The New York Times and Emerging PicturesiIn Association With the California Film Institute announce:

“FOUR-EYED MONSTERS” Wins The 2006 Sundance Channel Audience Award for The IndieWire “Undiscovered Gems” Film Series

Prize Winner Earns Opportunity for a Theatrical Release and Sundance Channel Television Broadcast

New York, New York, December 14, 2006–

The New York Times and Emerging Pictures, the New York-based digital cinema network, announced Susan Buice and Arin Crumley’s “Four Eyed Monsters” as the winner of the 2006 Sundance Channel Audience Award for the eight-month-long “indieWIRE: Undiscovered Gems” Film Series. 

“Four Eyed Monsters”—directed by Susan Buice and Arin Crumley—took home the coveted prize that earns its filmmakers the opportunity for a theatrical release through Emerging Pictures and a television premiere on Sundance Channel.  The value of the award is $100,000.

Recently nominated for two Independent Spirit Awards (Best Cinematography, the John Cassavetes Award for Best Feature under 500K), “Four Eyed Monsters” is the darkly sweet, humorous and innovative tale of the online courtship between Arin, a shy videographer, and Susan, an art school graduate working as a waitress.   As their romance develops, they make a pact to not speak to one another.  So they only write, draw, e-mail, text, instant message, have sex, and make videos for each other—no talking. While no verbal conflict arises, a new world of more complicated problems is discovered, forcing them to deal with intimacy as they meld together and create a monster.

The “Undiscovered Gems Series” is based on indieWIRE’s annual list of the top 15 films from major festivals around the world that have yet to find a theatrical distributor; the series is co-presented by The New York Times and Emerging Pictures, in association with the California Film Institute and The Sundance Channel.

The film series kicked off in April 2006 with Jem Cohen’s “Chain,” followed by the Duplass Brothers’ “Puffy Chair” in May, Georgia Lee’s “Red Doors” in June, Andrew Bujalskl’s “Mutual Appreciation in August, Kyle Henry’s “Room” in September, Paul Cox’s “Human Touch” in October, and “Massaker,” a film by Monika Berggman, Nina Menkes, Lokman Slim and Hermann Theissen, in November 2006.

With support from Sundance Channel, an audience award competition was launched this year to help provide the winning filmmaker with an opportunity of a theatrical release in New York, Los Angeles and a minimum of five other U.S. cities during 2007, as well as an exclusive television broadcast on Sundance Channel.

Using Emerging’s digital network, the “Undiscovered Gems” collaboration this year brought one film per month from indieWIRE’s annual list to 20 screens across the US in cities including New York City, Tucson, AZ; San Rafael, CA; Wilmington, DE; Ft. Lauderdale and Lake Worth, FL; Martha’s Vineyard, MA; Lincoln NE; Buffalo, NY; Tulsa, OK; and Scranton, PA.   The one-film-a-month series began in late April, 2006 and continued through November, 2006, with individual screening dates varying by venue.  The winner was determined by audience balloting at each venue.

Now in its ninth year in 2006 and put together by indieWIRE’s editors and contributing writers, the annual list of “Undiscovered Gems” is a roster of extraordinary films which despite their quality have not received U.S. distribution.  In 2004, the California Film Institute presented the first theatrical exhibition of indieWIRE’s “Top Undistributed Films,” providing audiences the opportunity to experience the films beyond the festival circuit.

“With so many hurdles facing quality independent, foreign language and documentary filmmakers in securing theatrical distribution, we are thrilled to continue working with The New York Times, Emerging Pictures and Sundance Channel on this growing showcase of new films.  We hope this collaboration and the series gives these new films the support they deserve,” says Eugene Hernandez, Editor-in-Chief of indieWIRE. 

"The New York Times congratulates this year's winner and is delighted to offer its continuing support of this important and worthy series on emerging filmmakers," said Alyse Myers, senior vice president, chief marketing officer for The New York Times Media Group. 

Ira Deutchman, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Emerging Pictures with Barry Rebo and Giovanni Cozzi, says, “We are proud to always join with indieWIRE and The New York Times to bring high caliber cinema to audiences across the country.  And, we’re especially excited that this year, we expanded on our successful 2005 syndication of the Undiscovered Gems as a festival by transforming it into an eight-month screening competition, with Emerging Pictures offering the prize winner the opportunity of a theatrical distribution deal.” 

