15th Annual Hollywood Film Festival Unveils 2011 Line-Up Bridging the Gap Between Indie Filmmakers and Hollywood

Special Tribute To "Footloose" Director Craig Brewer

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Oct. 17, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The 15th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Film Awards, presented by Starz Entertainment, has unveiled its line-up of finalists for this year's festival, founder and executive director Carlos de Abreu announced today. The festival's mandate is to bridge the gap between emerging independent filmmakers and established Hollywood, and includes features, documentaries and shorts.

The Hollywood Film Festival, which takes place October 21-24 at ArcLight Cinemas, will open on Friday, October 21, with the world premiere of "DORFMAN," a romantic comedy about Deb Dorfman who moves to Los Angeles and ends up igniting a renaissance of her own, while profoundly transforming both herself and those around her. The comedy was directed by Brad Leong and stars Sara Rue, Elliott Gould, Sophie Monk, Haaz Sleiman, and Catherine Hicks.

In addition, to commemorate the 15th year of the HFF, director Craig Brewer, who got his start at the festival, will be doing a special Q&A on Saturday, October 22, at 7:00 p.m. Brewer was discovered by the HFF in 2000, when the festival screened the world premiere of his feature film, "The Poor and Hungry." The HFF then connected Brewer with an entertainment attorney and manager and the rest is history as he went on to direct "Hustle and Flow," "Black Snake Moan," and now "Footloose." In addition to the Q&A with Brewer, the HFF will also be screening a restored version of his original film, "The Poor and Hungry."

This year's feature film line-up includes "ANSWERS TO NOTHING," a film by Matthew Leutwyler that is a gritty drama of interweaving stories set in Los Angeles against the backdrop of a child kidnapping case, starring Dane Cook, Barbara Hershey, Julie Benz, Elizabeth Mitchell, Zach Gilford, Kali Hawk, Miranda Bailey, and Erik Palladino; "AREA Q," directed by Gerson Sanginitto and starring Isaiah Washington, Murilo Rosa, Ricardo Conti, and Tania Khalil, that follows Thomas Mathews as he goes to Brazil to investigate encounters of the first, second, and third kind; "HOPELESSLY IN JUNE," a film by Vincent Brantley that stars Brantley, Carolyn Neff, Keith David, Ed Asner, Tommy "Tiny" Lister Jr., and Peter Jason; "THE KILLING OF LEONARD RILEY," directed by Payman Benz and Patrick DeLuca that follows a man as he returns to his hometown to murder the drunk driver responsible for killing his brother, and his filmmaker friend who accompanies him to document the entire journey, starring DeLuca and Adam Shapiro; "LANGUAGE OF A BROKEN HEART," a film by Rocky Powell that stars Juddy Talt, Julie White, Kate French, Ethan Cohn, Oscar Nunez and Lara Pulver; "THE TROUBLE WITH THE TRUTH," a film by Jim Hemphill that stars Lea Thompson, John Shea, Danielle Harris, and Keri Lynn Pratt; "TROUPERS," a documentary film by Saratoga Ballantine and Dea Lawrence that takes a humorous look at actors 80+ in Hollywood and how they survived parental disapproval, the blacklist, divorce, debt, rejection, depression, and decades of auditions to do what they wanted to do: Act; and "THE WORLD OF Z," directed by Brad Besser and Vince Clemente that takes viewers on a four-year journey into the eccentric life of manic-depressive outside artist Zbigniew Fiks, known simply as Z.

This year's short film line-up includes "FIRST DATES," a film by Sam Wasserman that takes viewers on a comedic journey throughout the rough world of dating via a series of eccentric vignettes as six individuals face their very own peculiar "first date" experience and stars Madeline Zima, Ryan Eggold, Adam Rose, Jordan Ladd, Steve Talley, and Erica Leerhsen; "MILF MONEY," directed by Aaron Priest, and starring Missi Pyle, Brian Krause, Patrick Muldoon, Rene Ashton, Texas Battle, and Deena Dill; "A REUBEN BY ANY OTHER NAME," a film by Jeremy Dylan Lanni that takes a humorous look at the differences between Orthodox and Reform Judaism in terms of the Reuben sandwich, starring Jasmine Anthony, Anita Barone, Paul Ben-Victor, Larry Cedar, Pamela Cedar, Alanna Ubach, and Matt Winston; "SEXTING," directed by Neil LaBute and starring Julia Stiles, Marin Ireland, and Jamie Anderson, that follows a young woman who is fed up with her relationship with a married man and takes matters into her own hands as she decides to meet his wife for coffee; "TAKE A SEAT," a film by Richell Morrissey that stars Kelly Noonan as an acclaimed Executive of the Year who spirals into a panic while attempting to prepare herself for a day filled with employee cutbacks; and "A JOURNEY WITH PURPOSE," a documentary film directed by Gail Becker that follows nine-year-old Joshua Miller as he joins his grandfather on his journey back to his days as a child in the death camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau, and the experience that changed them both forever.

For screening tickets please go to: http://www.arclightcinemas.com

The festival will close on Sunday, October 23, with the presentation of the "Hollywood Discovery Awards" to announce the festival's winning films - Best Feature Film, Best Documentary, and Best Short Subject.

For complete line-up go to http://www.hollywoodfilmfestival.com

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).

SOURCE Hollywood Film Festival