BEVERLY HILLS, CA, July 30, 2008 – The Hollywood Foreign Press Association presented $759,865 in financial grants to film schools and non-profit organizations at its annual Installation Luncheon honoring the organization’s 2008-2009 slate of officers today at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Celebrities attending the event to announce grants included Aaron Eckhart and Jon Hamm. Acceptance remarks on behalf of the grants were made by Chris “Ludacris” Bridges (Film Independent, Inc.), Rosario Dawson (IFP), Dana Delany (UCLA), Dakota Fanning (California State Summer School Arts Foundation), Chris Messina (Sundance Institute), Elizabeth Pena (National Association of Latino Independent Producers), and Rosie Perez (Inner-City Arts).

Re-elected President Jorge Camara introduced the re-elected officers Mike Goodridge, vice president; Serge Rakhlin, executive secretary; and Meher Tatna, treasurer. The new Board of Directors is comprised of Mahfouz Doss (re-elected Chairman), Erkki Kanto, Lilly Lui, Paz Mata, Frances Schoenberger, and Armando Gallo (alternate).

“Despite last January’s cancellation of the Annual Golden Globe Awards due to the Writers Guild strike that curtailed the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s income, we’re delighted to honor our ongoing commitment to support entertainment industry-related film school and non-profit organizations,” said Jorge Camara, HFPA President. “Over the past several years, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Foundation has presented more than $7.5 million in financial grants to dozens of film schools and non-profit organizations.”

HOLLYWOOD FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION 2008-2009 GRANTS

Higher Education Grants – HFPA Fellowship Institutional Support

American Film Institute
$30,000 – HFPA Fellowships for six students.

California Institute of the Arts
$60,000 – HFPA Fellowships for to up to 8 Film/Video students

California State University, Long Beach; Dept. of Film and Electronic Arts
$35,000 – HFPA Fellowships $1,000 or more to at least 30 students

California State University, Northridge; Dept. of Cinema and Television Arts
$66,000 – HFPA Fellowships for 10 students and $6,000 for 2009 the student showcase

Columbia University School of the Arts
$50,000 – HFPA Fellowships for 6 international MFA candidates

New York University; Tisch School of the Arts
$20,000 – HFPA Fellowships for third-year students to complete their thesis films

North Carolina School of the Arts Foundation
$20,000 – HFPA Fellowships for 10 to 20 undergraduate students

University of California, Los Angeles; School of theatre Film and Television
$65,000 – HFPA Fellowships fordirecting students and support as the Presenting Sponsor at the 2009 Festival of New Creative Work

Professional Training and Mentoring

Film Independent, Inc.
$30,000 to support Project:Involve: a mentoring, training, job placement and screening program for local underrepresented filmmakers

Independent Feature Project
$10,000 to support the post-production needs and mentoring of independent filmmakers at the end stages of production

National Association of Latino Independent Producers, Inc.
$20,000 for professional filmmaker mentors at the Latino Producers Academy workshop for emerging Latino/a filmmakers.

Sundance Institute
$100,000 for personnel, equipment and supplies, marketing, and production for the Writer and Director Institutes

Streetlights Production Assistant Program, Inc.
$5,000 for books and supplies needed for job training, placement and career advancement for underrepresented populations in Los Angeles

Pre-Professional Training and Education

California State Summer School Arts Foundation
$20,000 to provide 13 full scholarships for Los Angeles inner city studentsto attend the 2009 summer session of InnerSpark

The Ghetto Film School, Inc.
$20,000 to support the Fellows program and costs of the Annual Public Screening of the student films

Inner-City Arts
$25,000 for animation equipment and workshops, and for support of the animation marathon for middle and high school inner city students

Inner-City Filmmakers
$20,000 to support the Arts Education and Jobs/Career Development Programs for inner city youth

Los Angeles County High School for the Arts Foundation
$18,865 to support the TV/Film Teaching Artists who provide instruction in screenwriting and History of TV and Film classes

Preserve the Culture and History of Motion Pictures

Los Angeles Conservancy
$30,000 to support the screenings of old movies in classic movie houses in Los Angeles through the Last Remaining Seats program

Museum of African American Cinema, Inc.
$10,000 to preserve, curate, catalogue and transfer from film to digital format rare and culturally historic productions relating to the African American experience

Outfest
$25,000 to build awareness through printed materials and conferences and create new tools to teach filmmakers about archiving and preservation through the Outfest Legacy Project

Promote Cultural Exchange Through Film

FilmAid International
$50,000 to continue developing the Kakuma Peace and Reconciliation Film Series and Participatory Video Program and to begin new programs in the Dadaab Refuge Camp

Latin American Cinemateca of Los Angeles, LACLA
$10,000 towards producing an annual screening series of monthly screenings of short films and videos from Latin American and US Latino filmmakers in downtown Los Angeles

Special Projects

Ensemble Studio Theatre – The LA Project
$10,000 to fund play development programs and premiere productions

Lollipop Theatre Network
$10,000 to provide children in Southern California hospitals with life threatening illnesses and their families screenings of current release films and visits by actors

TOTAL: $759,865