HOLLYWOOD, CA (September 11, 2003)  The City of the Angels Film Festival announces that its upcoming 10th annual event will examine the theme “Revolutions/Revelations” – 13 films from the past 100 years that revolutionized filmmaking and offered deep insights into our spiritual understanding and the human condition. The festival, sponsored by Fuller Theological Seminary, Family Theater Productions, Water’s Edge Communications, and Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship, is open to the public and will be held Friday - Sunday, Oct. 24-26, 2003, at the Directors Guild of America, 7920 Sunset Blvd. in Los Angeles. For more information, call 626-304-3775 or visit our web site at www.cityofangelsfilmfest.org.

In addition, at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, opening night, the festival presents the North American premiere of Resistance, starring Bill Paxton and Julia Ormond, about a downed World War II pilot in Belgium who falls in love with the wife of one of his rescuers. Writer/Director Todd Komarnicki is also scheduled to discuss the film.

“Komarnicki is a force of nature,” says festival coproducer Craig Detweiler. “His production and management company A Guy Walks Into a Bar Productions has eight films in development with studios. His first feature as producer, Elf, starring Will Ferrell, opens for New Line this Christmas. What I most love about Komarnicki, is that he's so far ahead of the curve that he's post-postmodern.”

Other special guests include renowned USC film scholar David Shepard, who on Saturday evening will present, in a double-feature program, two classic silent films on the big screen -- The Man With the Movie Camera and Nanook of the North. Shepard, who will introduce both films, recently oversaw the restoration of Nanook, and has produced DVD versions of both Nanook and The Man with the Movie Camera. Shepard will present both films with newly scored soundtracks.

"Each of these silent films, in its own unique way, broke ground for much of what is, even today, considered innovative in filmmaking,” says David Tlapek, director of the festival's documentaries program commented. “We're fortunate to have someone of David Shepard's renown personally oversee their presentation at the festival.”

This year’s festival’s lineup of movies and special panelists examines the question: Which comes first, a film that blasts through a wall of cinematic convention, or the urgent cry of a generation that just can’t be fit into the status quo?

“A century of cinema has changed the world and the way we live,” says Scott Young, festival coproducer. “City of Angeles Film Festival 2003 showcases some of the most influential films ever made from each decade, films that both communicated revelations and ignited revolutions. We expect these movies will still power the festival audiences with their original force. Our troubled times demand resources for spiritual renewal and cultural enchantment. We believe great films can provide this and have designed CAFF 2003 for this ambitious purpose.”

Festival organizes selected this year’s movies from an extensive list of titles posted on its internet set and voted on by the public, including votes cast from countries throughout the world. Each film was selected to represent a particular decade from 1910 to 2003.

Opening night of the festival, which begins at 7:00 p.m. on Friday, features not only the premeire of Resistance but two diverse revolutionary/revelatary films, Metropolis and Do the Right Thing. Other films featured over the weekend include Intolerance, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, The Bicycle Thief, The Four Hundred Blows, The Graduate, Don’t Look Back, Star Wars, Do the Right Thing, Pulp Fiction, and Moulin Rouge!

On Oct. 23-24, Fuller Theological Seminary’s Reel Spirituality and Act One: Writing for Hollywood presents "Mere Entertainment: Theory and Practice", a two-day conference exploring the power and promise of mass media, at the Mears Center, 1760 N. Gower St.  For details and tickets contact: actone@fcph.org.

The purpose of the City of the Angels Film Festival is to bring together spiritually charged filmmakers, media-savvy theologians, and passionate movie viewers eager to discuss films that raise ultimate questions. “Our festival is about screening great films that stimulate imagination and alter our thinking,” says festival chair Scott Young.

The City of the Angels Film Festival draws participants and audiences from all over the country. In addition to having the opportunity to see these films on the big screen for perhaps the first time, audiences can stay after the films to listen to – and participate in – discussions led by expert panels of filmmakers and members of the religious and academic communities in Southern California.

Festival tickets are on sale now. The cost of admission to each film screening is $8 for general admission and $6 for students with ID.  A limited number of all-festival passes are also available for $75 or $60 for students. Tickets may be purchased online at www.cityofangelsfilmfest.org (see “schedule”).

Major sponsors for this year's festival include Fuller Theological Seminary, Family Theater Productions, Water’s Edge Communications, and Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship.