Al Gore Presents REEL Current Award to Mai Iskander's "Garbage Dreams" at 2009 Nashville Film Festival

The REEL Current Award, chosen by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Academy Award winner and former Vice President Al Gore to a Nashville Film Festival selection that provides extraordinary insight in a contemporary global issue, has been given to "Garbage Dreams," Mai Iskander's profile of the Zaballeen, Egypt's "garbage people."

Nashville, TN (PRWEB) May 5, 2009 -- After naming "Garbage Dreams" by director Mai Iskander the winner of the 2009 REEL Current Award at the Nashville Film Festival (NaFF), Al Gore -- Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Academy Award winner and former Vice-President of the United States -- recently presented the award to Iskander during a private meeting in Nashville.

"'Garbage Dreams' is a moving story of young men searching for a ways to eke out a living for their families and facing tough choices as they try to do the right thing for the planet,” said Gore of the film. “Mai Iskander guides us into a 'garbage village,' a place so different from our own, and yet the choices they face there are so hauntingly familiar. Ultimately, 'Garbage Dreams' makes a compelling case that modernization does not always equal progress."

Read the complete release at http://www.prweb.com/releases/2009/05/prweb2387744.htm.

2009 Nashville Film Festival Wraps with "Make-Out with Violence" and "Shakespeare and Victor Hugo's Intimacies" Taking Top Prizes

In a festival that included appearances by William Shatner, Vincent D'Onofrio, Sheryl Crow, Hal Holbrook, Walton Goggins, Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Lee Ann Womack, a two-theatre sellout of opening film "(500) Days Of Summer," and the World Premiere of "William Shatner's Gonzo Ballet," it was a homegrown film that took the top juried prize at the 2009 Nashville Film Festival, which wrapped Thursday, April 23, at the Regal Green Hills Cinema. A jury comprised of film critic Elvis Mitchell, FilmSpecific.com's Stacey Parks, and director Claudia Weill (Girlfriends) named "Make-out With Violence," the Deagol Brothers coming-of-age zombie drama shot in and around Nashville, as the winner of the Regal Cinemas Dreammaker Award for the best narrative feature.

Read the Complete Release here.

April 13, 2009

MEDIA AND PHOTO ADVISORY

40th Nashville Film Festival Opening Weekend; Friday and Saturday Red Carpets

William Shatner, Brad Paisley, Vincent D’Onofrio, Hal Holbrook, Lee Ann Womack and More Scheduled to Attend

OPENING NIGHT

WHEN: Thursday, April 16, 7:00 p.m.

WHAT: The 2009 Nashville Film Festival (NaFF), celebrating its 40^th Anniversary, will kick off with screenings of 500 DAYS OF SUMMER (Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt) with Director Marc Webb scheduled to attend; double feature THE LONELY and PEACE QUEER, with Harmony Korine and Todd Snider scheduled to attend, and CAPTURING REALITY: THE ART OF DOCUMENTARY FILM MAKING, with Director Pepita Ferrari scheduled to attend.

The NaFF 2009 Opening Night party will follow the screenings at 9:00 p.m. in the VIP Tent.

WHERE: Regal Green Hills Cinema, Green Hills, Nashville, Lower Level.

FRIDAY NIGHT RED CARPET

WHEN: Friday, April 17, 5:30 p.m.

WHAT: NaFF celebrates the World Premiere screening of WILLIAM SHATNER’S GONZO BALLET, as well as Friday night screenings of POUNDCAKE, THE NARROWS, Les Blank’s BURDEN OF DREAMS, and more, with a Red Carpet arrival starting at 5:30 p.m.

WHO: Scheduled to attend are GONZO BALLET actor William Shatner, Brad Paisley (who will intro film, not participate in carpet), record producer Ben Folds, Milwaukee Ballet director Margo Sappington, director Patrick Buckley, director Kevin Layne, members of the Nashville and Milwaukee Ballet; THE NARROWS actor Vincent D’Onofrio (Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Full Metal Jacket); POUNDCAKE actors Troy Hall, Jay O. Sanders (Revolutionary Road, Cadillac Records), Kevin Logie and Deshja Driggs-Hall and director Rafael Monserrate; BURDEN OF DREAMS director Les Blank and Nashville mayor Karl Dean.

WHERE: Regal Green Hills Cinema, Green Hills, Nashville, Lower Level. Media should park in parking garage.

SATURDAY NIGHT RED CARPETS

WHEN: Saturday, April 18, 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

WHAT: NaFF celebrates the screenings of THAT EVENING SUN, NOBLE THINGS and ROCK PROPHECIES as well as the retrospective screening of CLERKS and other Saturday night screenings with two Red Carpet arrivals starting at 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.

WHO: 4:30 p.m. Scheduled to attend are THAT EVENING SUN actor, NaFF 2009 Lifetime Achievement honoree and Oscar-nominated and Emmy Award winner Hal Holbrook, with cast mates Walton Goggins (The Shield, Miracle at St. Anna, Randy and the Mob), Ray McKinnon (Deadwood, Randy and the Mob) and director Scott Teems; ROCK PROPHECIES subject and famed photographer Robert Knight, film principle and musician Tyler Bryant and director John Chester; CLERKS actor Brian O’Halloran (“Dante”). … 7:30 p.m. Scheduled to attend are NOBLE THINGS actor and Grammy-award winning recording artist Lee Ann Womack, actor and co-director Brett Moses (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Melrose Place), Michael Parks (Kill Bill: Vol. 1 & 2, Grindhouse), Dominique Swain (Lolita, Face/Off), soundtrack producer Clay Walker and co-director Dan McMellen.

WHERE: Regal Green Hills Cinema, Green Hills, Nashville, Lower Level. Media should park in parking garage.

Please RSVP for Red Carpets:
Joe Pagetta - Nashville Film Festival
Cell: 615-473-2074, jpagetta@wnpt.net