'Guantanamero' World Premiere Screening and After Party to Benefit Human Rights Watch

'Guantanamero' World Premiere Screening and After Party to Benefit Human Rights Watch

A Controversial Film Deals With Human Rights of an Escaped Guantanamo Bay Detainee Who Finds Love in Havana

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- NDF International, a London-based production company, has announced today that they will hold a Gala Premiere Screening of their new UK-Spanish film, "Guantanamero," on November 2, 2006 during the American Film Market at The Highlands in Los Angeles.

"Guantanamero," directed by Vicente Penarrocha and starring Rupert Evans ("Hellboy"), Natalia Verbeke ("Son of the Bride") and Derek Jacobi ("Gladiator"), gives the audience a chilling look into the tortured psyche of a detainee at Guantanamo Bay (Evans), haunted by his experiences in the camp, and, in a strange twist of fate, thrown into the sensual world of Havana where he is forced to come to terms with his freedom and his emerging love for Manuela (Verbeke), a beautiful Cuban dancer, while he wrestles with finding his way between fantasy and reality.

Produced by NDF International, a company behind such notable films as "Howards End," "The Crying Game" and "Basquait" the film tackles the thorniest questions of abuse in US detention facilities and its legacy for tortured and torturer alike. This hot-button political issue has been the subject of an ongoing, front and center debate amongst the International community and the worldwide media since 2001. The producers have teamed up with Human Rights Watch to make sure that the message, "Torture is Never Acceptable," is sent around the world.

The screening will be followed by an after party hosted by Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas and will feature a Live performance by Wu-Tang Clan's Ghostface Killah, Cypress Hill's DJ Muggs, DJ Eric Cubeechee and DJ Poet Name Life, among other leading entertainers. Above all, three of the Revolution Players, featured on the original soundtrack to Guantanamero, are being flown in specifically from Cuba for the event. Profits from the event will go to Human Rights Watch.

"We are very proud of this film," said Michiyo Yoshizaki, the film's producer. "Aside from being a stunning piece of cinema, the film carries a vital message to the US and the international community. We are thrilled to be involved with an institution as influential and important as Human Rights Watch to ensure that the film's central message of rejecting torture is heard loud and clear."

The film's soundtrack was specially recorded in Havana and London in 2005 by six of the world's most respected contemporary producers including Norman Cook (a.k.a. Fat Boy Slim), Guy Sigsworth (Britney Spears, Bjork), Stan Kybert (Oasis), Cameron McVey (Massive Attack), Poet Name Life (Black Eyed Peas), Rich File (UNKLE) and Marius DeVries (Moulin Rouge). The producers recorded all the tracks with some of the hottest new generation of Cuban music stars who came together for the first time especially for this project.

"Guantanamero" is represented by Peace Arch Films for sales and distribution.

Source: NDF International

CONTACT: Phil Viardo of The VBX Group/The Viardo Agency,
+1-310-499-4848, phil@theviardoagency.com, for NDF International

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