2008 VAIL FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES FINAL FILM PROGRAM

Vail, Colo., USA(SANEPR.com) March 25, 2008 -- The Vail Film Festival, with presenting sponsor Best Life magazine, today announced the complete line-up of films selected to be screened at the 2008 Festival, taking place April 3 – 6, 2008 at America’s top-rated ski resort in Vail, Colorado. The Festival will screen 83 films from around the world, including 16 feature films and 66 documentaries, short films, Oscar shorts, action sports, student, and animated films. The 2008 Festival also will feature the two winning short films from the brand new Red Vision Film Contest.

The 2008 Vail Film Festival opens on Thursday, April 3 with a screening of Diminished Capacity, starring Matthew Broderick, Alan Alda, and Virginia Madsen. This entertaining comedy follows a man (Broderick) suffering from memory loss, his Alzheimer's-impaired relative (Alda), and his high school flame (Madsen) to a memorabilia expo where the trio plans a scheme to sell a rare baseball card.

Mister Foe was selected as the closing film on Saturday, April 5. Starring Jamie Bell,
Ciaran Hinds, and Claire Forlani. Hallam's talent for spying on people reveals his darkest fears - and his most peculiar desires. Driven to expose the true cause of his mother's death, he instead finds himself searching the rooftops of the city for love.

Other feature film highlights at this year’s festival include: Forgetting Sarah Marshall from director Nicholas Stoller and producer Judd Apatow (director of Knocked Up, The 40 Year-Old Virgin), starring Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, and Russell Brand, The Living Wake directed by Sol Tyron and starring Jesse Eisenberg, Amy Redford’s directorial debut, The Guitar, starring Saffron Burrows, Fix directed by Tao Ruspoli, starring Olivia Wilde and Tao Ruspoli, and Adventures of Power directed by Ari Gold and starring Ari Gold and Adrian Grenier.

"2008 marks our fifth year, and we're very proud of the reputation the Festival has developed among filmmakers as a great place to screen and premiere their work," said Scott Cross, co-founder and co-director of the Vail Film Festival. “The submissions we receive are the best in independent film, allowing us to have an exceptionally strong program. This year, we'll screen more films than ever before, with more filmmakers in attendance to support their work. We are honored to have an incredible group of sponsors that believe in the power of film and whose contributions enhance every aspect of the Festival. Their support has enabled us to continue to grow and to create several new and exciting programs for the fifth year."

The 2008 Vail Film Festival will continue its collaboration with (RED), an international initiative founded by Bono and Bobby Shriver to raise awareness and money for The Global Fund, an innovative public-private partnership created to finance a dramatic turnaround in the fight against AIDS. (RED) and the Vail Film Festival will premiere the RED Vision Short Film Showcase at the 2008 Festival, a screening of the winning films from the RED Vision Short Film Contest. For the second year in a row, the Festival will contribute 25% of the sale of each Festival Avanti Pass to the Global Fund.

The Vail Film Festival is also excited to announce a brand new category this year: The Esurance Animation Showcase, the Festival's first stand-alone animation program, presented by returning Supporting Sponsor Esurance. Highlights include Disney•Pixar's Lifted; Disney's new Goofy short How to Hook Up Your Home Theater; Shuteye Hotel, from two-time Oscar nominee Bill Plympton; a new short from Aardman Animations, creators of Chicken Run and Wallace & Gromit; a hilarious Australian-Chinese co-production about the bittersweet relationship between a dog and Chinatown; and more great animated shorts from around the world.

The Esurance Animation Showcase will also feature a very special event: Pixar Animation Studio's Dylan Brown, the Supervising Animator of Ratatouille (winner of the 2008 Academy Award® for Best Animated Feature), will give a behind-the-scenes presentation on the making of the hit film entitled "Ratatouille: Acting and Performance in Animation." "At Pixar, the best part of making our films is being able to share them with the world, and I can't think of a more pristine setting than Vail to do so. Plus, the skiing there is great!" says Dylan. The presentation will be introduced by Phil Robinson, co-founder of the award-winning animation studio W!LDBRAIN and director of Esurance's animated commercials. Phil will explore the challenges and opportunities faced by today's animation studios.

The Festival will also feature the first annual Green Film Showcase presented by MetaFoundry.
The showcase is part of this year’s documentary film programming, in recognition and support
of the growing importance of environmental concerns and the increase in high-quality filmmaking
exploring green issues.

2008 Vail Film Festival Feature Films:
Cake Eaters, directed by Mary Stuart Masterson
Goodbye Baby, directed by Daniel Schechter
Off Jackson Avenue, directed by John-Luke Montias
Forgetting Sarah Marshall, directed by Nicholas Stoller
Summerhood, directed by Jacob Medjuck
The Collective, directed by Judson Pearce Morgan & Kelly Overton
This Beautiful City, directed by Ed Gass-Donnelly
Up With Me, directed by Greg Takoudes
Remarkable Power, directed by Brandon Beckner
The Living Wake,, directed by Sol Tryon
Mister Foe, directed by David Mackenzie
Diminished Capacity, directed by Terry Kinney
Adventures of Power, directed by Ari Gold
The Guitar, directed by Amy Redford
In Search of a Midnight Kiss, directed by Alex Holdridge
Fix, directed by Tao Ruspoli
Broken Fences, directed by Troy McGatlin

