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May 23, 2006
LAS VEGAS – Further cementing its status as a world-class film festival dedicated to showcasing the most daring and brazen of independent and studio filmmaking, the 2006 CineVegas Film Festival will honor five entertainment icons who have made enduring contributions during the course of their widely-celebrated film careers. In addition, the eighth annual festival, returning to the Palms Casino Resort and Brenden Theaters from June 9-17, will present “Outlaw Cinema: The Impact and Influence of Dangerous Filmmaking,” a panel featuring some of today’s most though-provoking filmmakers. Director of Programming Trevor Groth announced today the following roster of honorees who will take center stage:
- June 11: 1:00pm - Filmmakers Abel Ferrara (Bad Lieutenant), James Fotopoulos (The Hard-Boiled Egg), Bobcat Goldthwait (Stay), Nina Menkes (Queen of Diamonds) and Gregg Araki (Mysterious Skin) will participate in a moderated panel entitled “Outlaw Cinema: The Impact and Influence of Dangerous Filmmaking.” Answering questions about censorship and what taboos are left to explore in cinema, these maverick filmmakers will bring to light how cinema is important not just for its strong imagery and challenging stories, but how often-controversial films affect culture and mainstream movies.
- June 12: 7:00pm – A festival “Half-Life Award” will be given to Academy Award nominee Laurence Fishburne (What’s Love Got to Do With It), who will participate in a conversation with a moderator before a screening of director Laurence Malkin’s 2005 thriller “Five Fingers,” co-starring Ryan Phillippe.
- June 14: 6:30pm – The “CineVegas and Brenden Theatres Star” will be given to Academy Award nominated actor/writer/director Sylvester Stallone in honor of the 30th Anniversary of his Oscar-winning Rocky, followed by a special screening of the classic film.
- June 16: 2:00pm – The “Vanguard Director Award” will be presented to Academy Award-winning filmmaker Taylor Hackford (Ray), who will participate in a moderated discussion preceded by a screening of Chuck Berry Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll, awarded 1987’s Best Documentary by the National Board of Review, followed by a screening of his Golden Globe-winning 1980 feature debut The Idolmaker.
- June 16: 6:00pm – The “Marquee Award” will be presented to two-time Academy Award nominee Helen Mirren (The Madness of King George, Gosford Park), who will participate in a conversation with a moderator before a screening of her Emmy-award-winning performance in the 1999 tele-film, “The Passion of Ayn Rand.”
- June 17: 4:00pm – A “Half-Life Award” will be given to Golden Globe nominated actress Christina Ricci (The Opposite of Sex), with the actress to participate in a moderated conversation before a screening of the acclaimed, Don Roos-directed 1998 comedy.
“One of the greatest thrills of programming a festival as unique and diverse as CineVegas is being able to honor actors and filmmakers who have made lasting marks in the varied kinds of films that we thrive on. Whether in massive studio films or no-budget independents, our honorees all have the ability to unleash an impressive force that elevates them to the stratosphere of their respective fields,” says Trevor Groth, Director of Programming for the festival. “Having Laurence, Sylvester, Taylor, Helen and Christina join us this year to celebrate their remarkable careers is an extraordinary honor and privilege, and having filmmakers as fearless and wildly innovative as the ones on the ‘Outlaw Cinema’ panel adds to the excitement.”
Laurence Fishburne can currently be seen on screens in the critically-acclaimed Lionsgate release Akeelah and the Bee and the worldwide blockbuster Mission: Impossible III. The actor received an Oscar nomination for his performance as Ike Turner in 1993’s What’s Love Got to Do With It, and has received two Emmy Awards, for producing the 1997 HBO film “Miss Evers’ Boys” (in which he also starred with Alfre Woodard) and for Guest Actor in a Drama Series in the 1993 Fox series “Tribeca.” Fishburne’s list of diverse credits also includes the phenomenally successful The Matrix Trilogy; Clint Eastwood’s Academy Award-winning Mystic River; Assault on Precinct 13; Hoodlum; Othello opposite Kenneth Branagh; and his star-making role in John Singleton’s Oscar-nominated debut film, Boyz N the Hood.
Sylvester Stallone made a landmark contribution to film with 1976’s Rocky, which garnered the actor Academy Award nominations for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay, putting him in such prestigious company with writer/actors such as Orson Welles, Charlie Chaplin, Woody Allen and Warren Beatty. He also garnered Golden Globe, BAFTA and Writers Guild Award nominations for the film, which went on to win the 1976 Academy Award for Best Picture. Stallone soon became one of the most successful movie stars in the world with credits including the Rocky series, the Rambo series, Tango & Cash, Cliffhanger, Demolition Man and Cop Land. Stallone also has over ten screenplays to his credit and has directed five films, including three in the beloved Rocky series.
