October 20, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT:  John Pavlik - (310) 247-3000

Beverly Hills, CA - Fourteen U. S. film festivals have been chosen to receive grants from the Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Academy President Robert Rehme announced today.

The grants, made for calendar year 2001 festival programming, total $250,000.

Two festivals will receive $30,000 each:
Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah
Telluride (Colorado) Film Festival

Two festivals will receive $25,000:
Cinequest, San Jose, California
Cleveland (Ohio) International Film Festival

Four festivals will receive $20,000:
Florida Film Festival, Maitland, Florida
Los Angeles Independent Film Festival
Nashville (Tennessee) Independent Film Festival
Taos (New Mexico) Talking Pictures Festival

Six festivals will receive $10,000:
Aspen (Colorado) Shortsfest
Hot Springs (Arkansas) Documentary Film Festival
Mix, the New York Lesbian & Gay Film Festival
Northwest Film and Video Festival, Portland, Oregon
Pan African Film Festival, Los Angeles, California
San Diego (California) Jewish Film Festival

The grants were voted by the Academy's Festival Grants Committee, chaired by producer Gale Anne Hurd. The festivals were selected from among 26 which had been invited to send proposals to the Academy.

"Funds can be used for general festival support," Hurd said, "or for the sponsorship of a particular element of a festival." She said the Academy is especially interested in supporting programs that make festival events more accessible to the general public, especially to segments of the population who might not normally be able to attend and programs that give screening access to minority and less visible filmmakers and that bring the public into contact with films and filmmakers.

The program is administered by Greg Beal, the Academy Foundation's Grants Program Coordinator.

The Academy Foundation distributed $160,000 for 1999 festival programming and $245,000 for festival programs held this year.