BE A PART OF HISTORY, HAVE YOUR NAME AND FAMILY REMEMBERED, REMEMBER THE LOVED ONE THAT HAS GONE ON BEFORE US. WHEN TOMB STONES HAVE TURNED TO DUST AND RUBBLE,  THE MEMORIAL SHRINE WILL STILL BE THERE FOR ALL TO SEE AND TO FOLLOW THEIR FAMILY HISTORIES. YOUR PRAYERS WILL ALSO HELP GET THIS GOING!

     Family Theater Productions, a Catholic media outlet founded in 1947 in Hollywood by Servant of God Father Patrick Peyton, CSC, created the Angelus Awards in 1996 to honor the highest calibre undergraduate and graduate films that reflect the complexity of the human condition with compassion, respect and creativity, embodying themes as triumph of the human spirit, redemption, respect for diversity, equality, hope and peace

     Actor Edward Herrmann (Intolerable Cruelty, TV's Gilmore Girls) was master of ceremonies of the Oct. 23rd event, which featured a musical group that performed music from the students’ films as they or presenters made their way to the podium. The 2004 Honorary Chair of the Angelus Awards, Sean Astin (Lord of the Rings and Rudy) sent a film clip from his location in New Zealand welcoming those attending this year’s event and congratulating and encouraging the student filmmakers.

     Victoria Gamburg of San Francisco State University won the $10,000 Patrick Peyton Excellence in Filmmaking Award for her live action film “Twilight.” Father Willy Raymond, CSC, National Director of Family Theater Productions, and Marcus Cano, producer of last year's Angelus Awards' winning film American Made, presented the award. Ms. Gamburg also won the inaugural $1,500 Act One Screenplay prize for excellence in the craft of writing, chosen from the finalists’ scripts, presented by Barbara Nicolosi, Executive Director of Act One: Writing for Hollywood. All finalists were invited to compete for this award.

     Set in contemporary St. Petersburg, Russia, against a backdrop of perpetual northern twilight, a woman searches for her missing daughter. After three years of dealing with an uncaring post-Soviet bureaucracy, she is faced with a potentially life-altering decision. Twilight embraces the question: How does one affirm life while living under the specter of unutterable loss?

     Giuseppe Zito, SJ, who recently completed the M.F.A. program in Film Production at Loyola Marymount University, won the $2,500 Fujifilm Audience Impact Award for his thesis film Melanzane E Cioccolato. Jonathan Bell, Key Account Executive, Motion Picture Division, Fujifilm, presented the award.

     In this hilarious live action short set in Italy, housewife Agata must begin a new life after discovering her husband’s infidelity, but she finds that the right recipe is unpredictable.

     A native of Rome, Italy, Zito told the audience in his acceptance remarks that he has been a member of the Society of Jesus for 10 years and was pursuing ordination as a Jesuit priest. He received a B.A. in Philosophy, and an M.A. in Communication Studies from the Gregorian University of Rome.  He hopes, one day, to have a chance of making feature-length movies that entertain and inspire.

     Film industry professionals who comprised the Festival Jury selected the winners from 22 finalists, who were selected from nearly 400 entries representing 149 universities, 23 nations and 35 states.

     The other awards, their winners and presenters were:

     $5,000 Priddy Bros. Productions Triumph Award - Extreme Mom, Joyce Draganosky, Columbia University, presented by Ed and John Priddy.

     $2,500 Mole Richardson Production Design Award - Codename: Simon, Graham Tallman and producer Fabian Frohne, American Film Institute, presented by Michael Parker, President of Mole-Richardson.

     $1,800 Outstanding Documentary Award - Daughters of Abraham, Hilla H. Medalia, Southern Illinois University; presented by Frank Morock, President of the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals, which sponsors this award.

     $1,500 Outstanding Animation Award - Birthday Boy, Sejong Park, Australian Film Television & Radio School, presented to Mr. Park's representative Jodea Bloomfield by Joey Jones, last year's Audience Impact Award winner for the animated short "Little Red Plane."

     Monika Moreno, Director of Angelus Awards, and Kale Zelden, Associate Director, presented the certificates and industry prizes to the finalists and the Honorable Mention and Special Recognition honorees, whose films were screened in an afternoon event. They were:

     Special Recognition - Fragile, Sikander Goldau, Munich Academy for Television and Film.

     Honorable Mention, Production Design - The Last Full Measure, Alexandra Kerry & Nina Leidersdorff, American Film Institute.

     Honorable Mention, Animation - Midnight Blue, David Derrick, California Institute of the Arts.

     Honorable Mention, Documentary - Miss Lil's Camp, Suzanne Niedland & Anberin Pasha, University of Florida.

     “The future of these 2004 honorees seems promising based on the success of previous Angelus Award winners,” said Angelus Director Ms. Moreno.

     Previous winners include Jessica Sharzer, director of “Speak,” which made its world premiere at the 2004 Sundance Film Festival; Barbara Schock, who won a 2000 Academy Award winner for Best Live Action – Short; Tony Bui, Oscar nominee and Grand Jury Prize winner at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival for “Three Seasons,” Patricia Cardoso, Audience Award recipient at the 2002 Sundance for “Real Women Have Curves,” which she directed and wrote, and Sabrina Dhawan, screenwriter for the critically-acclaimed feature film “Monsoon Wedding.”  

     Festival creator Family Theater Productions has produced from Hollywood more than 750 dramatic and documentary radio and TV programs to entertain, inspire and inform people. Family Theater programs have featured hundred of star actors and gave 1950s star actor James Dean and producer/director George Lucas their first on-screen credits.  

     The famous slogan “The family that prays together stays together” was created for Family Theater in 1947 and is the motto of all of Holy Cross Family Ministries, which includes Family Theater, Family Rosary, which Father Peyton founded in 1942 in Albany, N.Y., Family Rosary International with offices in 15 countries, and the Father Peyton Family Institute in Easton and Lima, Peru.

ONE NATION UNDER - GOD - WITH  LIFE -LIBERTY & JUSTICE FOR ALL!
TO HAVE A DREAM AND TO KNOW YOU WILL NEVER SEE IT FINISHED
IS A GIFT FROM GOD. TO LIVE IT, AS IF YOU WOULD GET
TO SEE IT FINISHED, IS THE STRENGTH YOU GET FROM GOD.