Monster premiering for AFI finale

Monster closed AFI last week end.
The film written and directed by Patty Jenkins
PROD: Brad Wyman, Donald Kushner, Charlize Theron, Mark Damon, Clark Peterson
EXEC PROD: Meagan Riley-Grant, Steward Hall, Andreas Schmid, Andreas Grosch, Sammy Lee
Cast: Charlize Theron, Christina Ricci, Bruce Dern, Scott Wilson, Pruitt Taylor Vince


Charlize Theron stars in MONSTER, a shockingly moving film that burrows deep beneath the tabloid-sized headline stories on Aileen Wournos, the man-hatingand murderingserial killer executed last year in Florida. Director Patty Jenkins unearths a love story in the midst of the horrors and pathologies of two misfits: Wournos, a drifter prostitute who kills many of her "johns" and Selby Ward (Christina Ricci), sent by her parents to live with an aunt in Florida in order to "cure her homosexuality."

Nearing suicidal despair, Aileen wanders into a bar, where she meets Selby and falls in love. To keep their relationship alive, Aileen continues hooking, only to fuel an increasingly escalating deadly rage, a fury vented with a lurid string of killings and the media's sordid designation of her as the first female serial killera monster.

Closing night introduced by Christian delivered AFI 2003 awards.
Top Audience Award Goes to Jim Sheridan's IN AMERICA
The AFI Los Angeles International Film Festival - concluded Sunday night in the Cinerama Dome at Arclight Hollywood with the world premiere of Newmarket Films' MONSTER. Written and directed by AFI Alumna Patty Jenkins, the film stars Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci who were among those in attendance.

In welcoming remarks, Festival Director of Programming Nancy Collet and Festival Director Christian Gaines announced the winners of the AFI FEST 2003 Audience Awards and congratulated the Jury Award winners who received their prizes at a presentation ceremony on Friday Night at CineSpace.

"Over the last 10 days, we have received overwhelmingly positive feedback from filmmakers, audiences, sponsors and press. AFI FEST 2003 has been extremely successful on every level. It's a thrill to provide a world-class Festival for the people of Los Angeles, and to make a significant impact on the international film community."

A record number of festival-goers responded to the consistently strong programming, the conveniently centralized location of the Festival at ArcLight Hollywood and the attendance of many of the filmmakers and actors at AFI FEST 2003.

The 10 days of screenings included a number of sold-out films, including Milos Petricic's AN ALMOST ORDINARY STORY, Denys Arcand's THE BARBARIAN INVASIONS, Steve Anderson's THE BIG EMPTY, Mark Sobel's THE COMMISSION, Robert Altman's THE COMPANY, John Deery's CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE, Amanda Micheli's DOUBLE DARE, Errol Morris' FOG OF WAR, Pjer Zalica's FUSE, Mike Bencivenga's HAPPY HOUR, Francois Dupeyron's MONSIEUR IBRAHIM, Hugo Rodriguez's NICOTINA and Rodrigo Bellott's SEXUAL DEPENDANCY.

AFI FEST 2003 kicked off with the North American Premiere of CALENDAR GIRLS, directed by Nigel Cole and starring Helen Mirren and Julie Walters, and showcased more than 134 films from 42 countries. The Centerpiece Galas, HOUSE OF SAND AND FOG, directed by Vadim Perelman and THE STATEMENT, directed by Norman Jewison were both World Premieres. In addition, AFI FEST 2003 featured a Tribute to internationally acclaimed actor Omar Sharif and an Evening with Anthony Minghella featuring 20 minutes of previously unseen footage of his upcoming film COLD MOUNTAIN.

An array of luminaries from around the globe attended AFI FEST 2003, including Denys Arcand, Kathy Baker, Angela Bassett, Thora Birch, Jack Black, Nick Broomfield, Neve Campbell, Jennifer Connelly, Dana Delany, Faye Dunaway, John Favreau, Udo Kier, Sir Ben Kingsley, Martin Landau, Anthony LaPaglia, Lucy Lawless, Diego Luna, Ron Mann, Malcolm McDowell, Anthony Minghella, Sydney Pollack, Robert Redford, John C. Reilly, Christina Ricci, Oskar Roehler, Gabriele Salvatores, Omar Sharif, Jim Sheridan, Eric Stoltz, Tilda Swinton, Quentin Tarantino, Charlize Theron, Vince Vaughn, Margarethe von Trotta, Julie Walters, Mike White and many more.

