Volume 17, Number 4 - July / August 2001 *Georgia, You Get the Picture continues to be published as as a bi-monthly publication. Deadline for article submission in the September/October issue is August 10, 2001. Articles can be mailed to the Georgia Film & Videotape Office, Post Office Box 1776, Atlanta, GA 30301, faxed to 404-651-9063 or sent electronically to bbrayton@georgia.org. 25th Atlanta Fest Anniversary Breaks Records Marketing Georgia Spotlight on Senator Connie Stokes Kangaroo Conservation Center Seven Tellys and Counting Whitman Mayo 1930-2001 Actor Carroll O'Connor Dead at 76 Extras Big Mouth Strikes Again (And Again...) Film Office Attends AICP Show in New York Association Announcements Get-A-Grip's Alligator Tales and Car Chases Baby of the Family Films in Macon Kossover Lenses Capital Cities The Big Auto Plant Wins Major Award New Production for CSE Two Atlanta Boys Make Good "Chasing the Devil's Tail" Film Office Awards RFP/Renews Marketing Contract Pandora's Box Wraps MATCH Team Georgia 25th Atlanta Fest Anniversary Breaks Records Photo: (L-R) "The Accountant" (Ray McKinnon) advises Tommy O'Dell (Walton Goggins). Record-breaking crowds turned out for the 25th annual Atlanta Film & Video Festival's nine-day feast of movies, receptions and panel discussions. The festival hosted over 75 filmmakers from around the world, screened over 175 films (39 from Georgia), held nightly receptions and daily filmmakers' panels and workshops. The silver anniversary event drew 13,126 moviegoers, more than double last years' attendance. "Audiences for independent film have been growing for several years, and it's exciting to see such support for the festival," said Brian Newman, executive director of IMAGE Film & Video Center. Sold out screenings were the hallmark of the festival and included the opening night film Hedwig and the Angry Inch, closing night screening of Brother, as well as locally produced Losing Grace and The Journey, several shorts programs and the music documentary, Scratch. Films honored during the festival included: Grand Jury Prize: Hybrid, directed by Monteith McColburn 2001 Southeastern Media Makers Award: The Accountant, directed by Ray McKinnon Narrative Feature: Virgil Bliss, directed by Joe Maggio Documentary Feature: T-Shirt Travels, directed by Shantha Bloeman and Confederacy Theory, directed by Ryan Deussing Audience Award: Scratch, directed by Doug Pray and The Journey, directed by Eric Saperston Narrative Short: The Accountant, directed by Ray McKinnon and Honorable mention: The Man With The Empty Room, directed by Todd Korgan Documentary Short: Wag The Dogma, directed by Emily James and Screw Your Courage, directed by Zsuzsanna Varga Visual design: Pate, directed by Agnieszka Wojtowicz Animated Short: Bike Ride, directed by Tom Schroder and Honorable mention: Sub, directed by Jesse Schmal Student Short: The Confession, directed by Carl Pfirman and Remote Control, directed by Ivan Ziukovic The Atlanta Film & Video Festival is produced by IMAGE, a nonprofit media arts center dedicated to promoting and supporting the independent media arts in Atlanta and the Southeast. Funding for IMAGE is provided by the Fulton County Arts Council and the Georgia Council for the Arts. The Atlanta Film & Video Festival is supported by the City of Atlanta Bureau of Cultural Affairs and by the National Endowment for the Arts. Major funding for IMAGE visual programming is provided by the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. Marketing Georgia Film Office director Greg Torre and locations liaisons Craig Dominey and Lee Thomas represented Georgia at ShowBiz Expo held May 31-June 2, 2001 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. The annual production tradeshow sponsored by Film & Video magazine, provided participants with the opportunity to interact with over 500 equipment vendors and 20,000 production personnel. ShowBiz Expo is billed as the largest and most comprehensive trade show and conference for feature film, broadcast television, cable, commercial, corporate video, theatrical and theme park production professionals. Attendees included producers, directors, production managers, location managers, ad agency producers, creative directors, corporate managers and directors. In addition to exhibitors showcasing everything from computer hardware and software, special effects/digital imaging products, cameras, editing and lighting equipment, the trade show also offered daily panel discussions and seminars. Jack Valenti, president & CEO of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) was