Sundance Festival Swept by ``THE STREETSWEEPER''; Inde Film to Premiere At National Sweeper Convention; 76 Year Old Former Broadway Star Makes Screen Debut.

Entertainment Editors

PARK CITY, UTAH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 23, 2003

The streets of the Sundance Film Festival have been swept daily by a giant streetsweeper which has become the most talked about film promotion in the history of Sundance.

Tight controls on the promotion of films at the annual event did not affect this film since the vehicle itself was a literal moving poster for the film which will make its world premiere in February to open a national convention of streetsweepers.

In an unprecedented marketing boost for an unknown independent feature, writer-producer director James Hill's, THE STREETSWEEPER, will enjoy a unique premiere setting under the auspices of the NAPSA convention, (North American Power Sweeping Association). This annual gathering of the sweeper industry is the largest such convention of the year. The film will open the convention on Thursday night, February 13th in Charlotte, N.C., at the Monroe Theater in downtown Charlotte.

The invitation to open the February convention came as a result of an impromptu screening of THE STREETSWEEPER last November in Las Vegas for a small year-end gathering of streetsweeper contractors. The film was screened for a combined group of sweepers and members of The Augustus Society, a Las Vegas Italian-American organization.

Audience response was overwhelming and word spread throughout the national organization of streetsweepers generating the film's first real buzz and demand to see the film. One sweeper company owner who saw the film, Debbie Jacketta of Jacketta Sweeping Service in Salt Lake City, volunteered the giant sweeper to promote the film at Sundance. The Italian attraction to the film is the story line of an Italian-American, former opera singer, who drives a San Diego streetsweeper and lives in the slum area where he sweeps in order to devote most of his income to paying for his son's tuition at Harvard. He thus honors a promise made to his late wife. The son returns from Harvard with an attitude over "his" accomplishment, unaware that it was his father's sacrifice that made it all happen. Conflicts arise.

San Diego based Hillcrest Entertainment will platform the film under a strategy similar to the effective grass roots campaign used so successfully by "My Big Fat Greek Wedding." However, the company is excited to have not only the same strong ethnic community support which boosted Greek Wedding, (in this case the Italians), but also the extensive support of the nationwide (and worldwide) streetsweeper industry. Additional curiosity is coming from performing opera companies in all major cities who are seeking ways to expose the majesty of opera to a wider audience. In September the film was first seen by Italians in Milan, at the invitation of the Italian Film Commission, after the commission's Lombardia Region director learned of the film's opera connection. The San Diego Opera then hosted a private screening of the film for its top patrons upon the film's triumphant return. Audiences were unanimous in their enthusiasm over the unique use of both classic opera arias and streetsweepers.

James Hill stresses the major factor allowing him to make the film with mainline production values for under a million dollars was the commitment of the San Diego Film Commission and the City of San Diego's Streetsweeper Division, which provided him complete access to its entire operations facility, sweeper drivers and, most importantly, its fleet of powerful sweeping vehicles, never before seen on film in this manner.

He also credits the loyalties of an artistic production team who stuck with him even when their careers soared in the film industry. Among those are Cinematographer Denis Maloney, who made his break-out film, Dreamworks', "The Contender," in the middle of filming THE STREETSWEEPER, but returned to complete the inde film, and Composer Brahm Wenger, who is now credited with more than a dozen films for Warner Brothers and Disney.

"The giant sweeping machines create a stunning visual experience against a soundtrack of familiar operatic arias and Wenger's emotional score," Hill stressed.

Hill's six year odyssey to make THE STREETSWEEPER, which he financed through individual investors, began when his arrangement to produce a re-make of the Ayn Rand classic, "The Fountainhead," was shelved after the Warner Bros.-Turner merger. Hill then decided to devote his time to THE STREETSWEEPER and to direct it himself due to his intimate knowledge of the project. He hopes to one day return to Warner.

Although several "name actors" became interested in the title role, Hill was sold on Paul Michael, whom he says "epitomizes the character of Enzo, the streetsweeper." Although a veteran Broadway performer with 14 classic musicals to his credit, like "Bells Are Ringing" with Judy Holiday, and "Tovarich" with Vivienne Leigh, as well as 1,000 performances as Tevye in "Fiddler On the Roof," Paul Michael virtually makes his motion picture debut at the age of 76. Hill equates it to the appearance of Richard Farnsworth, who won an Academy Award nomination at the age of 80 for "The Straight Story," but notes that Paul Michael's performance involves a wider variety of emotional highs and lows. Also featured in break-out performances in the film are Michael Cavalieri and Kehli O'Byrne, as well as veteran actors, John Capodice and Joe Ruskin who head a list of talented character actors. A major supporting role by Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, of "Welcome Back Kotter" fame is also being singled out in audience exit interviews.

Photos are available upon request.