Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival Finalists Arrive in Los Angeles for Feature Film Competition.

Entertainment Editors & Motion Pictures Writers

LOS ANGELES--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--July 31, 2002

Filmmakers Move into Chrysler House, Meet with Mentors and Host

Industry Events and Musical Performances

The Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival enters its next phase, the Feature Film Competition, this summer in Los Angeles as five finalists continue their year-long quest for a $1,000,000 feature film production deal courtesy of the Chrysler brand, Hypnotic and Universal Pictures.

While living at the Chrysler House in Beverly Hills, CA, each finalist will develop a million dollar feature film production package in collaboration with an industry mentor. The mentors include some of Hollywood's top creative executives from Beacon Communications, Brett Ratner's Rat Entertainment, Ben Stiller's Red Hour Productions, Strike Entertainment and Working Title Pictures.

"The Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival is an amazing opportunity for emerging directors. I am proud to participate in a program that provides young directors with an opportunity to break into Hollywood, letting me contribute what I have learned from my experience in the business," says Brett Ratner, director of "Rush Hour," "Rush Hour 2" and the forthcoming Universal Pictures' release "Red Dragon."

Working from offices on the Universal Studios lot, the competing filmmakers will have access to props, property, sets, costumes, soundstages, and other production resources needed to develop their feature film production packages. The production packages will include a scene that best represents their project as well as a working script, storyboards, budget, proposed casting, shooting schedule, and poster art.

"Unlike TV's staged reality shows or `enter to win' contests, the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival was established to create an empowering environment for emerging filmmakers to have access to resources not typically available to first-timers," stated Doug Liman, Hypnotic Co-Founder and director of "The Bourne Identity." "In the end, there can be only one winner, but, we intend to create a career-making opportunity for all five Chrysler Million Dollar filmmakers."

"The passion for creating film is similar to the passion we have for creating Chrysler vehicles," said Jay Kuhnie, Chrysler Communications Director, DaimlerChrysler. "Both endeavors require imagination, creativity, hard work and partnerships. We're excited that we're able to align the art of filmmaking with the contemporary sophistication of the Chrysler brand through the unique platform of the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival."

With an interior in excess of 6,500 square feet and a sprawling outside patio and yard, the Chrysler House will play host to private gatherings and exclusive musical performances by some of the most popular acts in the industry. The five finalist filmmakers reside in the house and participate in weekly events that serve to introduce them to industry professionals, celebrities and tastemakers. The Chrysler House opened its doors on July 25th with a private event hosted by Blender Magazine, featuring an acoustic performance by singer/songwriter Jewel. Guests to the invite-only party consisted of Universal VIPs, local area Chrysler representatives and dozens of celebrities, including Carmen Electra, Ashton Kutcher, Topher Grace and Danny Masterson from "That 70s Show," as well as Joey McInytre, Andrew Keegan and Bai Ling.

The Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival Director Series, presented by Chrysler, Hypnotic and Universal Pictures, provides the five finalist filmmakers the opportunity to meet with successful filmmakers in Los Angeles in the intimate setting of the Chrysler House. Influential directors will select one of their projects and participate in a Q&A session, sharing their personal experiences of making their films and their professional perspective of Hollywood.

The Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival began in January 2002 with the submission of short films for competition consideration. Twenty-five (25) filmmakers were then selected to participate in an online competition during which consumers had an opportunity to view and rate the films. From this round, ten (10) filmmakers were chosen to travel to Cannes, France where they developed and produced an Extreme Film, a five (5) minute short film that the filmmakers cast, shot, edited and premiered in 10 days, featuring either a Chrysler PT Cruiser or Chrysler Crossfire. Upon completion, these films were exhibited at a red carpet premiere in Cannes and five (5) finalists are residing in Los Angeles for the final round. The final phase of the competition -- "The Pitch" -- occurs during the Toronto Film Festival in September. There, the five finalists will present their pitch to a blue ribbon panel of judges who will select the $1,000,000 winner.

The five finalist filmmakers selected to compete in the Feature Film Competition in Los Angeles and their Extreme Films that were produced in Cannes, which can be viewed at chrysler.com, are:

-- Patrick Daughters, New York, NY - "The Young American"

-- Matthew Ehlers, Rochester, NY - "Cannes Man"

-- Geoffrey Haley, North Hollywood, CA - "Fracture"

-- Jeff Wadlow, Los Angeles, CA - "Manual Labor"

-- Seth Wiley, Los Angeles, CA - "Blue"

About Hypnotic

Hypnotic is an entertainment production company that leverages its relationships with emerging filmmakers and leading brands to acquire, develop, produce, market and distribute independent film and television properties. The company has developed relationships with thousands of emerging filmmakers and manages one of the world's largest libraries of short films and animations, which it distributes to domestic and international television, movie theaters, airlines, pay-per-view, video-on-demand and broadband channels. The company's major investors include Vivendi Universal, Knowledge Universe, Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Windsor Media and Entertainment Media Ventures. Hypnotic maintains offices in New York and Los Angeles and is a division of Enigma Media, Inc. Hypnotic's website is www.hypnotic.com.

On the Internet

Visit DaimlerChrysler's Media Services web site at www.media.daimlerchrysler.com for additional DaimerChrysler news.

Visit the Chrysler Million Dollar Film Festival's website at www.chrysler.com.