TEN GROUNDBREAKER FILMS SELECTED FOR HATCHFEST 2005 International and National Student Film Premier Showcase

BOZEMAN, MT - September 1, 2005 / Today, the 2nd Annual HATCH Audiovisual Arts Festival unveils it’s selections for the International and National Student Film Competition. This October 4th through 9th, HATCH will be honored to present its Groundbreakers category, which will showcase a diverse array of ten selected student filmmaker’s works. Each one of the films will compete for the Moonlight Basin Grand Prize, which results in $10,000 cash and other awards and prizes valued at $25,000.

Submissions for the Groundbreakers film competition increased 400 percent from the 2004 inaugural year. The line-up was chosen from amongst 100 submissions from around the globe, including Australia, England, Germany, Italy, Norway, Switzerland and the United States. Films were chosen based upon primarily themes of unique creative and topical appeal, filmmaking and storytelling vision and cultural diversity. Filmmakers selected for the Groundbreakers showcase will reside together at the Hatch House, located at 405 W. Olive. This is a former residence of Mr. Gary Cooper, whom the HATCH Spirit of Montana award is named after.

“This award is about helping the winning student filmmaker take the next step in their career. It provides financial backing along with invaluable ties to the industry. The groundbreaking films this year were submitted by young filmmakers all destined for great things. The jury will definitely have their hands full in deciding which of the films should be given the grand prize.” -Brian Skuletich, HATCH Executive Director

Todd Jeffery, whose short film SHOOTER garnished the Moonlight Basin Grand Prize at HATCHfest 2004, defined his experience as “The mentorship certainly went beyond the festival. HATCH opened doors to the industry.” As a result of combined efforts, HBO recently picked up SHOOTER to air this fall.

A complete description of chosen films follows:

Scott Rice – PERILS IN NUDE MODELING (University of Austin, Texas, USA) For lonely souls like Ted Minor, a shot with a beautiful woman is an once-in-a-lifetime event. So when the nude model at the center of his old-school art professor’s studio transforms from a lifeless statue to a flesh and blood temptress, Ted finds himself at a terrible crossroads between a lifelong ambition and a taboo kiss with the woman of his dreams.

Peter Templeman – SPLINTERED (Australia Film TV and Radio School, Sydney, Australia) This is a film about the unspoken rules of friendship. After leaving his best friend stranded on the scene of their crime, teenager Gavin struggles with the guilt of his actions and desperately tries to regain his mate’s trust.

Josh Lind and Kevin Phillips – THE WORLD OUTSIDE (Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia,USA) A young lever-pulling factory worker finds reason to escape the tedious daily routine of industrial manual labor after meeting a bright-eyed young lady who works at the factory across the street. After deciding to make his move, he is faced with the task of tremendous complexity as he tries to disguise his identity, fool both factories, and avoid the watchful eyes of the building officials to get closer to the one girl he could love.

James Pellerito – MAREE (Columbia University, New York, NY, USA / Filmed in Italy)
An Albanian father and son flee war-torn Macedonia in search of a better future in Italy. Once in Venice, the father makes the most painful decision of his life.

Sara Rashad – TAHARA (University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
TAHARA depicts the harsh reality of female genital mutilation on the psyche of Amina who must decide if she will submit to family pressure to circumcise daughter. As Amina recalls her own TAHARA will she find the courage to abandon this age old practice or will she submit her daughter to the same horrifying fate?

Jeff Stephenson – CHASING DAYLIGHT (American Film Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA)
If you could fly around the world fast enough the sun would never set – not even on your best friend. CHASING DAYLIGHT is the story of Dylan, a traumatized 9 year-old boy coming to terms with the death of his best friend. A beautiful, haunting story about the resiliency of the human spirit, friendship, healing, and letting go.

Oscar Daniels – AMONG THIEVES (American Film Institute, Los Angeles, CA, USA) Travelle, a young thief, is pursued by the police through the alleys and backyards of South Central L.A.. He sees an open window in a house and crawls inside to hide. There he finds Miss Jenny, an elderly white woman dying of cancer and the home health aide who is supposed to care for her, but instead, physically and emotionally abuses the old woman. He ties up the aide and unexpectedly finds himself being the caregiver. As he prepares to leave the next morning when the “coast is clear,” Miss Jenny asks him a favor – to kill her.

Chris Mangano – AN APPETITE FOR BERNARD BRADY (Montana State Univ., Bozeman, MT,USA) Bernard Brady is a lonely computer programmer at MicroCorp in Seattle. One day, after an office friend shows Bernard a particular website, he is flung back into a world of suppressed obsessions that originated in childhood. Finding an outlet for these fixations through the internet, he discovers a new fetish that ultimately proves to be a little more appealing, but by no means more tasteful.

Beth Armstrong – DANYA (Australian Film, TV and Radio School, North Ryde, Australia) DANYA is the story of a troubled 8-year-old who is determined to find out about her late mother, but her repressed father is unable to reach out to her. An elderly Bulgarian woman provides a bridge. Set in neighboring terrace houses in an autumnal Sydney, Danya considers how three generations deal with death.

James Oxford – SMART CARD (Filled our Wild Card Slot for non-students, Los Angeles, CA, USA) SMART CARD is a tale of a utopian future where every aspect of your life integrates into one system. Convenience and simplicity is the product and Smart Corporation does the packaging. Robert Sharpe has been living this care free life. Everything is perfect, until he encounters a philosophical vagrant at a local fueling station who steals the one item you can not do without, his “SMART CARD.”

HATCH is an international non-profit organization dedicated to mentorship of the arts through year round creative workshops and hosts the HATCH Audiovisual Arts Festival. The 2nd annual festival is taking place October 4 – 9, in Bozeman, MT. 10 groundbreaking student films from across the globe will be screened, along with 10 feature films, 10 panels, 20 musical acts, numerous workshops, a Native American Showcase and a star-studded award ceremony honoring student and independent filmmakers and musicians.

Moonlight Basin Ski Resort is a Founding Sponsor of the HATCH Audiovisual Arts Festival. The awards sponsorship demonstrates Moonlight Basin’s dedication to the mission of the festival and the community surrounding it.

For event information and tickets, call (406) 586.2635 or email info@hatchfest.com. Beginning September 1st, a complete festival schedule will be available at Hatchfest.com.

Media contact: Heather McGuire of B|W|R Public Relations at 310.550.7776 or pressrelations@hatchfest.com.
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