Sundance Channel Executive Vice President, Programming and Marketing, Laura Michalchyshyn said “The Undiscovered Gems program dovetails very neatly with one of Sundance Channel key goals and that is to provide alternative distribution platforms for films that would not otherwise be seen, we are therefore very pleased to be a part of this series."

“As the owner of a nonprofit cinema, we are fortunate that we can often provide a venue for undistributed films at the Smith Rafael Film Center,” notes Mark Fiskin, Founder-Executive Director of the California Film Institute. “The evolution of indieWIRE’s Undiscovered Gems beyond the Bay Area (including a theatrical and broadcast distribution prize) represents an exciting opportunity for filmmakers to find and nurture a nationwide audience for their work. Our ongoing commitment to Undiscovered Gems reinforces our mission to support filmmakers by helping those unique voices find an outlet and an audience.”

* Participating theaters are:  Cinema Village (New York City), The Loft (Tucson), Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center (San Rafael), Theatre N at Nemours (Wilmington), Cinema Paradiso (Ft. Lauderdale), The Lake Worth Playhouse (Lake Worth), Island Theatre (Martha’s Vineyard), Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center (Lincoln), Market Arcade Film and Arts Center (Buffalo), Circle Cinema (Tulsa), Scranton Cultural Center (Scranton), Tropic Cinema (Key West), Memphis Brooks Museum (Memphis), Imperial Theatre (Augusta), Endless Mountains (Scranton), Avalon (Washington DC), Galaxy Cinema (Cary).  All theaters are either fulltime or affiliate venues in the Emerging Cinemas consortium of digital projection theaters.

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About indieWIRE

Now in its eleventh year, indieWIRE is the leading source of news and information for the independent film community, offering comprehensive coverage of independent, documentary and foreign language films, including industry news, film festival reports, filmmaker interviews, and movie reviews. Its website (http://www.indiewire.com) includes special reports from high-profile film festivals, filmmaker and industry blogs, as well as resources and tools for emerging and established filmmakers. Awarded the Webby for best film site, indieWIRE was lauded as a "must read" by Variety, branded the "online heartbeat of the world's independent film community" by Forbes, and dubbed "best indie crossroads" by Roger Ebert.

About The New York Times

The New York Times Company (NYSE: NYT), a leading media company with 2005 revenues of $3.4 billion, includes The New York Times, the International Herald Tribune, The Boston Globe, 15 other daily newspapers, nine network-affiliated television stations, two New York City radio stations and 35 Web sites, including NYTimes.com, Boston.com and About.com.  The Company’s core purpose is to enhance society by creating, collecting and distributing high-quality news, information and entertainment.

About Emerging Pictures

Emerging Pictures was founded in 2002 by Barry Rebo, Giovanni Cozzi and Ira Deutchman to create a new theatrical distribution network for independent, international and documentary films through the use of digital technology. Emerging has grown into a distribution, marketing and exhibition company through its network of theaters, Emerging Cinemas, which bring first-run arthouse cinema to cities and communities that would otherwise not usually have access to such films.  Additionally, Emerging Cinemas continues to build on its programs that syndicate specially curated film festivals around the country. These festivals are curated by some of the most prestigious film organizations in the country including the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, the Latinbeat Film Festival with the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and the indieWIRE Undiscovered Gems festival.

About Sundance Channel

Under the creative direction of Robert Redford, Sundance Channel is he television destination for independent-minded viewers seeking something different.  Bold, uncompromising and irreverent, Sundance Channel offers audiences a diverse and engaging selection of films, documentaries, and original programs, all uncut and commercial free.  Launched in 1996, Sundance Channel is a venture of NBC Universal, Showtime Networks, Inc., and Robert Redford.  Sundance Channel operates independently of the non-profit Sundance Institute and the Sundance Film Festival, but shares the overall Sundance mission of encouraging artistic freedom of expression.  Sundance Channel’s website address is www.sundancechannel.com.

About The California Film Institute

The California Film Institute is a nonprofit organization that celebrates and promotes film by presenting the annual Mill Valley Film Festival, exhibiting film year-round at the Christopher B. Smith Rafael Film Center, and building the next generation of filmmakers and audiences through CFS Outreach.  The California Film Institute is an internationally respected arts organization that brings classic and cutting-edge multi-cultural programming and guest artists to the communities of the greater Bay Area.  Please visit us at:  www.cafilm.org.

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