Last year's Festival was a resounding success with more than 400 film submissions, and in the past two years over 250 industry professionals have participated as panelists in the Hollywood Conference, including executives from BBC, Columbia/TriStar, Paramount, Walt Disney, Miramax, New Line, Fox Searchlight, the Samuel Goldwyn Co., NBC, Overseas FilmGroup, Showtime Networks, Fox 2000 and Buena Vista Home Video and agents from CAA, ICM, Metropolitan, William Morris and Writers & Artists among others. The Festival culminated with the Hollywood Film Awards Gala Ceremony which took place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel and was a powerful and heartfelt event with over 800 guests. The presenters included Peter Berg, John Briley, James Brolin, Ted Kotcheff, Jon Landau, Martin Landau, Mimi Leder, Penelope Ann Miller, Sydney Pollack, Mark Rydell, Rod Steiger, and Lesley Ann Warren, and our honorees were Shelley Winters, Richard D. Zanuck, David Brown, Norman Jewison, Dave Grusin, and Stewart Copeland. The former Governor of California, Pete Wilson, issued proclamations to all of our award recipients. Other celebrities who have participated in our festival include David Carradine, Harry Hamlin, Kirstie Alley, Kirk Douglas, Connie Stevens, Barbra Streisand and James Woods among others.