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“The performances this year in film at the festival exceeded anything we had seen before at The Method Fest. The overall quality of the films was also higher and some awards were almost impossible for the judges to determine,” " stated Don Franken, the festival's executive director. “More top quality films with breakout performances as well as career-defining performances by other actors made it the fiercest competition yet for Awards. There are so many emerging new stars this year at The Method Fest and this really brought more energy and excitement at the festival,” Franken added. The City of Calabasas Award for Best Picture was presented to Unfinished Sky, directed by Peter Duncan and starring William McInnes, Monic Hendrickx, Milo, Bille Brown, Christopher Sommers, and David Field.
The Christie Digital Audience Award
for Best Picture, was presented to Chain Link, directed by
Dylan Reynolds. The LA.com Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Feature Film went to Danai Gurira, (The Visitor), and the Stockholm Krystal Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Feature Film went to John Saxon, (God’s Ears). Tom McCarthy, who directed The Visitor, was awarded the Modern VideoFilm Award for Best Director of a Feature Film.
The Daily News Award for Best
Screenplay went to Rick Bieber, for Crazy. Bieber also
directed and produced the film. Special Recognition: Edwardt. Greece, directed by Agelike Antoniou. The Corona Maverick Award for High Quality in Low Budget Filmmaking went to Harrison Montgomery, directed by Daniel Dávila.
Other winners include: The Enterprise Rent-A-Car Award for Best Foreign Film – Corpo (Body), Brazil, directed by Rubens Rewald and Rosanna Foglia, produced by Rubens Rewald. The Viewpoint School Award for Best Actor in a Short – Colin Cunningham, (Centigrade). The Motion Picture and Television Fund Award for Best Actress in a Short – Vanessa Born, (Sky). The Bernards Award for Best Student Short – A Day’s Work, directed by Rajeev Dassani from the University of Southern California. The Country Inn & Suites by Carlson Audience Award for Best Short Film – Psycho Hillbilly Cabin Massacre! (directed by Robert Cosnahan). Special Recognition Awards The Valley of the Stars Festival Director’s Award for Excellence – Chronic Town (directed by Tom Hines). The Barefoot Winery Festival Director’s Award for Breakthrough Acting – Octavio Gomez Berrios (Harrison Montgomery). The Award for the Best Ensemble Cast in a Short Film –Last Day of Limbo starring Ian Abercrombie, Roby Bessent, Johnny Holiday, Matt Malloy, Patrick Thomas O’Brien, Mark Pellegrino, Joseph Rigano, Rico Simonini, and Vinny Vella. Special Awards presented before and during the festival:
Career Achievement Award: Richard
Jenkins Future Filmmaker Audience Awards: Sony Future Filmmakers Award for Best Picture – Michael Fishbein for Chope. Final Draft Future Filmmakers Award for Best Screenplay – Mike Toomy and Kevin Murphy for Chope. Indieprinting.com Future Filmmakers Award for Best Acting – Aaron Moody for Chope. Special Recognition: Winter’s Hero, by Alexi Scuitto About The Method Fest Named after a famous school of acting, The Method Fest is the only major film festival in the U.S. focusing on acting, celebrating breakout acting performances in story driven independent films. The Method Fest takes great pride in being a discovery festival, looking to help launch the works of young fresh filmmakers and to discover breakthrough performances by young, bold new actors. The festival has also taken great delight in sharing career-defining performances of established performers and in showcasing a few chosen well-known directors to screen at the festival. The 10th Anniversary of the Method Fest screened 25 feature films and 52 shorts from U.S. and international filmmakers from March 27 – April 3. The Method Fest is presented by the City of Calabasas. Presenting media sponsors include Time Warner, Charter Communications, LA.com and the L.A. Daily News. Golden Reel sponsors include Corona. Silver reel sponsors include Prudential California Realty, Christie, Sony, and Country Inn & Suites. Bronze level sponsors include Bernards, Red Bull, Modern VideoFilm, Wexler, jetBlue, and the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Festival supporters include Ice Age, Pepsi, Leonis Adobe, Sagebrush Cantina, CalItalia Restaurant, Mi Piace, Fleming’s Steakhouse, Chapter 8 Steakhouse and Nightclub, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, The Rack, Maria’s Italian Kitchen, FilmFinders, WithoutABox, Creative Industry Handbook, MoneyMailer, Calabasas Chamber of Commerce, and the San Fernando Valley Economic Alliance. The Method Fest is an official Valley of the Stars Event. Information on the Method Fest is available at www.methodfest.com. THE 10TH Annual METHOD FEST AWARD CEREMONY
