HOLLYWOOD, CA, September 24, 2009 -- The 13th Annual Hollywood Film Festival and Hollywood Awards, presented by Starz, are pleased to announce honorees who will be recognized for their achievements at the festival's Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony.

Actress Carey Mulligan will receive the "Hollywood Breakthrough Actress Award," actor Jeremy Renner will be honored with the "Hollywood Breakthrough Actor Award," director Lee Daniels will receive the "Hollywood Breakthrough Director Award," Gabourey Sidibe will receive the "New Hollywood Award," and screenwriters Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber will be recognized with the "Hollywood Breakthrough Screenwriter Award."

The gala ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills on October 26, 2009. The announcement was made today by Carlos de Abreu, Founder and Executive Director of the Hollywood Film Festival. "These honorees have been steadily laying the groundwork of choice projects upon which to build their Hollywood careers, and this was their year to really stand out," said Mr. de Abreu.

ABOUT CAREY MULLIGAN
Carey Mulligan can be seen starring in Lone Scherfig's "An Education," from Sony Classics, which also stars Peter Sarsgaard, Emma Thompson, Alfred Molina, and Rosamund Pike. She will next be seen starring in Oliver Stone's "Wall Street 2" opposite Michael Douglas, Frank Langella, Josh Brolin, Susan Sarandon and Shia LeBeouf. She also stars with Susan Sarandon and Pierce Brosnan in the family drama "The Greatest," written and directed by Shana Feste. Mulligan recently wrapped filming of Fox Searchlight's "Never Let Me Go," based on the award-winning novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, directed by Mark Romanek and also starring Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield. Previous film credits include her role as Kitty Bennet in the feature film "Pride and Prejudice" and the film "And When Did You Last See Your Father" with Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth.

ABOUT JEREMY RENNER
Jeremy Renner stars in "The Hurt Locker," the critically acclaimed film directed by Kathryn Bigelow that takes place in Baghdad and depicts a team of bomb disposal experts. Renner is currently filming "The Town" with Ben Affleck and Blake Lively for Warner Brothers. In 2007, he was seen in "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," "28 Weeks Later," and "Take," opposite Minnie Driver.

Renner starred opposite Charlize Theron in Warner Bros.' "North Country," in the independent film "12 and Holding," and in the award-winning "Neo Ned." His other films include "A Little Trip to Heaven," "The Heart Is Deceitful Above All Things," directed by Asia Argento, Columbia Pictures' "Lords of Dogtown" for director Catherine Hardwicke, and Aura Entertainment's independent film "Love Comes to the Executioner," written and directed by Kyle Bergersen. He was also seen in the hit "S.W.A.T." opposite Colin Farrell and Samuel L. Jackson, and starred as Jeffrey Dahmer in the indie hit "Dahmer." In addition to acting, Renner writes, records, and performs contemporary rock music.

ABOUT LEE DANIELS
Lee Daniels most recently directed the feature film "Precious," a drama starring Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Mariah Carey, and Lenny Kravitz. "Precious" is based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire and will be released in November by Lionsgate. The film is the story of an overweight, illiterate girl raised in Harlem, sexually abused by her father and about to give birth to her second child, who salvages her future at an alternative school.

Lee Daniels' career in the film industry has progressed from screenwriting and managing actors to producing and then to directing. "Monster's Ball," starring Halle Berry, who won the Academy Award for her performance, was Lee Daniels' debut as a producer. The film marked Daniels as the first sole African-American producer of an Oscar(r)-winning and Oscar(r)-nominated film. In 2004, Daniels produced "The Woodsman," in 2006 he made his directorial debut with "Shadowboxer," and recently he produced the film "Tennessee." Daniels is also teaming with Chilean filmmaker Sebastian Silva to produce Silva's next film "Second Child."

ABOUT GABOUREY 'GABBY' SIDIBE
Gabourey 'Gabby' Sidibe stars as Clareece 'Precious' Jones in Lionsgate's "Precious," directed by Lee Daniels and based on the novel "Push" by Sapphire. Sidibe was a student pursuing a degree in psychology when she was cast in "Precious." She was born in Brooklyn, New York, raised in Harlem and is the daughter of R&B/Gospel singer Alice Tan Ridley. Although Sidibe never studied theater, she spent time on stage, participating in plays put on by the theater department at Lehman College in the Bronx, including "Peter Pan," "The Wiz," and "The Vagina Monologues." She also appeared in the musical revue "Uptown Serenade," in which she sang two Ella Fitzgerald songs.

ABOUT SCOTT NEUSTADTER & MICHAEL H. WEBER
Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber wrote the screenplay for Marc Webb's "500 Days of Summer," from Fox Searchlight. An offbeat romantic comedy, the film stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. Neustadter and Weber met in 1999 when Weber applied for an internship and Neustadter hired him for the job. Since selling their first pitch in 2005, they have written projects for Sony, Universal, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and Fox Searchlight.

The festival and awards presenter is Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz® and Encore® brands with approximately 17.5 million and 31.5 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, Encore HD, Starz On Demand, Encore On Demand, MoviePlex On Demand, Starz HD On Demand, Encore HD On Demand, MoviePlex HD On Demand, and Starz Play. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, which is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, and is attributed to Liberty Entertainment Group, a tracking stock group of Liberty Media Corporation. 

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