September 20, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:  Leslie Unger — (310) 247-3090
                         lunger@oscars.org      

Academy/UCLA Documentary Series
Continues with Oscar® Nominee

Beverly Hills, CA — The Academy Award®-nominated feature-length documentary “Murderball,” along with “39 Pounds of Love,” will be screened on October 11 at 7 p.m. as the next installment in the 25th Annual Contemporary Documentary Series, presented by the Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Free and open to the public, the screening will take place at the Academy’s Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood.

“Murderball” looks into the world of a group of highly competitive and tough-as-nails quadriplegic rugby players. In custom-made wheelchairs, the men play their own version of the full-contact sport. The film was directed by Henry-Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro, and produced by Jeffrey V. Mandel and Shapiro. Rubin and Shapiro are scheduled to attend the screening and engage in a question and answer session with the audience.

In “39 Pounds of Love,” 34-year-old Ami Ankilewitz, who was diagnosed with an extremely rare and often fatal form of muscular dystrophy and was not expected to live past the age of six, goes in search of the doctor who predicted his childhood demise. The title refers to Ankilewitz’s weight. In the film, viewers also learn that Ankilewitz works as a 3D animator in Israel, despite being able to move only a single finger on his own. Dani Menkin, who directed ”39 Pounds of Love,” will be present at the screening to discuss his work. He produced the film with Daniel J. Chalfen.

Admission to all screenings in the Academy/UCLA Contemporary Documentary Series is free. The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at the Academy’s Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study, 1313 North Vine Street, in Hollywood, at the northwest corner of Fountain Avenue and Vine Street. Parking is available behind the building through the entrance on Homewood Avenue, one block north of Fountain. For more information, call (310) 247-3600 or (310) 206-FILM.

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