Fox Searchlight Pictures Acquires Deepa Mehta's ``WATER''; Film Will Open the 2005 Toronto International Film Festival.

LOS ANGELES -- Fox Searchlight Pictures President Peter Rice announced today that it has acquired U.S. distribution rights to Writer/Director Deepa Mehta's WATER. The film, which will open the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, marks Mehta's third feature in her elemental trilogy following the acclaimed FIRE and EARTH. Every bit as controversial as Mehta's previous projects, production on WATER was shut down in India in 2000 following violent protests and riots by Fundamentalist Hindus and death threats to Mehta. It took nearly five years to revamp the production in Sri Lanka under an assumed name and strict secrecy.

WATER was produced by David Hamilton who previously collaborated with Mehta on FIRE and EARTH as well as her BOLLYWOOD/HOLLYWOOD. The film was executive produced by Doug Mankoff of Echo Lake Productions and Mark Burton of Accomplice Films and was financed by David Hamilton Productions, Echo Lake Productions and Telefilm Canada.

Said Fox Searchlight Pictures President of Marketing Nancy Utley and Executive Vice President of Production Claudia Lewis: "We are humbled that Deepa has entrusted us with this deeply personal and profoundly significant film. It will be a labor of love for everyone at Fox Searchlight."

Said Writer/Director Deepa Mehta: "To make WATER was akin to climbing Everest; a hard journey. But where to go from there? Having Fox Searchlight distribute the film in the U.S. is like finding a stairway to Heaven. I couldn't be more pleased."

Set in 1938 Colonial India, against Mahatma Gandhi's rise to power, WATER begins when 8-year-old Chuyia is widowed and sent to a home where Hindu widows must live in penitence. Chuyia's feisty presence deeply affects the lives of the other residents, including a young widow, who falls for a Gandhian idealist.

WATER stars Lisa Ray (BOLLYWOOD/HOLLYWOOD), Seema Biswas (BANDIT QUEEN) and Bollywood idol John Abraham. The role of eight-year old Chuyia is played by Sarala, a young Sri Lankan who had no prior experience in front of the camera. Additionally, Sarala spoke neither Hindi nor English and thus learned her lines phonetically. She was directed by Mehta through an interpreter and hand gestures.

Deepa Mehta's first feature film SAM & ME, which she produced and directed, won the very first Honorable Mention by the Critics in the prestigious Camera D'Or category in the 1991 Cannes Film Festival. FIRE, Mehta's third feature film, which she wrote, directed and produced, won numerous awards including the Toronto International Film Festival's People's Choice Award (for which it tied with another film), Vancouver International Film Festival Federal Express Award for Best Canadian Film as chosen by the audience, and two Silver Hugo Awards for Best Direction and Best Actress at the Chicago International Film Festival. EARTH, the second film in Mehta's trilogy of the elements, world premiered as a Special Presentation at the 1998 Toronto Film Festival, won the Prix Premiere du Public at the Festival du film Asiatique de Deauville in 1999 and the Critics' Award at the Schermi d'Amore International Film Festival, Italy, the same year. Mehta's BOLLYWOOD/HOLLYWOOD, opened the Perspective Canada Program at the 2002 Toronto International Film Festival. Mehta also co-wrote and directed REPUBLIC OF LOVE, based on the novel of the same title by the world-renowned author, Carol Shields, starring Bruce Greenwood and Amelia Fox; and CAMILLA, a Canadian / UK co-production starring (the late) Jessica Tandy and Bridget Fonda. For television, she directed several episodes of "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles," produced by George Lucas for ABC television. In 1995, Mehta, a native of India who resides in Canada, won the prestigious CineAsia "Best Director" Award -- an acclaim awarded to Steven Spielberg in 2002.

The deal was brokered by Fox Searchlight Executive Vice President Joseph De Marco and Senior Vice President of Acquisitions Tony Safford with John Sloss of Cinetic Media and Hengameh Panahi of Celluloid Dreams. WATER will be released in Canada on November 4 by Mongrel Media.

WATER was shot by Director of Photography Giles Nuttgens (BEE SEASON), who also shot the first two in Mehta's elemental series, production designed by Dilip Mehta (FIRE) and edited by Colin Monie (THE MAGDALENE SISTERS).

Fox Searchlight Pictures is a filmmaker-oriented company that focuses on distinctive films helmed by world class auteurs and exciting newcomers. It has its own marketing and distribution operations, and its films are distributed internationally by Twentieth Century Fox. Fox Searchlight Pictures is a unit of Fox Filmed Entertainment, a unit of Fox Entertainment Group.