Hollywood, California, April 16, 2008 -- In their twelfth year, the Hollywood Awards® and Hollywood Film Festival®, presented by Starz, announce their new dates and call for entries.

"We are very excited to be having our twelfth annual festival and awards from October 22 to 27 at ArcLight Cinemas. Last year's festival and awards were one of the best yet, with our awards going to such Hollywood notables as Richard Gere, Marion Cotillard, John Travolta, Jennifer Connelly, Ellen Page, Casey Affleck, Ben Affleck, Marc Forster, Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, Diablo Cody, Christopher Hampton, Mark Isham, Stephen Goldblatt, Joe Hutshing, and Dante Ferretti among many other talented artists," Executive Director Carlos de Abreu announced.

"It's outstanding to be the main sponsor of this festival, which is known for jump starting the awards season, and is a strong barometer of the films and talent honored throughout the year," said Stephan Shelanski, executive vice president of programming and acquisitions. "We're also looking forward, as we've done for the past four years, to premiering one of our 'Hollywood themed' original productions during the festival. The production that we'll premiere is part of Starz Inside, our monthly series of original specials, hosted by acclaimed film critic and author Richard Roeper."

This year the festival will be celebrating its twelfth anniversary, and it will include premieres, tributes, special screenings and hip parties. Over 100 films will be showcased. At this time the festival is accepting features, docs, shorts, and music videos. The submission deadline is April 30. For more information go to http://www.hollywoodfestival.com

"We are very proud that we have become recognized as a pre-Oscar® showcase, as well as a source for providing great networking opportunities for filmmakers looking for a break. The 'New York Times' says that we are 'the first mandatory stop in the awards season,' " said de Abreu.

The Hollywood Film Festival kicks off October 22 for a six-day series of screenings and special presentations with Q/A sessions at ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood. On October 27, the festival culminates with the prestigious Hollywood Awards®, which honor established Hollywood talent, international talent and emerging filmmakers.

The festival and awards presenter is Starz Entertainment, LLC, a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz® and Encore® brands with approximately 16.3 million and 30.7 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®. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation that is attributed to Liberty Capital Group.

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