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Hollywood, CA (March 24, 2000) - Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine Online Film Festival A ringing testament to the convergence movement in Hollywood and worldwide,
over two thousand Net-heads, filmmakers, celebrities, agents and publicists
toasted the close of the first annual Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine Online
Film Festival here last night. The two-day Festival concluded with a gala
awards show, musical performance by John Oszajca and keynote address by
renowned film critic and Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine columnist Roger
Ebert. "Hollywood and the Internet are on a collision course," said Ebert.
"The Internet will survive, and so will those in Hollywood who understand
it. But the day of the unwired mogul is over. The movie industry has the
same relationship to the Internet today that it had to talkies in the
1920s: Plug in or quit." Winning thumbs up in its Hollywood debut, the
Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine Online Film Festival packed the halls of
The Standard, Chateau Marmont, and the Directors Guild of America for
two straight days. More than 300 members of the press lined up to report
on the groundbreaking event, while entrepreneurs, agents, publicists,
celebrities and ambitious marketers rounded out the robust crowd. "The
deluge of attendees reaffirms the mission of the Online Festival," said
Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine Festival Director Jesse Jacobs. "We are
the voice of the Net, devoted to bringing the pioneers in a rapidly-growing
world together to celebrate the marriage of art and technology." Over
the course of the two-day Festival, several major announcements were made,
including: Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine Online announced that the Second
Annual Online Music Awards will take place in June, reprising the Studio
54 location but with an address and performance by David Bowie. * Mandalay
Entertainment Group's Peter Guber led that company as the only "Hollywood"
studio in attendance at the fest. * Paradise Digital Production (NASDAQ:PDSE)
signed a formal agreement with Acme talent and Literary for a first-look
deal for materials, concepts and properties originated, published or created
by Acme and its base of clients. They also announced a technology partnership
with business software company Computer Associates, Inc. (NYSE: CA) *
Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced a partnership with IMDb to promote
a newly-launched independent film section of IMDb, the oldest film site
on the net, through its Amazon.com Advantage section. * IFILM.com launched
the IFILM Student Film Festival, co-branded with Collegeclub.com. * Atomfilms.com
announced a production and distribution partnership with Propaganda Films.
* Beachblanket.com launched their web-based entertainment company to develop
Internet content targeted to women 25-55. * Crushed Planet featuring the
work of Taxicab Confessions' Joe and Harry Gantz, announced the launch
of Prison View, an unedited documentary featuring live webcam views of
prison life, to go along with the five online shows they launched at Sundance.
* Filmbazaar.com inked three exclusive editorial partnerships with digital
mogul's mogulwars, leading German entertainment site film.de, and columnist
Leonard Morpugo. * Hitplay.com launched their targeted video network with
quips by Advisory Board member James Belushi, a performance by MP3 artist
Kathy Fisher, actors and models Dorian Gregory, Shawn baker, Shemar Moore
and ex gridiron great Willie Gault, and a dramatic parachute jump into
the Standard's pool area from 1000 feet up. * Honkworm signed Ally McBeal
and The Practice producer Jeffrey Kramer, a strategic partner with Web-savvy
agency Endeavor, and a slate of original programs including A Dog in a
Box with Two Wheels. * The Sundance channel answered delegates' calls
for more opportunities for women on the web with a slate of special web
programming saluting women filmmakers in April. * Reelshort.com announced
an equity investment by Universal Pictures, who will help Reelshort showcase
the work of cutting edge new short films. * 21st Century Vox Online Film
Studios announced a 3-picture iFeature deal with New York's Bigel-Mailer
Films. * IWorldLottery.com announced it will webcast their $10 million
weekly drawings via LA's Internet media company LFITV (Lightforce). *
Shockwave announced a development and production deal for animated Internet
programming with filmmaker David Lynch. * Digital film distributor SightSound.com
announced completion of principal photography on QUANTUM PROJECT, the
world's first film produced specifically for distribution over the Internet.
They premiered the trailer for the $3 million film from Academy AwardŽ
Winning producers Metafilmics starring Stephen Dorff, Fay Masterson and
John Cleese at the Festival. In addition to the some 30 exhibits, Festival
guests packed six panels on topics ranging from incubating new media film
companies to digital storytelling to online film distribution. Crowds
spilled from, where . Some panels were moved from the Standard to the
Chateau to accommodate capacity crowds. "Never before has a convention
been hosted with such finesse and fromage as this," said Andre Balazs,
owner of the Standard and the Chateau Marmont. Hosting such high-profile
events as the world premiere of acclaimed director Mike Figgis' Time Code,
the Festival lined up several celebrities along the red carpet (and at
other festival venues) to show their support for the small screen, including:
Dustin Hoffman; Nicholas Cage; Jodie Foster; Holly Hunter; Salma Hayek;
Quentin Tarantino; Ron Howard; Jeffery Katzenberg; Jeanne Tripplehorn;
Oliver Stone; Bill Paxton; Danny Huston; Viveka Davis; and Brian Grazer,
among many others. Organizers added two screenings to accommodate the
more than 1400 people who showed up for the premiere. Mike Figgis hailed
the convergence of the new media and film worlds as "the future" as he
congratulated Yahoo Internet Life for conceiving and executing the Festival
and using as a forum for the premiere of his film. Following Roger Ebert's
keynote address at the closing night celebration, standout filmmakers
that were selected for the Festival were awarded in the following categories:
Yahoo! Internet Life Magazine Filmmaker for the Future: Christopher Bell,
"Billy Jones" BeachBlanket.com Best Online Female Director: Allison Shulnik,
"Vedma" Best Short Films/Animation (Winners in these two categories were
selected by a worldwide popular vote on Yahoo! Movies): ANIMATION Janet
Galore, "Fishbar #10: The Delectable Peanut" Steve Katz, "Protest" Nicholas
Peterson, "MuM" Scott Rosann, "Race Speedster" Allison Shulnik, "Vedma"
Mark Osborne, "More" Kevin Souls, "Descent" Mike Wellins, "Chuck Webber's
Land of Abuesement" LIVEACTION Brad Abelson, "My DingALing" Christopher
Bell, "Billy Jones" Gene Laufenberg, "Sunday's Game" Bill McNally, "The
Sick Sense" Jonathan Michals, "Babie" John Lloyd Miller, "I Still Miss
Someone" Sony Cameras were awarded to three short filmmakers: John Lloyd
Miller "I Still Miss Someone" Steven D. Katz, "Protest" Christopher Bell,
"Billy Jones" |