Taylor Hackford won an Academy Award in the Best Live Action Short Film category for his first dramatic effort, 1979’s Teenage Father. He went on to make his feature debut with the musical drama The Idolmaker, starring Ray Sharkey and Peter Gallagher, and followed that success with the 1982 romantic classic An Officer and a Gentleman, starring Richard Gere and Debra Winger. Hackford’s other credits as both a producer and director include the Jeff Bridges thriller Against All Odds; White Nights, starring Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, Helen Mirren and Isabella Rossellini; Everybody’s All-American, starring Jessica Lange and Dennis Quaid; the acclaimed documentary Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock n’Roll; Dolores Claiborne, starring Kathy Bates; The Devil’s Advocate, starring Al Pacino and Keanu Reeves; and Proof of Life with Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan. Hackford most recently received Academy Award and DGA nominations for the Ray Charles biopic Ray, which featured an Oscar winning performance by Jamie Foxx.
One of the world’s most illustrious actresses, Helen Mirren is a two-time Academy Award nominee for her performances in Nicholas Hytner’s The Madness of King George and Robert Altman’s Gosford Park. The actress has also won multiple Emmys, BAFTAs, SAG Awards and a Golden Globe for a film career that includes the internationally acclaimed “Prime Suspect” series and such high-profile television films as “The Roman Spring of Mrs. Stone” co-starring Olivier Martinez and Anne Bancroft; “Door to Door” opposite William H. Macy; “The Passion of Ayn Rand” co-starring Peter Fonda; “Losing Chase” and the recent HBO miniseries “Elizabeth I” co-starring Jeremy Irons and Hugh Dancy. Mirren’s extensive list of feature credits includes Peter Greenaway’s The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover; The Clearing opposite Robert Redford, the hit comedy Calendar Girls and she has just completeded filming The Queen directed by Stephen Frears in which she portrays Queen Elizabeth II.
Since her film debut at the age of 10 in Mermaids opposite Cher and Winona Ryder, Christina Ricci has amassed an impressive roster of credits, working with some of the industry’s top actors and filmmakers. Ricci received Golden Globe and Independent Spirit Award nominations for her acclaimed performance in Don Roos’ black comedy The Opposite of Sex, along with the award for Best Supporting Actress from the National Board of Review. Ricci stole scenes in the highly successful Addams Family films before working with such renowned directors as Ang Lee in 1997’s The Ice Storm opposite Kevin Kline and Joan Allen, and Tim Burton in 1999’s Sleepy Hollow, in which she co-starred with Johnny Depp. Her other credits include Vincent Gallo’s Buffalo ’66, John Waters’ Pecker, the Emmy-nominated telefilms “Bastard Out of Carolina” and “The Laramie Project,” and Monster, opposite Academy Award winner Charlize Theron. Ricci will next appear in Craig Brewer’s Hustle and Flow follow-up Black Snake Moan co-starring Samuel L. Jackson and Justin Timberlake, and Penelope co-starring Reese Witherspoon.
The 2006 CineVegas Film Festival, self-described as “The World’s Most Dangerous Film Festival,” offers a breadth of world and U.S. premieres, advance screenings of high-profile films, the best new independent films seeking distribution, movies from the underground, and homegrown Nevada film fare. The festival will open with the Paul Dinello comedy Strangers With Candy, the prequel to the critically acclaimed Comedy Central series of the same name starring Amy Sedaris, Stephen Colbert, Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker and Phillip Seymour Hoffman; and will close with the U.S. premiere of Lies and Alibies, a drama/comedy-tinged romance from Matt Checkowski and Kurt Matilla, starring Steve Coogan and Rebecca Romijn.
Since its inception in 1998, the CineVegas has established itself as one of the hottest and fastest growing film festivals in the world, being mentioned in a TIME Magazine cover story as well as listed as one of the top 5 small fests to visit by Canada's Globe and Mail newspaper. The 8th annual festival will be held June 9-17, 2006 at the Palms Casino Resort in Las Vegas highlighting the most exciting offerings from up and coming filmmakers and visionary veterans. CineVegas combines the glamour and energy of world premiere films and the intensity of in-depth celebrity tributes.
Among its milestones, CineVegas has hosted the world premieres of such films as George A. Romero’s Land of the Dead, The Devil’s Rejects, Spun, The Talent Given Us and Bubba Ho-tep, as well as screenings of other great films such as Napoleon Dynamite, Riding Giants, The Aristocrats, Me, You and Everyone We Know and Gus Van Sant’s Last Days. Robin Greenspun serves as the festival’s President and Dennis Hopper serves as the Chairman of the Creative Advisory Board, which has selected this year’s honorees and honored such film greats as Jack Nicholson, Nicolas Cage, Ann-Margaret, Sean Penn, Dustin Hoffman, Holly Hunter, Christopher Walken and David Lynch in the past. For more information please call (888) 8VEGAS8 or visit www.cinevegas.com. |