Documentary:
A Soldier’s Peach, directed by Kristen & Marshall Thompson
Dark & Bloody Ground, directed by Alex Farnsley, Kevin King
Golden Days, directed by Chris Suchorsky
Mardik: from Baghdad to Hollywood, directed by Evan York & Jeff Orsa
Mountain Top Removal, directed by Michael O’Connell
Moving Midway, directed by Godfrey Cheshire
One Bridge to the Next, directed by Kim Snyder
Team Everest: A Himalayan Journey, directed by Andrew Cockrum
The Listening Project, directed by Dominic Howes, Joel Weber
Bi the Way, directed by Brittany Blockman & Josephine Decker
Flow, directed by Irena Salina
Odyssey in Rome, directed by Alex Grazioli

Shorts:
And Then She Was Gone, directed by Jacqueline Pennewill, Pete Konczal
Antes y Despues de Besar a Maria, directed by Ramon Alos
Bad Day, Good Day, Bad Day, directed by Noah Pink
Basket Casket, directed by Greg Hewett
Beer, Chocolate or You, directed by Matt West
Door Number Two, directed by Jeremy Redleaf
Felix Melman, directed by Dan Lantz
God’s Beach, directed by Abigail Carpenter
Hardly Married, directed by Diego Nunez
Hollywood Jerome, directed by Frey Hoffman
Kids + Money, directed by Lauren Greenfield
Little Pumpkin, directed by Tiffany Bartok
Looking Up Dresses, directed by Jared Ingram
Murdering Mama’s Boy, directed by Katherine Cunningham-Eves
New Boy, directed by Steph Green
Officer Down, directed by Patrick Curd
Slingers, directed by Rory Kindersley
The Job, directed by Jonathan Browning
The Rapture of the Athlete Assumed Into Heaven, directed by Keith Bogart
The Temerity of Zim, directed by Joshua Kopple
Validation, directed by Kurt Kuenne
Fury, directed by Kevin Hershberger
Raving, directed by Julia Stiles
Rabia, directed by Muhammad Hasan

Student Films:
15-40, directed by Christian Bagger
A Days Work, directed by Rajeez Dassani
Assault, directed by Kazik Radwanski
At the Surface, directed by Timothy Anderson
If a Body Meet a Body, directed by Brian Davis
Keys, directed by Christopher Babers
Les Vulnerables, directed by Ben-Jorgen Perlmutt
Office Mobius, directed by Seung Hyung Lee
Rebel Song, directed by Simon Arthur
Simulacra, directed by Tatchapon Lertwirlojkul
The Fantastic Destiny of Melford Nelson Kaullie, directed by David Fishel
Two Words, directed by Ariel Barron
UC Film Festival Winner

Oscar Shorts:
I Met the Walrus, directed by Josh Raskin
Il Supplente (The Substitute), directed by Andrea Jublin
Madame Tutli-Putli, directed by Chris Lavis, Maciek Szczerbowski
Meme les Pigeons vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go To Heaven), directed by Samuel Tourneux, Simon Vannesse
Le Mozart des Pickpockets, directed by Philippe Pollet-Villard


Action Sports:
Sliding Liberia, directed by Britton Caillouette
24 Solo, directed by Jason Berry
The Thin Line: Life on the Edge, directed by Jay Jalbert

Animated Films:
How to Hook Up Your Home Theater, directed by Kevin Deters, Stevie Wermers
Lapsus, directed by Juan Pablo Zaramella
Lifted, directed by Gary Rydstrom
Operator, directed by Matthew Walker
Shuteye Hotel, directed by Bill Plympton
Sweet & Sour, directed by Eddie White
The Pearce Sisters, directed by Luis Cook

Red Vision:
Ubuntu, directed by David Serota
Binty, directed by Armen Evrensel

Film details and the entire line-up of 2008 film selections in all categories are now available at www.vailfilmfestival.org.

Additional Festival highlights include an opening night gala at the Donovan Pavilion, a filmmakers’ reception at Larkspur at the base of Golden Peak, the festival awards ceremony featuring Tim Daly, Adrian Grenier, Olivia Wilde, Jesse Eisenberg, and Jeremy Davies, as well as a party on-mountain at Vail’s Eagle’s Nest Marketplace and a closing brunch at Larkspur.

The Best Life Lodge, which will act as the festival’s central destination, will feature such partners as Epson, Subaru, Swiss Army and Stella Artois and will be open to festival passholders. Also this year, Best Life has aligned with some of Vail’s finest restaurants, including Terra Bistro, Larkspur, and Sapphire to feature signature dishes during aprés ski events.

About Vail Film Festival
The Vail Film Festival promotes independent filmmaking, with a special focus on new and innovative filmmakers. Besides screening some of the year’s top films from around the globe, the festival will also feature workshops, seminars, industry panel discussions and special events with award-winning actors, writers and directors. A special awards ceremony, family festivities, ski and snowboarding events, VIP parties and live music will round out this four-day event. The Vail Film Festival is produced by the Vail Film Institute, a non-profit arts organization that is dedicated to fostering independent cinema and creative filmmaking. Festival passes incorporate a combination of movies, filmmaker panels, galas and music, with deep discounts on skiing for festival pass holders. For tickets and additional information, visit www.vailfilmfestival.org or call (866) 476-1092.

About Best Life (www.bestlifeonline.com)
Best Life is the fastest -growing men’s magazine in the country*. Published by Rodale, Inc., Best Life’s mission is to inform, entertain, and guide the successful 35-plus man in managing the issues that truly matter to him—his family, his finances, and his physical and emotional health. With practical and passionate service journalism and imagery that challenges and inspires, Best Life helps men address the ultimate question: How can we better understand our lives, and how can we live them to the fullest? The magazine reaches 2.5 million readers and is published 10 times a year.

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Editor’s Note: Hi-res images and interviews available.