VIPs attending the Award Ceremony include: Martin Landau, JR Bourne, Paul Dolley, John Saxon, Olivia Wilde, Steven Webber, Beth Grant, Melissa Leo, Lynn Shea, Sharon Case, Ray Wise, Daine Baker, Octavio Gomez Berrios, Jeffrey Scott Jensen, Barry Corbin, Alyssa Milano (pending), Shawn Hatosy and DJ Qualls. Other celebrities also are expected to attend. OTHER FESTIVAL INFORMATION: The festival screened 25 feature films and 48 short films from around the U.S. and from across the globe. These included many world and U.S. premieres plus a few major “festival films.” www.methodfest.com Ticket Information: 800-838-3006 www.Brownpapertickets.com Festival Information and Media RSVP: 310-962-3297 also 310-993-6799 THE METHOD FEST TO HONOR MELISSA LEO WITH MAVERICK AWARD
Leo stars in the world premiere of renown South African filmmaker Darrell Roodt’s new film, Lullaby, which plays at The Method Fest on Sunday, March 30th, at the Louie B. Mayer Theatre at the Motion Picture & Television Fund in Woodland Hills. Roodt’s credits include Sarafina, Yesterday and Cry the Beloved. Lullaby is the story of an American mother (Leo), whose drug-addicted son has been kidnapped and held for ransom by a drug lord in South Africa and her journey there to try and save him. “Leo is a Maverick in her dedication to always taking challenging roles and in her love and dedication to independent film,” said Don Franken, The Method fest executive Director. “Nobody is doing more now in indie film than Leo, she is the perfect person to receive the Maverick Award at The Method Fest,” added Franken. Past Maverick Award winners have included Michael Madsen, Crispin Glover, David Carradine, Karen Black, and Kirk Harris. Leo will receive the award before the screening of Lullaby, Sunday, March 30, at 5 pm at the Motion Picture and Television Fund. Leo garnered much attention this year at the Sundance film as the star of Frozen River, winner of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize. Leo, an actress always in demand, currently has the films Ball Don’t Lier, Greta, Stephanie’s Image, and True Adolescents in post production. Also, in 2008, Leo stars in The Alphabet Killer, and Santa Mesa. Coming off 2007 where Leo appeared in One Night, Mr. Woodcock, I Believe in America, Racing Daylight, The Cake Eaters (also featured at The Method Fest), Dear Lemon Lima, Black Irish, (winner of best film at the 2007 The Method Fest) shows what a busy actress she has been the last two years. Leo also is in The Cake Eaters directed by Mary Stuart Masterson, and starring Bruce Dern, which screens this year at The Method Fest. Over the years, Leo has played Aunt Bee in Hollywood Dreams, KC Collins in The Limbo Room, Miri in the Sundance hit Stephanie Daley, Agnes Lessor in Confess, which also played at The Method Fest. Other films in recent years included The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, the award winning 21 Grams, Code of Ethics. Other films on Leo’s resume include Last Summer in the Hamptons, The Ballad of Little Joe, Venice/Venice, A Time of Destiny, Stretwalkin,and Always. Leo also has been equally busy in television, with roles on Cold Case, Criminal Minds, The L Word, Law & Order, CSI, Veronica Mards, Homicide: The Movie, Scarlett, The Young Riders, and even Miami Vice and early in her career, in All My Children. A total of 25 feature films and 48 short films from around the U.S. and around the globe with screen at The Method Fest The Method Fest is presented by the City of Calabasas. Presenting sponsors include Time Warner Cable, the Los Angeles Daily News and LA.Com, and Charter Communications. Lead sponsors include Corona, Sony, Prudential California Realty, and Christie. Jet Blue, Modern VideoFilm, Bernards, and Country Inn & Suites. Other sponsors and supporters include Jet Blue, Ice Age, the San Fernando Valley Economic Alliance, Barefoot Wine, Enterprise-Rent-a-Car, Money Mailer, Viewpoint School, Laemmle Theatres, Sagebrush Cantina, Leonis Adobe, Ice Age, Pierce College, Song’s Alive, Chapter 8 Steakhouse, CaliItalia Restaurant, Mi Piace, Sagebrush Cantina, Calabasas Inn, Izze, Fleming’s, Maria’s Italian Kitchen, Arnie Morton’s The Steakhouse, Creative Handbook, Calabasas Chamber of Commerce, The Rack Restaurant and Daphne’s Restaurant. The Method Fest is an official “Valley of the Stars” event. For festival information, please go to www.methodfest.com and for ticket information, call1-800-838-3006 or go to www.brownpapertickets.com.
