Tempe Times. WORLDFEST-HOUSTON 2003 – 36th ANNUAL AWARDS PRESENTATION Houston, TX - The 36TH Annual WorldFest-Houston International Film Festival concluded with a solid upturn in box office. Several bona-fide hit movies, a Gala Awards Banquet with top honors presented to up-and-coming attending filmmakers from over 37 countries from round the globe, Indie Panels and a exciting Houston Yacht Club Sailing Regatta & Texas BBQ were highlights of the 36th Annual WorldFest-Houston this year! Attendance at the 10-day fest was near 25,000, up considerably from 2002 box office figures. The Opening Night World Premiere of “One Last Dance” directed by Lisa Niemi and starring Patrick Swayze sold out the full theaters. The overflowing, sold-out Awards Dinner at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Houston, on Saturday night (April 12) hosted a record number of international filmmakers, despite the war and the effects of the economic downturn. Awards were presented during the dinner, with special Folkloric Dances from Scotland, Taiwan, India and Mexico before each award segment. WorldFest’s top honors- The Remi Grand Awards went to the following productions: Best Feature Film, “Nynke” (Holland) directed by Pieter Verhoeff; Best Film & Video Production, Documentary “Death of a Warrior” Barna-Alper Productions (Canada); Best Television & Cable Production, “Alone at Sea” CineNova Productions (Canada); Best Short Subject “Father and Daughter”, Michael Dudock de Wit (Holland) (also winner of the HP Crystal Vision Award, $2,500 in cash and a HP iPAQ Pocket Computer); Best Music Video, “Flogging Molly: What’s Left of The Flag,” Steve Marino, Voodoo Design & Special Effects (NYC-USA); Best Commercial “Museum of the Mountain Man” Steve Marino, Voodoo Design & Special Effects, (NYC-USA); Best Student Production “Time for Change”, Daniel DeJesus, FSU (USA); Best Experimental “Untitled: 003 Embryo” Mike Goedecke, (USA), Best Unproduced Screenplay, “Wizard of Genoa” Gary L. Miner, the HP Crystal Vision Award for Feature Films, “Artworks,” Jim Amatulli (USA) ($2,500 cash award and a HP iPAQ Pocket Computer and a Gold Special Jury Award.) In addition to Grand Awards, WorldFest presented a special Grant-in-Aid Award: the Eastman Kodak Cinematography Award, $2500 in 35mm or 16mm film stock to the short film “The Legend of Razorback”, Michael Greenspan, Los Angeles, California. Other major Gold Special Jury Awards in the feature film categories went to "Queen of The Gypsies” directed by Jocelyn Ajami, Documentary (USA); "War Birds: Diary of an Unknown Aviator" Robert Clem, Waterfront Pictures, Documentary (USA); “Kung Phooey! Quest for the Ancient Peach” Darryl Fong, Comedy (USA); “Morlang” Tjebbo Penning, Phanta Vision Film Intl, Suspense/Thriller (Holland); “All-American Boy” John Truby, PJM Productions, Dramatic (USA); “Touching Wild Horses” Eleanore Lindo, Family/Children (CANADA); “The Anarchist Cookbook” Jordan Susman, First Feature (USA); “May & August” Raymond To, Foreign Film (China); “Hungry Hearts” Glenn M. Benest, Dramatic/Mature Themes (USA); “Hukkle” Media Mania, Experimental (Hungary) and “Japanese Devils a.k.a. Riben Guizi” Akiko Agishi, Experimental (JAPAN); Gold Special Jury Awards in Short Films included: “At Dawning,” ”Burnout,” “The Call,” “Clases de Ruso,” “Cupboard Love,” “Direct Order,” “Eternal Gaze,” “First to See the Sun,” “Linoleum,” “Mighty Times: The Legacy of Rosa Parks,” “Little Red Plane,” “Mouse,” “Ocha Cups for Christmas,” “The Performance,” “Roof Sex,” Sr. Trapo,” “Stranded,” “Summer of Universe,” “10 Again,” “Winter Sun, and ”Worry & Angst,” Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze Remi awards ranged in categories such as short subjects, student films to screenplays & music videos. Altogether, more than 4,500 category entries were received for WorldFest, a 36-year record for WorldFest, despite the Iraqi War and the economic downturn. WorldFest, the largest and oldest film festival in North American operating under the same continuous non-profit management and the only one fiercely dedicated to presenting and honoring only new independent, undistributed films. WorldFest was founded in 1961 as a Film Society and became an international competitive event in 1968. Another important dimension for WorldFest was the special digital video projection by Wagner Media and Christie Digital Systems, with the new Wagner/Christie Roadie X10 DLP “Black Chip” Digital Projector screening more than 100 features and shorts at the festival. Viewers were astounded at the brilliance and clarity of the new Wagner/Christie Digital equipment and the filmmakers made regular pilgrimages up to the projection booth to take a look at the current cinematic state-of-the-art technology. All came away both impressed and inspired by this look at the digital future of the movies and theaters. There were 9 exceptional seminars, presented by experienced professionals. These included: Kodak/24P Film Capture presented by Ken Replich and (in 2-parts), Agents & Managers & Studios: An Overview by Andrew Deane of Immortal Entertainment (LA), Writing & Selling Screenplays: Beyond the Script by John Truby, Indie Film Distribution by Stuart Strutin of Panorama Entertainment (NY), Acting, Casting & Modeling by Page Parks, Music Scoring for Film & Video presented by Shark (The Spreading Ground) and an exciting and informative panel on Producing and Directing the Independent Feature with filmmakers; Jim Amatulli (USA), Harold Brodie(New Zealand), David Craig (Texas), Steven Couchoron (France), Annette Ernst (Germany), Juan Carlos Garza (USA), Isabelle Lukacie (France), Cristobal Krusen (South Africa), Andrew Levine (USA), Eszter Nordin (Hungary), David Ofek (Israel), Rolf Schrader (USA), Vangelis Seitanidis (Greece), John Truby (USA), Pieter Verheoff (Holland), and moderated by David Winning, (Director-Producer, LA & Canada), Special Effects Production for Indie Films by Steve Wolf (The Firm, Cast Away), WorldFest-Houston is unique in the festival world, as it is totally dedicated to the Independent feature and short film. WorldFest does not screen any feature or short films produced by the major studios or distributors as it feels that the Indie filmmakers are the ones that need support from a film festival. WorldFest offers 12 major areas of competition and awards, including Documentary, Film & Video production, TV & Cable production, Experimental, Short Subjects, TV Commercials, Screenplays, Radio & Print, Music Video, New Media, Feature Films and Student Films. Both film and video formats are accepted, video only for the jury deliberations.