THINKFilm Lands 4th Oscar Nomination in Four Years

THINKFilm Lands 4th Oscar Nomination in Four Years

NEW YORK, Feb. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- With yesterday's announcement from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, THINKFilm has now garnered an unprecedented four Academy Award nominations in the Best Documentary Feature category in its four years of existence. Coming off last year's win for Best Documentary with BORN INTO BROTHELS, in addition to a 2004 nomination for THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL and a nomination for SPELLBOUND in 2003, the company's first fully-financed documentary feature, MURDERBALL, landed a nod yesterday.

About the nomination, Jeff Sackman, President and CEO of THINKFilm said, "when we conceived of THINKFilm four years ago, we established the following goals; profitability, working with interesting filmmakers, and generating Oscar recognition. It is with great delight that we continue to achieve all of these targets with MURDERBALL, a very deserved selection indeed."

"We're proud to be in the race again," said Mark Urman, Head of US Theatrical, "especially since we have strived to be in the forefront of this current and exciting emergence of non-fiction films. People today see documentaries as movies, and MURDERBALL offers everything that any audience expects from a real movie-movie."

Featuring fierce rivalry, stopwatch suspense, and larger-than-life personalities, MURDERBALL is a film about tough, highly competitive rugby players. Quadriplegic rugby players. Whether by car wreck, fist fight, gun shot, or rogue bacteria, these men were forced to live life sitting down. In their own version of the full-contact sport, they smash the hell out of each other in custom-made gladiator-like wheelchairs. And no, they don't wear helmets. From the gyms of middle America to the Olympic arena in Athens, Greece, MURDERBALL tells the story of a group of world-class athletes unlike any ever shown on screen. In addition to smashing chairs, it will smash every stereotype ever had about "gimps" and "cripples." It is a film about family, revenge, honor, sex (yes, they can) and the triumph of love over loss. But most of all, it is a film about standing up, even after your spirit -- and your spine -- have been crushed.

MURDERBALL, which was one of the most critically acclaimed films of any sort to be released theatrically in 2005, was directed by Henry-Alex Rubin and Dana Adam Shapiro, produced by Jeffrey Mandel and Dana Adam Shapiro, executive produced by Jeff Sackman, Mark Urman, Randy Manis and Micah Green. It was financed, co-produced and distributed by THINKFilm and was presented in association with MTV Films, A&E IndieFilms and Participant Productions.

THINKFilm

A privately held film distributor with offices in New York and Toronto, THINKFilm represents specialized cinema at its best -- bold, business-oriented, yet fiercely and financially independent. THINKFilm was founded by President/CEO Jeff Sackman in September of 2001. Robert Lantos is the Chairman and Mark Urman is the Head of the U.S. Theatrical Division. THINKFilm's most recent release, the highly acclaimed FATELESS, is currently playing in New York and Los Angeles. Their next release, the Beastie Boys musical spectacular AWESOME; I F*#&%N' SHOT THAT!, recently had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival and opens commercially on March 31. THINKFilm is a privately held company with offices in New York and Toronto. For information, please go to www.thinkfilmcompany.com.

Contact:
Alex Klenert, THINKFilm, (212) 444-7900, aklenert@thinkfilmcompany.com
Tom Piechura, The Dart Group, (212) 277-7555, tompiechura@thedartgroup.net

Source: THINKFilm

CONTACT: Alex Klenert of THINKFilm, +1-212-444-7900,
aklenert@thinkfilmcompany.com; or Tom Piechura of The Dart Group,
+1-212)-277-7555, tompiechura@thedartgroup.net, for THINKFilm

Web site: http://www.thinkfilmcompany.com/

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