Hollywood, CA -- August 6, 2005 -- The Hollywood Film Festival announces honorees who will be recognized for their outstanding achievements at the festival's Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony, which will take place on October 24, 2005, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Oscar®-nominated cinematographer Pawel Edelman will receive the "Hollywood Cinematographer of the Year Award," Academy Award-winning editor Walter Murch will be honored with the "Hollywood Editor of the Year Award," Academy Award-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood will be honored with the "Hollywood Costume Designer of the Year Award," Oscar®-winning production designer Grant Major will receive the "Hollywood Production Designer of the Year Award" and casting director Avy Kaufman will be honored with the "Hollywood Casting Director of the Year Award."

The "Hollywood Awards" will be bestowed upon the honorees during the Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony on Monday evening, October 24, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The announcement was made today by Carlos de Abreu, Founder and Executive Director of the Hollywood Film Festival. Said Mr. de Abreu, " Mr. Edelman, Mr. Murch, Mr. Major, Ms. Atwood, and Ms. Kaufman have demonstrated extraordinary ability throughout their careers. They are excellent examples of highly talented professionals whose work and creative vision are to be applauded and honored."

Cinematographer Pawel Edelman received a Best Cinematography Academy Award nomination for "The Pianist." Most recently, he photographed "Ray," which received a Best Picture nomination in 2004. His upcoming projects include Roman Polanski's "Oliver Twist" and Steven Zaillian's "All the King's Men." Mr. Edelman's other recent films include "The Revenge" and "Edges of the Lord."

Editor Walter Murch has won three Oscars® for film or sound editing and received six other Academy Award nominations for his work. He won both film and sound editing Oscars#174; for "The English Patient," and a sound editing Academy Award for "Apocalypse Now." He received film editing nominations for "Cold Mountain," "Ghost," "The Godfather: Part III," "Apocalypse Now" and "Julia," and a sound editing nomination for "The Conversation." Mr. Murch's upcoming projects include Sam Mendes's "Jarhead," starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx and Peter Sarsgaard. Other feature films he has edited include "K-19: The Widowmaker," "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "First Knight," "I Love Trouble," "House of Cards" and "The Unbearable Lightness of Being."

Production designer Grant Major earned an Academy Award for his work on "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." He also received nominations for "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." His upcoming projects include Peter Jackson's "King Kong," starring Naomi Watts. Some of Mr. Major's other feature film credits are "Whale Rider," "The Frighteners," "Heavenly Creatures," "Jack Be Nimble" and "An Angel at My Table."

Costume designer Colleen Atwood won a Best Costume Design Oscar® for "Chicago," and she has received four other nominations for her work on "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events," "Sleepy Hollow," "Beloved" and "Little Women." Her upcoming projects include Rob Marshall's "Memoirs of a Geisha" and J.J. Abrams's "Mission Impossible III." Some of Ms. Atwood's other films, among more than 40 she has designed, include "Big Fish," "Planet of the Apes," "Gattaca," "Mars Attacks!" "That Thing You Do!" "The Juror," "Ed Wood," "Wyatt Earp," "Philadelphia," "The Silence of the Lambs," "Edward Scissorhands," "Joe Versus the Volcano," "Torch Song Trilogy" and "Married to the Mob."

Casting director Avy Kaufman's introduction to feature film casting came with John Sayles's "Matawan," soon followed up with his next film "Eight Men Out." Ms. Kaufman has worked on such acclaimed films as "The Sixth Sense," "The Ice Storm," "Searching for Bobby Fisher," "Little Man Tate," "A Civil Action," "Garden State," "A.I," and the upcoming films "Brokeback Mountain," "Syriana," "Derailed," "Get Rich or Die Trying" and "All the King's Men."

Prior year's honorees and presenters have included Jennifer Aniston, Drew Barrymore, Warren Beatty, Kate Beckinsale, Annette Bening, Halle Berry, Orlando Bloom, Jeff Bridges, Sandra Bullock, Chris Columbus, Cameron Crowe, Russell Crowe, Billy Crystal, Benicio Del Toro, Johnny Depp, Danny DeVito, Cameron Diaz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Colin Farrell, Lucy Fisher, Harrison Ford, Jodie Foster, Jamie Foxx, Morgan Freeman, Mel Gibson, Taylor Hackford, Tom Hanks, Goldie Hawn, Anthony Hopkins, Ron Howard, Scarlett Johansson, Angelina Jolie, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Diane Keaton, Nicole Kidman, Val Kilmer, Regina King, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta, Lucy Liu, George Lucas, Baz Luhrmann, Michael Mann, Matthew McConaughey, Ewan McGregor, Sam Mendes, Mike Myers, Amy Pascal, Sydney Pollack, Keanu Reeves, Geoffrey Rush, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Martin Scorsese, Bob Shaye, Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Steven Spielberg, Patrick Swayze, Quentin Tarantino, Charlize Theron, Robert Towne, John Travolta, Jack Valenti, Jon Voight, Naomi Watts, Douglas Wick, Irwin Winkler, James Woods and Richard D. Zanuck, among many others.

For more information please go to http://www.hollywoodfestival.com

Festival Contact:
Hollywood Film Festival®
Ph: 310.288.1882
awards@hollywoodawards.com