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BIGFOOT ENTERTAINMENT FUND BEHIND INDIE FILM 3 NEEDLES
Indie Drama to Premiere at Toronto Film Festival Starring Lucy Liu, Chloe Sevigny, Olympia Dukakis, Sandra Oh, Stockard Channing, and Shawn Ashmore
Directed by Thomas Fitzgerald
LOS ANGELES (August 30, 2005) - Bigfoot Entertainment announces the world premiere of its debut feature film, 3 Needles, as a Special Presentation at the Toronto Film Festival. The film, which is already garnering interest from top distributors, stars Lucy Liu (Charlie’s Angels, Payback, Ally McBeal), Chloe Sevigny (Broken Flowers, Boys Don’t Cry), Olympia Dukakis (The Event, The Pentagon Wars), Sandra Oh (Sideways, Grey’s Anatomy), Stockard Channing (The West Wing, Le Divorce), and Shawn Ashmore (X2: X-Men United, The Underclassman), and was directed by acclaimed independent filmmaker Thom Fitzgerald. 3 Needles is the latest production to be funded by Bigfoot Partners, the investment wing of Bigfoot Entertainment, and covers multiple storylines about the ways people deal with the AIDS epidemic, the relationship between parent and child and the sacrifices they are willing to make for each other.
According to Fitzgerald, “The film is about transformation. Each character sacrifices one seemingly insignificant belief about themselves, only to feel their entire identity unravel. It also exemplifies the challenges of simple people trying to seek education from an indifferent regime.”
In the North American story, a porn actor Denys (Shawn Ashmore) hides his illness so he will not lose his job while his mother (Stockard Channing) makes her own death pact with the disease in order to care for him. Halfway across the world, a nun in South Africa (Chloe Sevigny) negotiates a dark deal to save the lives of disease-stricken children in her mission. And in a Chinese village, Jin Ping (Lucy Liu) buys blood from farmers who use the money to improve their lives, unaware that she is spreading death.
Adds Fitzgerald, “"In North America and Europe we have such a cognitive awareness of how not to spread AIDS," he says. "But in much of the rest of the world, people are innocently infected through ignorance and cultural practice."
Tom Harting served as Director of Photography, and was produced by Bryan Hofbauer. Michael Gleissner is Executive Producer.
This project is part of Bigfoot Entertainment’s ongoing commitment to help fund modest-budget, high quality independent film projects through Bigfoot Partners and their collaboration with Los-Angeles-based Filmmakers Alliance.
“Bigfoot is dedicated to the community of filmmakers who possess the vision and passion to create critically acclaimed independent films,” explains CEO Kacy Andrews. “Bigfoot will open new markets worldwide for these inspiring works.”
As Bigfoot Partners continues to search for ideas for quality films, Jim Hoffman, President of Bigfoot Partners says, “3 Needles is a unique storyline presenting varying points of view via a top-notch cast on a controversial subject that is a worldwide health concern."
Following the Toronto world premiere, 3 Needles was also chosen to open the 25th Atlantic Film Festival in late September. Bigfoot’s upcoming projects include Social Grace, a romantic comedy directed by B.D. Wong, which recently wrapped production, and The Curiosity of Chance, a teen comedy written and directed by Russell P. Marleau, has begun principal photography this month in Belgium. Other feature films currently in development include Irreversi and Engine Failure.
Independent filmmakers are encouraged to submit proposals on the Bigfoot Partners website www.bigfootpartners.com.
ABOUT BIGFOOT PARTNERS
As Bigfoot Entertainment’s investment arm, Bigfoot Partners is focused on high quality, modest budget productions with solid market appeal and differentiation. These films can range from mainstream productions with a target of wide release, to smaller films for specific markets. Bigfoot Partners is also focused on expanding the markets for film of all types in both Educational and Asian markets. Bigfoot Partners is dedicated to the community of filmmakers looking to open new markets to their work and make films that are both critically and financially successful. For more information, log on to www.bigfootpartners.com.
ABOUT BIGFOOT ENTERTAINMENT
Bigfoot Entertainment is the parent company of Bigfoot Productions, Bigfoot Productions Services, the International Academy of Film and Television (IAFT), and Bigfoot Partners.
Based in Hollywood and Asia, Bigfoot Entertainment produces quality independent feature films, television programming, as well as educational and corporate content for an international audience. Our team of award-winning producers, directors and writers from Hollywood and other film capitals of the world, operate from world-class production facilities based in Southeast Asia. For more information on Bigfoot Entertainment, visit www.bigfootentertainment.com.
ABOUT FILMMAKERS ALLIANCE
Filmmakers Alliance (FA) is a twelve year-old filmmaking collective with a unique mutual support structure dedicated to creating revolutionary new models of experience, education and production.
FA’s 500+ members include many world-class independent filmmakers as well as producers, writers, actors, cinematographers, composers, editors, post supervisors, students and more.
Filmmakers Alliance also functions as a full service production company-for-hire, producing small-budget features, shorts, commercials, music videos, corporate videos, training videos, television shows and infomercials. For more information, visi www.filmmakersalliance.com.