RICHARD JENKINS
TO RECEIVE “CAREER ACHIEVEMENT AWARD”
The Method Fest is the only film festival in the United States that puts its focus on acting, seeking breakout performances in story and character-driven films. There will be 25 feature films and 48 short films from across the U.S. and around the globe shown this year at The Method Fest, including this year’s Centerpiece film, and red-carpet Los Angeles premiere of The Visitor, starring Jenkins. “The Method Fest is a film festival that puts its focus on acting, and few have ever accomplished as much as Richard over his amazing career,” stated The Method Fest Executive Director, Don Franken. Jenkins will be honored before the screening of The Visitor on Saturday, March 29 at 7 pm at the Motion Picture and Television Fund. The Visitor is director Tom McCarthy’s follow-up to The Station Agent, which follows a disillusioned Connecticut economics professor whose life is transformed by a chance encounter in New York City. The Groundswell Productions and Participant Productions film is produced by Michael London and Mary Jane Skalski; and stars Richard Jenkins, Hiam Abbass, Haaz Sleiman, and Danai Gurira. Jenkins’ career launched itself in 1986 when he landed his first starring role in Oscar®—winning writer Horton Foote’s film On Valentines’ Day. Shortly thereafter, Jenkins’ career took off with roles alongside Jack Nicholson, Susan Sarandon, Cher, and Michelle Pfeiffer in The Witches of Eastwick, and opposite River Phoenix and Sidney Poitier in Little Nikita. Jenkins has also shined in several indie films, including Sea of Love with Al Pacino and Ellen Barkin, and the Coen brothers’ Intolerable Cruelty opposite George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones, as well as The Man Who Wasn’t There alongside Billy Bob Thornton, James Gandolfini, and Scarlett Johansson. Jenkins has been cast by esteemed filmmakers including Clint Eastwood in Absolute Power; the Farrelly brothers in There’s Something about Mary, and Me, Myself, and Irene, and Sydney Pollack in Random Hearts, to name a few. Jenkins also has a remarkable career in television and theatre. This includes playing father Nathaniel Fisher in HBO’s award winning “Six Feet Under,” as well as appearing in the television movie Sins of the Father, and the Emmy-winning HBO film And the Band Played On. In theatre, Richard has received many accolades over his 15 years at Rhode Island’s Trinity Repertory Company where he has also served four years as its Artistic Director. Later this year Jenkins will hit the screen again in the new Coen brothers film, Burn After Reading, starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and John Malkovich, and Step Brothers, with Will Ferrell and John C. Riley. ABOUT THE VISITOR In a world of six billion people, it only takes one to change your life. In actor and filmmaker Tom McCarthy’s follow-up to his award winning directorial debut The Station Agent, Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) stars as a disillusioned Connecticut economics professor whose life is transformed by a chance encounter in New York City. Sixty-two-year-old Walter Vale (Jenkins) is sleepwalking through his life. Having lost his passion for teaching and writing, he fills the void by unsuccessfully trying to learn to play classical piano. When his college sends him to Manhattan to attend a conference, Walter is surprised to find a young couple has taken up residence in his apartment. Victims of a real estate scam, Tarek (Haaz Sleiman), a Syrian man, and Zainab (Danai Gurira), his Senegalese girlfriend, have nowhere else to go. In the first of a series of tests of the heart, Walter reluctantly allows the couple to stay with him. Touched by his kindness, Tarek, a talented musician, insists on teaching the aging academic to play the African drum. The instrument’s exuberant rhythms revitalize Walter’s faltering spirit and open his eyes to a vibrant world of local jazz clubs and Central Park drum circles. As the friendship between the two men deepens, the differences in culture, age and temperament fall away. After being stopped by police in the subway, Tarek is arrested as an undocumented citizen and held for deportation. As his situation turns desperate, Walter finds himself compelled to help his new friend with a passion he thought he had long ago lost. When Tarek’s beautiful mother Mouna (Hiam Abbass) arrives unexpectedly in search of her son, the professor’s personal commitment develops into an unlikely romance. And it’s through these new found connections with these virtual strangers that Walter is awakened to a new world and a new life. THE METHOD FEST CELEBRATES 10TH YEARWITH STRONGEST LINEUP IN ITS HISTORYWorld premieres highlight indie fest slated for March 27 - April 3 in Calabasas A mix of several world premieres and a few choice films which debuted recently at major film festivals will highlight the 10th anniversary edition of The Method Fest Film Festival, presented by the City of Calabasas, slated for March 27-April 3 in Calabasas. Named after the famous school of acting, The Method Fest is the only United States festival to focus on acting. “This is the strongest lineup in our festival’s history,” said Don Franken, Executive Director of The Method Fest. Indie gems to be showcased include The Visitor, actor and filmmaker Tom McCarthy’s follow-up to his award winning directorial