the keynote speaker for the panel discussion series. One panel discussion of interest centered on runaway production and the helplessness union reps, independent filmmakers and municipalities such as Los Angeles feel in addressing the situation. Raleigh Enterprises president and CEO Mark Rosenthal moderated the discussion group that included Cody Cluff, president of the Entertainment Industry Development Corp. (EIDC); independent producer Pierre David; Bryan Unger, Western executive director of the Directors Guild of America (DGA); and Bruce Doering, national executive director of the Cinematographers Guild. The central theme of the discussion examined the growth of multinational, vertically integrated media conglomerates, that place a greater emphasis on cost reduction and quicker profits in deference to corporate shareholders. Panelist Doering, speculated that if the current runaway production trend continued unabated, the film and entertainment industry could parallel the now vanished US textile industry. Georgia marketing representative Brad Zutaut, as well as several Georgia production personnel, also attended the show to help promote Georgia. For information on this annual trade show, visit www.ShowBizExpo.com. Spotlight on Senator Connie Stokes Photo: Senator Connie Stokes. Georgia State Senator Connie Stokes serves both as chairwoman of the Business Development committee and as a member of the Executive committee for the Georgia Film & Videotape Advisory Commission. Currently serving her fourth term in the Georgia State Senate, District 43, Senator Stokes is one of the state's most ardent advocates of women, public health and family issues. Stokes serves as assistant floor leader to Governor Barnes. As the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Health and Human Services, she was instrumental in passing legislation that prohibits insurance companies from discriminating against victims of domestic violence. Additionally, Senator Stokes was instrumental in creating the Office of Women's Health in Georgia--one of a few in the country. The senator is the recipient of the Par Excellence Award, the Eagle Award and the Public Health Association's "Legislator of the Year Award". Stokes is a graduate of Leadership DeKalb, Leadership Atlanta, the Regional Leadership Institute and the Leadership College held at the University of North Carolina. Senator Stokes was elected to the Executive committee of NOBEL/Women to serve as secretary and traveled to Japan as part of a study exchange focusing on violence against women and seniors' issues. She has recently been appointed to the Foreign Policy Institute for State Legislators. She is host/producer of the local television program DeKalb Today. Senator Stokes holds an Associate of Arts degree from the Art Institute of Atlanta and a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Marketing from Georgia State University. She and her husband, Dr. James Stokes, are the parents of three adult sons and attend St. Phillip's AME Church in DeKalb County. Kangaroo Conservation Center Photo: Georgia roos! Just an hour drive north of Atlanta in Dawsonville, the Kangaroo Conservation Center has the largest collection of kangaroos outside of Australia. Red Kangaroos, Western and Eastern Grey Kangaroos can be found roaming the hills of this north Georgia wildlife preserve. Other residents include Dama Wallabies and a herd of Guenter dik dik (one of the smallest antelope species). For more information log on to www.kangaroocenter.com. Seven Tellys and Counting Post Modern Editorial, Inc. CEO and Avid editor, Matthew Gore and Post Modern Avid editor, Carlton Eden continued the tradition of creative excellence that the Atlanta post production boutique has established by each taking home two Telly Awards. Post Modern has won seven Telly awards this year. Avid editor Christine Deckel won three Tellys earlier in the year. Gore's cuts of We All Dream of Oz won a Platinum Telly Award and One Love: Bob Marley Behind The Scenes won a Bronze Telly Award. He edited We All Dream of Oz with TNT senior supervising producer David Bryant and TNT producer Pamela Cracuin. Gore and Bryant also collaborated on One Love. The Oz piece was an eight-minute comparison between Ron Howard's adaptation of Dr. Seuss' Holiday Classic How The Grinch Stole Christmas and The Wizard of Oz. One Love was an interstitial promoting the debut of TNT's broadcast of The Bob Marley Tribute Concert from Jamaica. Post Modern Avid editor Carlton Eden received two Telly Awards. His cut of TNT's