JURY AWARDS
(Presented Friday evening at the Kodak CONNECT Closing reception)
INTERNATIONAL SHORTS COMPETITION, presented by DELL
GRAND JURY PRIZE
DEEP SILENCE / SILENCIO PROFUNDO (Mexico)
Directed by Gustavo Loza

HONORABLE MENTION
AMERICAN MADE (USA)
Directed By Sharat Raju

Jurors: Actor, Chris Klein; filmmaker, Alison Dickey; filmmaker, Gill Holland

Jury Satement: The Short Film Jury would like to congratulate the filmmakers and
programmers for such a strong selection of films this year for the International Shorts competition. The films reflected a wide variety of styles and voices from around the world. We'd like to begin by giving an Honorable Mention to the film "AMERICAN MADE" written and directed by Sharat Raju for outstanding performances in a well-written and directed film.
And now the grand Prize for the International Shorts competition at the 2003 AFI FEST goes to a beautiful film, which captures the short form with both lyrical and stylistic mastery. Congratulations to (SILENCIO PROFUNDO/DEEP SILENCE.

INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION, presented by SILVERDOCS: AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Festival
GRAND JURY PRIZE
BEAH: A BLACK WOMAN SPEAKS (USA)
Directed by LisaGay Hamilton

Jurors: Actor, Jeremy Sisto; filmmaker, Lisanne Skyler; magazine editor, Tom White

Jury Statement: The films in the Documentary Competition that struck us most were those films whose characters drove the story with their bravery, their presence, their honesty. And it was the filmmakers who gave these subjects the space to arrive at some truth about themselves and ourselves, and take us to a deeper place.
Filmmakers have a responsibility to their subjects; it's a responsibility whose foundation is respect and trust, and being true to the work and the story and the message. One film, above the others, embraces the spirit of the relationship between filmmaker and subject. This is a story about the power of storytelling, the idea of passing on, of legacy, of making one's life one's work and one's mission. But this film is more than about its subject. It's about the world that subject engages, embraces and embodies, on the subject's own terms. In the end, the filmmaker passes this story on to us, a passage that is a celebration and an affirmation. Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great pleasure that we present the Grand Jury Prize to BEAH, A BLACK WOMAN SPEAKS.

INTERNATIONAL FEATURE COMPETITION
GRAND JURY PRIZE
OLD, NEW, BORROWED AND BLUE (Denmark)
Directed by Natasha Arthy

Jurors: Journalist, Robert Abele, filmmaker, Tony Bui; filmmaker, Karen Kusama

Jury Statement: It's been encouraging to watch all of these films and feel that they all share a clarity of mission and an assured sense of tone. We'd like to congratulate all of the filmmakers for accomplishing such a truly humbling task: to make their films in their own voice. But tonight, unfortunately, we can only recognize one film for the grand prize. The movie we've chosen is one of uncommon truth, humor and humanity. Unlike its lead character, a
woman at a critical juncture in her life unable to confront the harsh Realities of her interpersonal relationships, this film approaches its themes with candor and a lack of judgment. We recognize Natasha Arthy's "Old, New, Borrowed and Blue" with the Granbd Jury Prize for International Features.

The Jury Award winners above received film-related prizes and in-kind services valued at more than $75,000 from our sponsors including Eastman Kodak Company, AFM, Panavision, DELL, Aloha Airlines, TriCoast Studios, Avid, CustomFlix and many others.

AUDIENCE AWARDS presented by the Los Angeles Times and LATimes.com

BEST SHORT FILM
FRAGILE (Germany)
Directed by Sikander Goldau

BEST DOCUMENTARY FILM
DOUBLE DARE (USA)
Directed by Amanda Micheli

BEST FEATURE FILM
IN AMERICA (Ireland)
Directed by Jim Sheridan