debut The Station Agent. Richard Jenkins (Six Feet Under) stars as a disillusioned Connecticut economics professor whose life is transformed by a chance encounter in New York City. Academy Award winner Helen Hunt makes her feature directing debut with Then She Found Me, a touching story of schoolteacher April Epner (Hunt) and her very unlikely path towards personal fulfillment, adapted from Elinor Lipman’s novel of the same name. The film also stars Colin Firth, Academy Award nominee Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick, Lynne Cohen, and Ben Shenkman. Unfinished Sky, an acclaimed Australian film directed by Peter Duncan and based on the Golden Globe-nominated Dutch film The Polish Bride, peels away layers of hurt and mistrust to reveal the beauty of freedom, hope and choice. Other marquee selections on this year’s Method Fest feature lineup include: The Stone Angel with Ellen Burstyn, Christine Horne, Cole Hauser, Ellen Page, and Sheila McCarthy; Chronic Town, directed by Tom Hines and starring JR Bourne, Emily Wagner, Jeffrey Scott Jensen, Alice Drummond, Dan Butler and Paul Dooley, and Diminished Capacity with Matthew Broderick, Virginia Madsen, Alan Alda and Dylan Baker. Also, Blue Hour by Eric Nazarian and starring Paul Dillon, Karen Jones, Karen Kodazian, Austin Marques, and Alyssa Milano, Derrick O'Connor, and Emily Rios. World premieres include the country-Western themed film, Crazy, based on the life of legendary guitar player Hank Garland, directed by Rick Bieber and staring Waylon Payne, Ali Larter, and Lane Garrison; the South African film, Lullaby, directed by renowned director, Darrell Roodt (Yesterday,Sarafina,Cry the Beloved Country); Chain Link, directed by Dylan Reynolds and starring Mark Irvingsen and Jim Storm; Falling, directed and starring Richard Dutcher and Virginia Reece; Harrison Montgomery, directed by Daniel Davila and starring Martin Landau, Octavio Gomez Berrios; and True Love, directed by Henry Barrial, a Sundance alum with his first film, Some Body. As always, The Method Fest will screen several top international films, including the U.S. premiere of This Beautiful City by Ed Glass-Donnelly; the Brazilian film, Corpo, (Body), Eduart out of Greece, and Portage, from Canada. The Method Fest's Centerpiece films will be The Visitor, Saturday night, March 29, and Then She Found Me, Sunday night, March 30, both screening at the Louie B. Mayer Theatre, Motion Picture & Television Fund. Diminished Capacity will be the Closing Night film, also scheduled at the Louie B. Mayer Theatre on Wednesday, April 2. The Opening Night film will be announced soon. There will be a total of 25 features and 48 short films, also from across the U.S. and the globe, screened at this year’s The Method Fest. For the screening schedule and other festival information visit www.methodfest.com or call (310) 535-9230. Tickets are available at www.brownpapertickets.com, 800-838-3006. Ticket prices range from $10 for most individual screenings (excluding opening, centerpiece films, and closing night films), with a festival pass for all screenings, parties, receptions, and tributes only $195. A limited amount of special industry passes are available at only $125 each. Films come from across the U.S. and around the globe to be screened at this year's edition of The Method Fest. The festival has been a launching pad for quality independent films - over 100 films that have played in the Method Fest’s first 9 years have gone on to get distribution. Last year, The Method Fest opening night film, "Waitress," was one of the most successful Indie films of the year! There will be Q&A with the directors, producers, writers, and stars of the films after most feature films as well as following each short film program. The Method Fest is presented by the City of Calabasas. Presenting media sponsors include Time Warner, Charter Communications, LA.Com and the L.A. Daily News. Golden Reel sponsors include Corona. Silver reel sponsors include Prudential California Realty, Christie, Sony, and Country Inn & Suites. Bronze level sponsors include Bernards, Red Bull, Modern VideoFilm, Wexler, Jet Blue, and the Motion Picture & Television Fund. Festival supporters include Ice Age, Pepsi, Leonis Adobe, Sagebrush Cantina, CalItalia Restaurant, Mi Piace, Fleming's Steakhouse, Chapter 8 Steakhouse and Nightclub, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, The Rack, FilmFinders, WithoutABox, Creative Industry Handbook, MoneyMailer, Calabasas Chamber of Commerce, and the San Fernando Valley Economic Alliance. The Method Fest is an official Valley of the Stars event. For more information, please visit www.methodfest.com.
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Melissa
Leo, the “It Girl” now in Independent film, will receive the
Maverick Award at the 10th The Method Fest Independent Film
Festival, March 27-April 3, in Calabasas. 
Richard
Jenkins, star of Overture Films’ April 11th release The Visitor,
has been selected to receive the Career Achievement Award at the
10th annual Method Fest Independent Film Festival, March 27-April 3,
in Calabasas, California. Jenkins will be honored for his
distinguished career which has spanned over two decades, with roles
starring alongside such acclaimed actors as Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Ellen Barkin, Jim Carrey, Charlize Theron, George Clooney,
and many more.