Saturday Night New Classic: Fargo won a Platinum Telly and Spring Sale 2001, a 30 second commercial for Rich's Department Stores, captured a Bronze Telly. The Saturday Night New Classic: Fargo was a team effort between TNT senior writer producer Pamela Cracuin and Eden. The 90 second open featured film clips and sound bites promoting the network broadcast of Fargo. Rich's senior broadcast art director, Glenn Longmuir and Eden created the Spring Sale spot which featured light, airy and billowing shot content with flowing graphics to complement the theme. Whitman Mayo 1930-2001 Photo: Whitman Mayo. Stage and screen actor and educator, Whitman Mayo, was born November 15, 1930 in New York City and passed away May 22, 2001 in Atlanta, Georgia from complications following a brief illness. After leaving New York, Mayo lived in Los Angeles. He moved to Atlanta, Georgia about a decade ago. Mayo was seen and loved in films such as John Singleton's Boyz In the Hood, Of Mice and Men, and The Main Event with Barbara Streisand. His television appearances included roles in In The Heat of the Night, Daybreak The Montgomery Bus Boycott, The Cape and his most memorable role as "Grady" in the sitcom with Redd Foxx, Sanford and Son. While residing in Atlanta, Mayo served as Adjunct Professor at Clark Atlanta University where he taught film and theater classes. He served as a member of the Georgia Film & Videotape Advisory Commission. Mayo also hosted the program Liars and Legends for Turner South. Mayo leaves a legacy of accomplishment, and will be missed by friends and extended film and television family, his wife of 28 years, Gail Reid Mayo; son Gerard Gibbons and his wife Nikki Gibbons; daughters Tonya Mayo, Suni Simpson and Pangi Raysor; son Rahn Mayo and fiance Cristel Williams; son John Jo Raysor of New York and mother Mary Mayo. Funeral arrangements and memorial services were held in Atlanta. The family request that memorial gifts and donations be made to " The Whitman Mayo Fund," The National Kidney Foundation of Georgia; Attention: Karen Cheatham at 2951 Flowers Road, South; Suite 211; Atlanta, Georgia 30342-4146. The telephone number is 770.452.1539 extension 18. Actor Carroll O'Connor Dead at 76 Photo: Carroll O'Connor as Chief Gillespie. On June 28, 2001 actor Carroll O'Connor died from a heart attack at a hospital in Culver City, California. In a career that spanned five decades, the actor achieved his greatest recognition for his role of Archie Bunker in the 1970's television series All in the Family. O'Connor played the bigoted working-class patriarch from Queens, first in All in the Family and reprised the role in the sequel, Archie Bunker's Place. He won four Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award for his portrayal of Bunker. From 1988 to 1993 O'Connor filmed In the Heat of the Night in the rural Georgia towns of Covington and Conyers. Although he is primarily known for his starring role in the series, O'Connor also served as executive producer and scripted individual episodes under the pen name Matt Harris. O'Connor's portrayal of In the Heat of the Night Police Chief Bill Gillespie won the actor his fifth Emmy Award and the series' two NAACP Image Awards. O'Connor's films included Lonely Are the Brave (1962), Cleopatra (1963), Hawaii (1966) Kelly's Heroes (1970) and Return to Me (2000). In 1990 O'Connor was elected to the Television Hall of Fame. In recent years O'Connor had recurring roles in the series Mad About You and Party of Five. In 1998, Simon & Schuster published his memoir, "I Think I'm Outta Here." Last year O'Connor received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Born in New York in 1924, the son of a lawyer and a schoolteacher, O'Connor served in the Merchant Marines in World War II. He married Nancy Fields in 1951. O'Connor is survived by his wife, Nancy and his grandson, Sean. Extras Crawford Communications has promoted Sonya Dennis to the position of public relations coordinator. Dennis comes to the marketing department from Crawford's Corporate Services. Local Giant Studios has announced the appointment of Chip Mosher as West Coast sales manager for motion capture. Mosher will be responsible for working with current clients and developing new relationships for motion capture services targeting the computer game and visual effects industries. Big Mouth Strikes Again (And Again...) Photo: Cinema la Carte logo. Big Mouth recently designed and created new packaging for TNT Latin America's weekly Cinema la Carte franchise that will air for the next two years. Launched in