Newsgroup: it.arti.cinema
Titolo: Independent Spirit Awards

Came aross this somewhere or another and thought some of you (film geeks,
web geeks, et al) might be interested...
________________________________________________________________
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE         	Contacts: Sal Cataldi/Martin Kleinman
March 5, 1998                   
212-244-9797
 & 
scat...@earthlink.net
         INDEPENDENT SPIRIT AWARDS GO INTERACTIVE WITH IFC 
 
Indie's Hip, "Anti-Oscar" Event Is Subject of Month-Long Web Preshow, 
Live Cybercast & Broadband Presentation by First Network Dedicated To The
Genre
 
A-List of Indie Legends Including Robert Duvall, Kevin Smith, Atom Egoyan
& Peter Fonda To Be Featured In IFC's Exclusive Coverage 
 
It's the one awards event where tuxes, gowns and prepared speeches are
abandoned for casual clothes and off-the-cuff rowdiness.  It doesn't take
place in a giant Hollywood theater, but a comfy tent right on the beach in
Santa Monica. The media has called it the "Anti-Oscars " because it
rewards the efforts of visionary filmmakers working outside the big
budget/big studio system a mere 48 hours before the Academy's super
puffed-up, poofed-out affair.
It's the Independent Spirit Awards,  the annual fete of the indie film
community set to unfold Saturday, March 21.  Since 1994, The Independent
Film Channel, the first cable network dedicated to independent filmmaking,
has presented exclusive, live coverage of the event in its entirety.  For
the second year, IFC will extend its coverage with a month-long
celebration in cyberspace, capped by a live cybercast at its website
http://www.ifctv.com
.   The network will also redefine awards' show
coverage itself with enhanced broadband delivery of the event to
65,000-plus homes via Comcast Online, Cablevision's Optimum Online and
selected Time Warner Roadrunner systems.  In addition, @Home Network
customers will see editorial highlights in this networks' "Pop Arts"
section.
Exclusive Web Site Content Unfolds Weekly
Activities at the IFC website will unfold in three distinct phases
beginning this week, culminating in a live cybercast complementing the
network's broadcast coverage (March 21, 4:30 PM, ET). Visitors to the IFC
site will enter an environment rich in streaming video, audio and graphics
and spirited commentary about all of the nominated films, actors,
directors, the awards and the indie film biz.  Prior to the cybercast,
ifctv.com
 will feature interviews with nominees like event host John
Turturro, Robert Duvall, Kevin Smith, Samuel Jackson, Peter Fonda and Atom
Egoyan.  The March 21 cybercast will follow the
action both on the podium and backstage.   
Here's the schedule:
     Phase I - February 28:  
Unfolds at  
www.ifctv.com
 with a focus on actors up for awards categories
such as: Best Debut Performance, Best Female Lead, Best Male Lead as well
as supporting characters. Included are revealing features about Best Actor
nominees John Turturro (Box of Moonlight) and Peter Fonda (Ulee's Gold);
Best Female Leads Stacy Edwards (In the
Company of Men) and Robin Wright Penn (Loved); respective supporting stars
Farrah Fawcett (The Apostle), Debbie Morgan (Eve's Bayou) and Jason Lee
(Chasing Amy) and Best Debut performance nominee Aaron Eckhart (In the
Company of Men).
Phase II - March 6: 
A focus on screenwriters and cinematographers featuring interviews with
Kevin Smith (nominated for screenplay for Chasing Amy), Miguel Arteta
(first screenplay for Star Maps) and Daniel J. Harris (writer of The Bible
& Gun Club)   There's also an opinionated
column profiling the history of the festival (and why it's better than the
Oscars!) by October Films co-founder Jeff Lipsky, and visits with
IFP/West's Dawn Hudson and IFC film acquisition director George Lentz.    
 
Phase III - March 13: 
Chronicles the directors and films up for the big awards, the Best
Feature, Best First Feature, Best Foreign Film and Best Director
categories.  Includes interviews with Larry
Fessenden (Habit), Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter) and Robert Duvall
(star and director of The Apostle). 
"Live" Webcast - March 21:  
http://www.ifctv.com
 is the site to surf to literally crash the Spirit
Awards when they unfold Saturday, March 21 beginning at 4:30 PM, ET.
IFC's Cybercast will feature video,
audio and graphics uploaded live from the ceremony.  Coverage from last
year's event,
which can be accessed at 
ifctv.com
, features candid shots and comments
from the winners and losers.  The site will let viewers share their
opinions via a Bulletin Board.
Enhanced Broadband Coverage via Comcast, Cablevision's Optimum Online and
Select Time Warner Roadrunner Markets:
Homes with high-speed cable modems will be enjoying a richer experience,
with rapid access to an even greater array of live and on-demand streaming
video, audio, graphics and copy.  For the second year, homes in 20 cities
on Comcast Online will begin enjoying coverage beginning March 16, as will
homes on Cablevision Systems' Optimum Online service and select Time
Warner Roadrunner systems.  The 50,000 subscriber to @ Home Networks will
view coverage as a part of their "Pop Arts" news service on the day of the
event. @ Home Network is available throughout North America with a high
concentration of subs in New York and Los Angeles.
"IFC pioneered delivery of original content for high-speed online users
with our 1997 coverage of the Spirit Awards through analog and digital TV,
the web and broadband," adds Joe Cantwell, Executive Vice President of
Media Distribution and Development of Bravo Networks.  "We really plan to
push the technical boundaries this year to make the Spirit Awards an even
more satisfying experience for the audience, no matter where they catch
it."
The Independent Film Channel is the most widely distributed channel
dedicated to independent film on television, and is considered the pioneer
of this broadcasting concept.  Managed and operated by Bravo Networks, IFC
presents independent films uncut and commercial-free, 24 hours per day.
IFC advisory board is comprised of Martin Scorsese, Jodie Foster, Tim
Robbins, Robert Altman, Joel and Ethan Coen, Martha Coolidge, Jim
Jarmusch, Spike Lee, Steven Soderbergh and Ed Saxon.  IFC reaches more
than 13 million homes nationally. 
-- 

Came aross this somewhere or another and thought some of you (film geeks,
web geeks, et al) might be interested...
__________________________________________________________________


 Exclusive Web Site Content Unfolds Weekly
***Snipped for length
Checked out the site. Interesting to find both Coens listed as "The Coen
Brothers" on the Board of Advisors for the IFC. Along with Tom "Hollywood"
Robbins. Got to get a subscription.
.______.
Tweek on