2009 FEATURE SCREENPLAY WINNER ANNOUNCED

October 7, 2009

For Immediate Release

SLAMDANCE ANNOUNCES SCREENPLAY 2009 COMPETITION WINNERS

The Top 10 finalists of the 14th Annual Slamdance Screenplay Competition have been announced, with Phil Hwang’s Male Order Bride taking top honors. Hwang was given a $5,000 cash prize for best feature length screenplay during an awards presentation hosted by the Writers Guild of America, West and co-presented by InkTip.

Male Order Bride tells the story of a desperate young Armenian man who poses as a mail order bride in order to get to the United States.

Other winners (ordered 2nd through 10th place) include: The Violin Case Killers written by Sean Fitzpatrick, The Norm written by Britt Aamodt, North of Here written by Kurt Smith, The Revisionistwritten by Jim Soscie, Seven Thousand Islands written by Gary White, Mafia written by Adeola Alao,Borderland written by J.R. Taylor, Pritt written by Mary McDermott, Rock, Paper, Scissors written by Rodrigo Patino & Luis Fernandez Reneo.

The winners were announced at a special awards ceremony last night hosted by the Writers Guild of America, West, and co-presented by InkTip. Attendees included Slamdance alumni, industry invitees, members of the WGAW Independent Writers Caucus and Slamdance Writing Awards Sponsors.

Slamdance received a record 2,000+ submissions for the Feature Screenplay Competition, which strives to bring attention to the most talented emerging screenwriters and introduce them to the industry. Previous Competition-winning screenplays that were acquired for production include Nicole Kassell and Stephen Fetcher’s The Woodsman, Joshua Marston’s Maria Full of Grace, Tim Boughn’sNeo Ned and Nancy Kissam’s Drool that will be theatrically released by Strand this November.

“Right now our winner is running a cleaning upholstery business in San Bernardino, but given his obvious writing talent and our increasingly successful production record, there’s every chance Phil will soon have to decide which business he wants to be in,” said Slamdance President and Co-founder Peter Baxter.

The success of the Slamdance Screenplay Competition over the past thirteen years and the writers it has discovered continues to attract the attention of industry searching for the best new independent writing talent.  As a year-round organization, Slamdance serves as a showcase for the discovery of new and emerging talent and is dedicated to the nurturing and development of new independent artists and their cinematic vision.  Slamdance has received over 3,000 writing submissions so far this year - a record number - and is currently accepting horror and thriller script submissions. Slamdance Film Festival will run concurrently with the Sundance Film Festival, January 21-28, 2010 in Park City, Utah. Slamdance still lives by its mantra: "By Filmmakers, For Filmmakers."  No other festival is fully programmed by filmmakers. Slamdance is proud to count among its alumni many notable writers and directors who first gained notice at the festival, including such cinematic luminaries as Christopher Nolan, Marc Forster and Jared Hess. New filmmakers and writers today realize that Slamdance is a place to launch their careers. For more information, log onto www.slamdance.com