July, the first 30 second promo takes the viewer through a futuristic 3D city. The cityscape features over a hundred screens that display clips from TNT's current movie collection. Viewers are encouraged to log onto tntla.com to vote on their favorite movie. Animators Stephen Cocks and Chris Adornato designed and modeled the futuristic 3D city including buildings, trains, cars, buses, and motorcycles using Discreet's 3DS. The promo ends with the new Cinema la Carte logo designed by Stephen Cocks. Original music and sound design by John Lambert brought the city to life as cars, trains and buses zoom past the viewer. Southern Company also teamed up with Big Mouth to post a series of tribute videos for retiring CEO, William "Bill" Dahlberg. The videos, unveiled at Dahlberg's retirement party in March, focused on Dahlberg's life, from how he's inspired those around him to his entertaining antics around the office. Composer John Lambert's original music set the tone for each video. The videos were edited in AVID by Jennifer Fineran while Stephen Cocks designed and composited graphic elements using a combination of animation and Discreet's Flint. AVID editor Max Ramming is the latest addition to the Big Mouth team. He joins Big Mouth after three and a half years at CNN Post where he edited promos, feature stories and documentaries. Ramming began his tenure at Big Mouth in April and has been working on projects for Chick-fil-A, Southern Company and CNN. He replaces Jennifer Fineran, who is now a freelance editor. New equipment upgrades made their debut at Big Mouth in June. Discreet's Flint now runs on the Octane 2 platform and handles 1.5 hours of uncompressed D1 storage. "The new configuration is now seven times faster which really cuts down on render time and allows more time for designing," says Big Mouth partner Stephen Cocks. "The upgraded system is also HD ready which is great as we begin to hear that request more." The AVID MediaComposer suite has also been upgraded and features uncompressed input/output capabilities along with the Iced Aftereffects package and Boris Red titling tool. Film Office Attends AICP Show in New York In a marketing trip aimed at attracting commercial companies to Georgia, film office director Greg Torre recently attended the 10th annual Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP) Show in New York City. Held on June 11, 2001, the AICP Show, The Art & Technique of the American Television Commercial, commemorated its tenth year with its first exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Show was a one-hour compendium of outstanding commercials, selected for excellence and achievement in 22 craft categories. In addition to the screening, there was a lecture series featuring leaders who are at the forefront of commercial industry. Also, numerous receptions offered the opportunity to meet and talk with producers and ad agencies of every size. Craig Miller, AICP/Southeast president, national board member, and president of Craig Miller Productions was also on hand at this year's Show to represent Georgia and the region. Following the opening gala, the Show reel is included in the regular film schedule presented at MoMA and becomes part of the museum's permanent film archives, preserved for future generations. Later this year, the Show goes on tour, mounting screenings at distinguished museums and cultural institutions in major cities within the United States and other parts of the world, including Atlanta. In past years, the Show has been held at the High Museum. For more information on the ACIP Show, check their website at acip.com. Association Announcements Imaging Technology & Sound (ITS) is the trade association serving the worldwide professional community of businesses that provides creative and technical services in picture and sound. Local membership includes decision-makers from post-production, duplication and graphics companies, as well as television and cable stations and some broadcast vendors. ITS meets monthly on the third Thursday (except December) from noon to 1:30 p.m. at Cafe Intermezzo on Peachtree Street. Programs consist of 30 minutes for networking and one hour for business and discussions. The national and local membership web site address is www.itsnet.org. For more information please call or email: Kevin Garguilo, 404.213.5253, itsmembership@mindspring.com. New! Quarterly meetings replacing regular monthly luncheon in March, June and September. Call for details. Atlanta ACM SIGGRAPH A meeting schedule of the Atlanta chapter of ACM SIGGRAPH (Association