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HOLLYWOOD FILM FESTIVAL BESTOWS KUDOS : WALTER SALLES' "THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES," ALEJANDRO AMENABAR'S "THE SEA INSIDE," & "FAHRENHEIT 9/11" AMONG WINNERS

"Vinzent" Wins Best Feature
"What Remains of Us" Wins Best Documentary
"Automation" Wins Best Short Subject


The 8th Annual Hollywood Film Festival's "Hollywood Awards" ceremony, honoring independent filmmakers and established Hollywood professionals, was held last night before a standing-room-only audience of over 1,200 Hollywood Film Festival attendees at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Special honors went to Newmarket Films' President Bob Berney, film preservation leader Robert Rosen, actor John Travolta, actor Leonardo DiCaprio, actress Annette Bening, director Michael Mann, producer Mel Gibson, screenwriter John Logan, actress Keira Knightley, actor Jamie Foxx, director Zach Braff, cinematographer Caleb Deschanel, editor Sally Menke, composer Thomas Newman, visual effects artist John Dykstra, costume designer Albert Wolsky, production designer Stuart Craig, make-up artist Ve Neill, casting director Debra Zane, and for animation "SHREK 2" directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon.

Festival Co-Chair Paula Wagner said, "There is no more appropriate place than the Hollywood Film Festival to honor the illustrious talents of all these magnificent artists who have created some of the most memorable characters and truly unforgettable films."

The Festival also announced the winner of the "Hollywood Movie of the Year Award" - Michael Moore's "FAHRENHEIT 9/11" -- which was chosen by the public voting online at the Yahoo! Movies and Entertainment Tonight websites. The nominees for the "Hollywood Movie of the Year Award" were: "The Bourne Supremacy," "Collateral," "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," "Fahrenheit 9/11," "Hero," "The Motorcycle Diaries," "Napoleon Dynamite," "The Passion of the Christ," "Shrek 2," and "Spider-Man 2." "Fahrenheit 9/11" won in a close race with "The Passion of the Christ" and "Collateral" up to the finish.

The Hollywood Film Festival presented the "Hollywood World Award" to Walter Salles' "THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES" and the "Hollywood European Award" sponsored by FILMFESTIVALS.COM to "THE SEA INSIDE" by Alejandro Amenabar. The winners of the "Hollywood Discovery Awards" competition were "VINZENT" by Ayassi as Best Feature Film, "WHAT REMAINS OF US" by Francois Prevost and Hugo Latulippe as Best Documentary, and "AUTOMATION" by Todd Albright as Best Short Subject. "VINZENT," from Germany, is a film that "plays with your mind and makes you question your perception of reality." "WHAT REMAINS OF US," from Canada, is a documentary about a Tibetan refugee who carried a video message to Tibet from the Dalai Lama for his people. "AUTOMATION," a U.S. film, is about a garage attendant frustrated by an automated, impersonal world when he tries to contact someone after a power outage.

The Hollywood Film Festival was founded in 1997 by Carlos de Abreu and Janice Pennington, "New York Times" best-selling authors and producers. Regarding the conclusion of the 8th annual Festival, Mr. de Abreu said, "We are delighted by the response we have received from Hollywood and the independent filmmaking community during the course of this past week. Our conferences were well attended and our screenings were packed. We had over 25,000 attendees and last night's gala awards ceremony was truly an extraordinary 'Hollywood' moment."


Celebrities and Hollywood notables who attended the seven-day Festival included the Honorable Estella Zervoudaki - European Union Minister Counsel, Mike Goodridge - U.S. Editor of "Screen International," Denise Kaigler - Senior Vice President and Chief Communications Officer of Reebok International, Bruno Chatelin - COO of FilmFestivals.com, John Culton - Chairman of FilmStew.com, and Robert Leighton - President of Starz Encore Entertainment, as well as Kate Beckinsale, Chris Columbus, Frank Darabont, Robert Downey Jr., Rupert Everett, Harrison Ford, Heather Graham, Jake Gyllenhaal, Taylor Hackford, Scarlett Johansson, Regina King, Greg Kinnear, Stan Lee, Laura Linney, Sam Mendes, Parminder Nagra, Keanu Reeves, John C. Reilly, Will Smith, Quentin Tarantino, Robert Towne, Kerry Washington, and Haskell Wexler to name a few. The gala awards presentation Monday evening was hosted by Mary Hart and Mark Steines of "Entertainment Tonight," and attendees were treated to the music of The Don Miller Band.

The festival had its Opening Night Premiere on October 12 with the World Premiere of the documentary "THE CUTTING EDGE: THE MAGIC OF MOVIE EDITING," by Wendy Apple and featuring Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Ridley Scott and Quentin Tarantino. The festival closed with the Gala U.S. Premiere of Lions Gate Films' "A LOVE SONG FOR BOBBY LONG," by Shainee Gabel, starring John Travolta and Scarlett Johansson, on October 17.

The festival also presented seven Centerpiece Premieres: Miramax's "FINDING NEVERLAND" by Marc Forster, starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet; Lions Gate Films' "EULOGY" by Michael Clancy, starring Hank Azaria, Jesse Bradford, Zooey Deschanel, Kelly Preston, Ray Romano and Debra Winger; Lions Gate Films' "I AM DAVID" by Paul Feig, starring Ben Tibber, Joan Plowright, and Jim Caviezel; United Artists' "UNDERTOW" by David Gordon Green, starring Jamie Bell, Josh Lucas, Devon Alan, Shiri Appleby and Dermot Mulroney; Newmarket Films' "P.S." by Dylan Kidd, starring Laura Linney, Topher Grace, Paul Rudd, Lois Smith, Gabriel Byrne, and Marcia Gay Harden; Paramount Classics' "THE MACHINIST" by Brad Anderson, starring Christian Bale and Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Paramount Classics' "ENDURING LOVE" by Roger Michell, starring Samantha Morton, Daniel Craig, and Rhys Ifans.

Other Festival events included the Hollywood Film Conference and the Hollywood Film Screenings at Arclight Cinemas, where the finalists of the Hollywood Discovery Awards were screened, in addition to last night's Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Festival Co-Chair Paula Wagner is a producer and partner of the production company Cruise/Wagner Productions. Over the past ten years, they have produced a wide variety of films including the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE series, THE OTHERS, NARC, VANILLA SKY and THE LAST SAMURAI.

The sponsors of the Hollywood Film Festival include the American Cinema Editors, American Society of Cinematographers, Arclight Cinemas, Art Directors Guild, Cadillac, Casting Society of America, Costume Designers Guild, "Daily Variety," ETOnline.com, European Union, Filmfestivals.com, "FilmMaker" Magazine, FilmStew.com, Filmthreat.com, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, Hollywood Creative Directory, Hollywood Network, "The Hollywood Reporter," International Cinematographers Guild, International Documentary Association, Kodak, Motion Picture Editors Guild, Panavision, PR Newswire, Reebok, "Screen International," Screenplay.com, Starz Encore, Technicolor, and YAHOO! Movies, Inc., among others.