Variety Hosts Its Fourth Annual Screening Series

Business Wire, Sept 12, 2006

LOS ANGELES -- On Sept. 7, 2006, Variety began its fourth annual screening series with All The King's Men, featuring a post-screening Q&A with writer-director Steven Zaillian and producer James Carville.

In the next three months, the screening series will showcase new films by such notables as Clint Eastwood, Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Hugh Jackman, Beyonce Knowles, Robert De Niro, Angelina Jolie, Matt Damon, Will Ferrell, Annette Bening, Kate Winslet and Anthony Hopkins. The series showcases the studios' most high-profile year-end films, followed by discussions with filmmakers and actors. It has become an awards-season tradition for industry members, voters and kudos hopefuls.

This year's edition, scheduled to run through the end of December, has confirmed such guests as writer-directors Pedro Almodovar, Sofia Coppola and Emilio Estevez; actors Adrien Brody, Kirsten Dunst, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Jason Schwartzman and Forest Whitaker; filmmakers Al Gore, Davis Guggenheim and Mike Medavoy, and many others to be announced in the coming weeks.

The films to be screened include Hollywoodland, Volver, The Last King of Scotland, Driving Lessons, Marie Antoinette, Little Children, The Queen, The Prestige, Flags of Our Fathers, Running With Scissors, Catch A Fire, Stranger Than Fiction, Babel, Bobby, Happy Feet, Curse Of The Golden Flower, The Good German, The History Boys, Notes On a Scandal, An Inconvenient Truth, Children of Men, Home Of The Brave, Dreamgirls, and The Good Shepherd, in addition to more to be announced. The events this year are presented by IndieVest, and sponsored by American Airlines, Dell, Lexus, Starz Entertainment and Stella Artois.

The films will be screened at one of three state-of-the-art theaters: Pacific's Arclight in Hollywood, The Aero in Santa Monica or the Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills. Moderating each evening will be one of the members of Variety: Peter Bart, editor-in-chief; Tim Gray, editor; Steven Gaydos, executive editor-features; Elizabeth Guider, executive editor-news; Michael Speier, managing editor; Todd McCarthy, chief film critic; Brian Lowry, chief TV critic; and Ian Mohr and Gabriel Snyder, reporters.

The Variety Screening Series' Web site at www.varietyscreeningseries.com once again allows Academy and guild members and other awards voters to reserve a seat and find the latest information about upcoming screenings and Q&A participants. The Variety Screening Series is by invitation only for guild members.

About Variety:

Variety is owned by Reed Business Information (RBI), a member of the Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE: RUK and ENL) and a leading U.S. provider of entertainment business information.

About IndieVest:

Launching next month, IndieVest is an independent film studio, distributor and financier, with a Member community of high net worth investors; whose mission is to identify, produce and distribute high-potential independent films. Uniting an exclusive community of qualified film enthusiasts with an independent film studio, IndieVest provides Members with unique access to all the passion and excitement of the independent film industry. Our Indie Insider Advisory Board includes Don Cheadle, Liev Schreiber and Tim Blake Nelson. To learn more about IndieVest, visit www.indievest.com

About American Airlines:

American Airlines is the world's largest airline. American, American Eagle and the AmericanConnection(R) airlines serve 250 cities in over 40 countries with more than 3,900 daily flights. American's Web site, AA.com, provides users with easy access to check and book fares, plus personalized news, information and travel offers. The airline recently appointed a director of women's sales and marketing to focus and coordinate the company's message and efforts targeting the women's consumer market.

About Dell:

Dell Inc. listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell sells more systems globally than any computer company, placing it No. 25 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit www.dell.com.

About Lexus:

Lexus has become synonymous with luxury since its introduction in 1989. By offering some of the finest quality luxury vehicles and providing benchmark customer service, Lexus has remained the top-selling luxury nameplate in the United States for seven years in a row. Lexus and its 220 dealers have repeatedly achieved high honors for both the products they sell and the customer service they provide as rated by the independent research firm of J.D. Power and Associates.

About Starz Entertainment:

Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz(R) and Encore(R) brands with approximately 15.1 million and 27.1 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs more than 1,000 movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Starz On Demand and Vongo(SM). Starz Entertainment is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corp. that is attributed to Liberty Capital Group, www.starz.com.