for Computing Machinery's Special Interest Group on Computer Graphics) can be viewed at www.acm.org/chapters/atlanta. Programs deal with aspects of computer graphics as they pertain to the film industry. FAOC Filmmakers and Actors of Color, a non-profit organization founded in 1994 to increase opportunities for minorities in the film industry. Please watch for announcements in this newsletter or call 404.755.2964 for information. GPP The Georgia Production Partnership is a statewide organization of filmmakers and film industry executives committed to keeping Georgia a film-friendly and competitive force in the film and video community. Members include representatives from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG), International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE), Teamster Local 728, ITS, IMAGE Film & Video Center, Association of Independent Commercial Producers (AICP), Women In Film/Atlanta (WIF/A) and executives in the production and post-production community. Meetings are generally held the first Tuesday of each month at noon. For membership information, call Matt Timmons at 404.609.9001 or e-mail mjtimmons@mindspring.com. IICS The Georgia chapter of the International Interactive Communications Society focuses on the interactive multi-media and other emerging interactive technologies. Monthly meetings, held on the last Thursday of each month, include presentations of multi-media applications in areas such as education, training, entertainment, design and marketing. Meetings generally begin at 6:30 p.m. and are held at Mercer University (3001 Mercer University Drive) in the Wooton Auditorium on the ground floor of the Library Building. For more information about IICS, call 770.612.7410 or visit their web-site at www.generationx.com/iics. IMAGE IMAGE Film & Video Center offers filmmaking workshops and screenings. For more information, contact IMAGE at 404.352.4225 or check the web-site at www.imagefv.org. MCAi (formerly ITVA) promotes the growth, quality and success of film, video and multimedia communications primarily in corporate and special interest production. For information, please visit our web site, www.atlantamcai.org. NATAS/Atlanta NATAS/Atlanta, the local chapter of the National Academy Of Television Arts & Sciences. For information please call 770.414.8777. WIF/A Women in Film/Atlanta, a non-profit organization founded in 1974, is dedicated to the education, promotion, support and unification of women working in or studying film, video and related creative and business fields. For information, call 404.352.1379. Get-A-Grip's Alligator Tales and Car Chases Photo: Get-A-Grip truck. Get-A-Grip, a five-ton grip truck based in Atlanta that provides grip, electrical and lighting services to local productions, helped produce a television commercial for national home air filtration systems manufacturing company Pure-A-Tech. Jeff Henderson of Get-A-Grip was key grip, George Lawes of CommuniVision was director/producer, Dave Dawson of Monkey Boy Productions shot, and Port Wilson and Craig Tollis of ImageMaster provided key production services. Jeff Henderson also recently completed a project for Dystar Television. Shot on the river in Dalton, Georgia the project was produced by Steve Byerly of Dystar. Simeon Smith and Lori McDaniels were associated on the project. Get-A-Grip co-owner Mark Henderson, an Atlanta-based director of photography, was contracted to DP the latest music video for the Ward Boys. The 35mm film production included car chase scenes through the streets of Atlanta, Atlanta skylines and concert scenes in Atlanta's Club eleven50. Devine Communications produced the spots directed by Cathy Irby Durant. Mark Henderson also completed the storyboards for a music video for Universal Records' new rap group, Dirty. The projected entailed 55 panels for the two-day shoot that featured a full-grown alligator. Jack Marmer produced and Mark Klasfeld directed the project. Baby of the Family Films in Macon Tina McElroy Ansa and her husband, director Jone Ansa have begun production on the long awaited film version of Ms. Ansa's 1989 novel "Baby of the Family." In April pre-production began in Macon, Georgia, Ms. Ansa's birthplace and second home to DownSouth Filmworks, Inc., the couple's production company. "The support that we're receiving for this film before we even begin production is absolutely overwhelming," said Ansa, the film's executive producer. "The talent is incredible and the outpouring of positive energy we're getting from across the country is nothing