West Hollywood Film Festival Premieres Super-Resolution Technology

West Hollywood Film Festival Premieres Super-Resolution Technology

Historic debut of 'Sounds' utilizes new technology for independent movie producers

WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif., July 24 /PRNewswire/ -- The first-ever West Hollywood International Film Festival announces that it will screen a very unique independent film featuring a new digitally enhanced movie with Blu-ray quality that was not shot in HD.

In its inaugural year, the 2008 West Hollywood International Film Festival (WHIFF) was founded by Martin De Luca, and is bringing in a diversified lineup of full-length international features and short films. The sci-fi comedy Sounds was selected as one of the U.S. movies to screen at the Regency Theaters on Beverly Blvd.

Sounds, a full-length feature film that was written, produced and directed by first time film maker Ryan Humphries was shot in Northern California and Washington, D.C. Sounds will make its West Coast premiere at WHIFF at 5:30 p.m. on July 29 at the Regency Theaters as the first feature-length film to utilize revolutionary Super-Resolution Technology (SRT).

"Showing Sounds at WHIFF is so cool because it brings me back to Hollywood where I first learned the professional side of film making," said Ryan Humphries. "The Super-Resolution Technology was such a great help because it allowed me to drastically improve the resolution quality of the finished movie."

Until now, SRT has primarily been used in spy satellites, the military, the CIA, a few high-tech forensic labs and U.S. law enforcement agencies. Texas-based Topaz Labs (http://www.topazlabs.com/) is the first to develop and introduce Super-Resolution Technology (SRT) to the independent film industry.

"The discovery of true SRT from Topaz is exactly what I and other filmmakers need," Humphries said. "The term Super-Resolution Technology has been used before to describe the process of interpolating and smoothing pixels during image enlargement, which isn't super-resolution at all to me. The Topaz technology uses a whole new approach to achieve super-resolution enhancement."

The Sounds storyline portrays a group of vacationers who are mysteriously attacked after a UFO crashes in the nearby woods. To their rescue arrive a couple of goofy federal agents who tend to do more harm than good as they fight to save not only the four friends, but ultimately, all of humanity.

The SRT software empowers producers to bump-up their standard definition shot film to hi-def, or even hi-def to digital film of 4,000 pixels. SRT similarly parallels the difference in quality Blu-ray has achieved over standard DVD and compliments Blu-ray in a number of ways, providing greater marketing and revenue possibilities for film producers worldwide.

The inaugural West Hollywood International Film Festival has lined up numerous films from nearly 20 countries for festival screening at several venues, including the Regency Theaters, House of Blues, and the Writer's Guild of America.

"We are very excited to be able to screen this new, ground-breaking technology at the West Hollywood International Film Festival," said WHIFF founder and producer Martin De Luca. "The purpose of this festival is to bring high-quality films from all over the world to Hollywood so we can help introduce them to everyone."

Herb A. Lightman, a past professor who taught graduate film courses at both USC and UCLA, screened Humphries' film and likens the effort to that of two of his former students, George Lucas and Stephen Spielberg.

"I saw something in these guys 30 years ago that wasn't common in filmmaking at the time, and I see the same spark in Ryan Humphries," said Lightman, who was also Editor in Chief of American Cinematographer Magazine for 16 years, and a past juror at WorldFest. "This event is a showcase opportunity for distributors to see fresh ideas, remarkable talent, and the passion that new filmmakers bring to the industry."

Sounds was also featured at the recent National Association of Broadcasters conference where Topaz Labs promoted the technology by showing "Before" and "After" clips from the movie.

Ticket prices start at $8 for students and seniors, $8 for West Hollywood residents and $10 for individual general admission. For tickets and complete schedule of all films, visit http://www.whiff2008.com/ or call (424) 288-4536.

For more information about Sounds and to see the innovative flash SRT demo, visit: http://www.soundsthemovie.com/.

About Sounds

Sounds is a fictional sci-fi thriller-comedy that pokes fun at cinematic drama. Writer/Director Ryan Humphries combines two entertaining elements: Sci- Fi eeriness and comedic timing in this spoof about FBI agents on their biggest case ever. Executive Producer Robert Lenney is currently seeking distribution for Sounds. Website: http://www.soundsthemovie.com/.

MEDIA CONTACTS:
Keith Turner
530-368-0909
Keith@soundsthemovie.com

Martin De Luca
424-288-4536
Martin@delucaentertainment.com

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: Sounds, The Movie

CONTACT: Keith Turner of Sounds, The Movie, +1-530-368-0909,
Keith@soundsthemovie.com; or Martin De Luca, +1-424-288-4536,
Martin@delucaentertainment.com, for Sounds, The Movie

Web site: http://www.soundsthemovie.com/
http://www.topazlabs.com/
http://www.whiff2008.com/

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