Hollywood, CA. -- June 30, 1998 -- The 2nd Annual Hollywood Film Festival has announced that distinguished Academy Award-winning film composer Dave Grusin will be honored with its "Hollywood Outstanding Achievement in Music in Film Award™." The announcement was made today by Carlos de Abreu, Founder and Executive Director of the Hollywood Film Festival.

"Mr. Grusin's prolific body of work in the feature film arena speaks for itself. Anyone who has gone to the movies in the last twenty years has been treated to the award-winning music of Dave Grusin, who has been nominated 14 times by the Motion Picture Academy," comments Mr. de Abreu.

Dave Grusin's work over the years includes the Oscar-winning score for The Milagro Beanfield War and the Academy Award-nominated film scores for Heaven Can Wait, The Champ, On Golden Pond, Tootsie, Havana, The Fabulous Baker Boys, and The Firm. Other well-known films for which he has scored include the recently released Hope Floats, The Graduate, The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter, Three Days of the Condor, The Electric Horseman, My Bodyguard, The Goodbye Girl, And Justice for All, Reds, Tequila Sunrise, and Selena. Mr. Grusin also composed the theme songs for TV's Good Times, Maude, Baretta and St. Elsewhere, The Cable Ace Award-winner has also won several Grammy Awards for his work.

The Hollywood Film Festival also announced that its "Hollywood Music In Film Visionary Award™" will be presented to composer Stewart Copeland, the former drummer and co-founder of the "The Police." Mr. Copeland's multi-dimensional career includes the scores for the films Rumble Fish, Wall Street, Talk Radio, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Taking Care of Business, The Wide Sargasso Sea and Gridlock'd. He is also the winner of 5 Grammy Awards and a Cable Ace Award for Afterburn. Mr. Copeland is a composer for television (The Equalizer, Babylon 5, and Tyson, among others) and symphonic music.

Mr. de Abreu adds, "I am thrilled that this year's festival is recognizing the important role music plays in film. Both Mr. Grusin and Mr. Copeland are outstanding talents who deserve to be honored for their work as music professionals in the movie industry. They serve as perfect examples of what emerging artists should strive to achieve."

The music awards will be bestowed on Mr. Grusin and Mr. Copeland as part of the festival's gala awards ceremony to be held on Monday evening, August 10, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The Hollywood Film Festival was founded by New York Times bestselling authors Carlos de Abreu and Janice Pennington to discover neophyte talent from the global creative community and to introduce their work to mainstream Hollywood. Co-founders, chairs, and co-chairs include Alex Ben Block, Laifun Chung, Gene Hackman, Peter Hyams, Ted Kotcheff, Mimi Leder, John Briley, George Litto, David Permut, Bob Klane, James Orr, Fred Roos, Mark Rydell, and many other Hollywood notables.

Last year's Hollywood Film Festival was a resounding success with more than 400 film submissions, 140 industry professionals as panelists and guests, and thousands of attendees. Distributors and agencies that participated included CAA, William Morris, ICM, Miramax, New Line, Goldwyn, Fox Searchlight and the Overseas Film Group. The Festival was attended by many stars and celebrities such as Barbra Streisand, James Brolin, Kirstie Alley, Martin Landau, Graham Nash, and Kirk Douglas, among many others.

Carlos de Abreu
Founder
Hollywood Film Festival
(310) 288-1882