short of a blessing." Jone Ansa, an American Film Institute director of photography fellow and the film's director, agrees with his wife's assessment. "We've been in pre-production for three years but everything has finally fallen into place. The timing couldn't be more perfect now to make this film. We've got the best cast since Roots and based on the feedback we're already getting, movie-goers are ready to see this film." Baby of the Family's cast includes Emmy Award-winner Alfre Woodard (Miss Ever's Boys), Cylk Cozart (Conspiracy Theory), Loretta Devine (Waiting to Exhale), Sheryl Lee Ralph (Moesha), Pam Grier (Jackie Brown), Vanessa Williams (ER) and Salli Richardson (Family Law). Also starring in the film are Todd Bridges (Different Strokes), Vernee Watson-Johnson (The Young and The Restless), Afemo Omilami (In the Heat of the Night), Tonea Stewart (A Time to Kill), William Diehl (Sharky's Machine) and Nikki Starr. Patrice Rushen will compose the original soundtrack for the film and Afrika J.P. Ansa, an independent music producer and musician, will supervise the film's music. Kossover Lenses Capital Cities Photo: (L-R) Herb Kossover and Norman Andrews. In June, director/DP Herb Kossover completed an aerial campaign gathering Wescam aerial footage of metropolitan Atlanta for over 20 clients to include, Marta, Scientific-Atlanta, WGCL-TV, Fox 5, Conyers-Rockdale Chamber, Atlanta Chamber, Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Georgia Film & Videotape Office. Kossover also recently finished a stock footage shoot for the Image Bank, Inc. and a film for Gilbert Creative and their client The Coca-Cola Company. Kossover recently traveled to Washington, D.C. to shoot transitional sequences for NBC's television series The West Wing. Kossover's crew included Atlanta AC Norman Andrews and Washington production manager John Sacko. The two-day shoot covered locations that will be cut into existing storylines including the White House, National Cathedral, Metro lines, Lincoln and Jefferson Memorials and other generic city and suburb scenes. Plans are underway for Kossover to shoot aerials for The West Wing. The Big Auto Plant Wins Major Award The Big Auto Plant, the latest video program in Little Mammoth Media's BIG Adventure Series was recently honored with a CINE Golden Eagle. The Golden Eagle Award enables the program to officially represent the United States in International Film Festivals. This is the 11th CINE Golden Eagle awarded to work by William VanDerKloot and the VanDerKloot Film Studio, parent company to Little Mammoth Media. This year's competition had a record number of entries. The award will be presented at a gala awards ceremony in Washington, D.C in February of 2002. The Big Auto Plant, filmed digitally on-location in Germany and the USA, is the story of how a modern automobile is designed and built. Children can see how hundreds of people on two different continents work together to create a new car. The video shows how the car is created from a sheet of paper all the way through the engineering and assembly process. There is an animated section on how an engine works. Other parts of the program include the wind tunnel, the crash tests and a wild ride on the outdoor test track. The program is designed for kids from 3-10, but adults can enjoy it along with their kids. Little Mammoth Media programs have won dozens of awards including Parent's Choice Awards (considered the Oscar of children's media), Kids First! Endorsements, CINE Golden Eagles, Parent's Guide to Children's Media Award, Film Advisory Board's Award of Excellence and International Monitor Awards. The Big Auto Plant is available in retail outlets including Borders Books and Music, amazon.com, Zaney Brainy, as well as through the Little Mammoth website www.littlemammoth.com. It is currently available on VHS and will be released on DVD later in the year. New Production for CSE Cairo/Simpson Entertainment's (CSE) Judy Cairo recently completed principal photography of The Pilot's Wife, a CBS telefilm based on The New York Times bestseller, starring Emmy Award-winner Christine Lahti, Campbell Scott (Dying Young), and John Heard (Home Alone). The movie was produced by Cairo, for Mandalay Television in association with Lions Gate TV and Stephanie Germain Productions. Germain executive produced the movie and Robert Markowitz (A&E's The Great Gatsby) directed. The May premiere of the CSE production Sex Lies & Obsession scored a 3.4 rating for the Lifetime network. Executive produced by Cairo, Sex Lies & Obsession was the highest-rated