HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Sept. 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- For a 15th consecutive year, the Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards continues their mandate of bridging the gap between emerging filmmakers and the film industry, as well as recognizing excellence in established Hollywood, both in front of and behind the camera.

In addition to celebrating accomplishments on screen, the Hollywood Film Awards established the "Hollywood Gives Back" program to expand and continue highlighting and assisting important local and national charities to fundraise. Over the years, the Hollywood Film Awards has contributed to such charities as: The Art of Elysium; Artists For Human Rights; Artists for Peace and Justice; Children's Hospital Los Angeles; the Enough Project; and Variety The Children's Charity of So. CA, among others.

Further, the Hollywood Film Awards selects individuals to be recipients of their "Hollywood Humanitarian Awards" in recognition of their contribution to the betterment of their communities or society at large. Prior recipients include Nobel Peace Prize winner and President of East Timor, Dr. Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Laureate Jody Williams, Father Rick Frechette and actor and activist Sean Penn.

Called the "first mandatory stop in the awards season" by the New York Times, the festival and Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony, held respectively at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood, and at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, in Beverly Hills, will take place from October 20 to 24, 2011, and will honor the brightest talents from some of the year's best films.

The "Los Angeles Times" recognized the Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony as a "pre-Oscar showcase," while the laid-back atmosphere at the Beverly Hilton has helped the gala earn the description of "the Oscars without the angst." (Also from the L.A. Times). The Gala is a celebration of Hollywood and the art of filmmaking and in the past eight years a total of 73 Oscar nominations and 27 Oscars were given to the honorees of the Hollywood Film Awards.

This year should be no different. So far, the talent chosen to be recognized by at the Hollywood Film Awards Gala include: Academy Award-nominated actress Michelle Williams with the "Hollywood Actress Award" for "My Week with Marilyn;" Academy Award-nominated actor Christopher Plummer with the "Hollywood Supporting Actor Award" for "Beginners;" actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt with the "Hollywood Breakthrough Actor Award" for "50/50;" actress Jessica Chastain with the "Hollywood Breakthrough Actress Award" for "The Tree of Life," "Coriolanus," "The Debt," "The Help," and "Take Shelter;" and actress Felicity Jones with the "New Hollywood Award" for "Like Crazy."

Other honorees include the cast of "The Help" (Jessica Chastain, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Allison Janney, Chris Lowell, Ahna O'Reilly, Octavia Spencer, Emma Stone, Sissy Spacek, Mary Steenburgen, Cicely Tyson and Mike Vogel); Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki; Editor Stephen Mirrione; Production Designer James Murakami; and Visual Effects Supervisor Scott Farrar; and Gore Verbinski's "Rango."

The festival and awards will mark their return on October 20 for a week long series of screenings, and awards. The Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 24, 2011.

ABOUT STARZ ENTERTAINMENT, LLC:

The festival and awards presenter is Starz Entertainment, LLC, a premium movie and original programming entertainment service provider operating in the United States. The company offers 17 premium channels including the flagship STARZ® and ENCORE® brands with approximately 19 million and 32.9 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs in total more than 1,000 movies and original series every month across its pay TV channels. Starz Entertainment is recognized as a pay TV leader in providing HD, On Demand, HD On Demand and online advanced services for its STARZ, ENCORE and MOVIEPLEX brands. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation and is attributed to the Liberty Starz tracking stock group (NASDAQ: LSTZA).

http://www.hollywoodfilmfestival.com

SOURCE Hollywood Film Festival

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