Lifetime movie of the last four May sweeps, 1998-2001. The movie was produced by CSE in association with Hearst Entertainment for Lifetime Television. CSE is a movie and television series development and production company. The company's principals are the Peabody and multi-Emmy Award winners Judy Cairo, who heads production for the company, and Michael A. Simpson, who oversees project development. Simpson and Cairo serve on the Georgia Film & Videotape Advisory Commission. Two Atlanta Boys Make Good Atlanta producer Joe Ansley and Atlanta writer/director Jeff Winner's debut DV feature You Are Here screened at the recent Atlanta Film & Video Festival. You Are Here documents the amusing and somber aspects of life when you're nearly 30 years old, broke, lonely and searching for your place in the world. The feature stars Todd Peters, Randall Jaynes ("Blue Man Group: Tube"), Ajay Naidu (Office Space) and Larry Fessenden (Margarita Happy Hour). You Are Here is available for rent at Hollywood Video stores. "Chasing the Devil's Tail" Atlanta writer and producer David Fulmer's novel "Chasing the Devil's Tail" is scheduled for release by Poison Pen Press in November 2001. Credits include the documentary film Blind Willie's Blues, which was nominated for a W.C. Handy Award. "Chasing the Devil's Tail" is a tale of murder, music and madness set in 1907 Storyville, New Orleans, the most notorious red light district in U.S. history. Poisoned Pen Press was founded in 1997 and has garnered Edgar Award nominations in each of the last three years. Film Office Awards RFP/Renews Marketing Contract As the state's fiscal year ended on June 30, 2001, a Request for Proposal (RFP) was awarded and a contract was renewed by the Georgia Film & Videotape Office. On June 27, Picture That was awarded an RFP for a digital scanning contract. Picture That will assist the film office through batch scanning of existing negatives in an effort to jump start steps towards a digital location library. The process, which is estimated to take three months in its initial phase, will add over 2,000 digital panoramas to the current negative library of over 150,000 images. Picture That is owned and operated by Betty Fortenberry. The Georgia Film & Videotape Office will also continue to utilize a Los Angeles/New York marketing representative to market the state's film and video industry. Shay Griffin and Brad Zutaut have just completed their first year of this marketing effort and will have their contract renewed for an additional year. This contract will take both the Atlanta-based representative (Shay Griffin) and the Los Angeles-based representative (Brad Zutaut) through June 30, 2002. Pandora's Box Wraps Rainforest Films latest project Pandora's Box wrapped in late June. Shot in metropolitan Atlanta, the film centers around a mystical underground club called Pandora's Box, where passion and poisonous relationships are on the menu and the party never stops. Directed by Rob Hardy from a script by Gregory Anderson and Rob Hardy, Pandora's Box was produced by William Packer with co-producer Gregory Anderson and associate producer Bernard Bronner. The cast includes Michael Jai White (Spawn), Monica Calhoun (The Best Man) Tyson Beckford (The Source co-host), Kristoff St. John (The Young and the Restless), Joseph Lawrence (Urban Legends) and Chrystale Wilson (The Players Club). Rainforest Films' previous film, Trois opened with the largest per screen average in its period. Pandora's Box is being distributed by Columbia TriStar Motion Picture Group. MATCH Team Georgia The Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism has selected MATCH Team Georgia as its new marketing communications agency to provide marketing, advertising, public relations and interactive services for its economic development, tourism, international trade and film industry divisions. The selection culminates a 60-day process that included 11 initial proposals and final presentations from four finalists. Currently valued at $5 million, the annual contract begins July 1, 2001 and is eligible to be renewed for a four-year period. MATCH Team Georgia is comprised of three marketing communication companies: MATCH, Inc. advertising, Ant Farm Interactive, and Manning, Selvage & Lee public relations. The team was formed in 1998 to serve Yamacraw, the State of Georgia publicprivate, technology and economic development initiative designed to attract broadband technology to Georgia. MATCH, Inc. is the lead agency for the state contract. The account will be led by Sal Kibler, president of the agency.