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For Immediate Release June 29, 2006

GRETCHEN

WINS BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE AWARD AT LOS ANGELES FILM FESTIVAL

FILM BASED ON AWARD-WINNING SHORT FILM GRETCHEN AND THE NIGHT DANGER

 Steve Collins’ debut feature Gretchen wins the Best Narrative Feature Award at the Los Angeles Film Festival. The film stars Courtney Davis, John Merriman, Becky Ann Baker ("Life As We Know It," Freaks and Geeks," A Simple Plan) and Stephen Root (Office Space, "NewsRadio," "The West Wing"). It is based upon the award-winning short film, Gretchen and the Night Danger, that won Best Short Film at the 2004 SXSW Film Festival and Best Short Film at the 2003 Cinematexas Film Festival.

Collins’ inspiration for Gretchen comes from two sources: his experiences working as a counselor at a teen center and stories that he and lead actress, Courtney Davis, swapped about their own adolescence. Drawing from these two sources, he crafted this coming-of-age story dealing with the awkward struggles of adolescence. The film is meant for "adult adolescents" or as he says, "people who didn’t conveniently grow up at 18." Collins elaborates, "The film is entertaining, but I pushed it to be a film for everyone out there who is still trying to grow up. I think that’s why I needed it to go to dark places, and why I needed it to come out of the dark and have some answers. I wanted the film to be about how we fix ourselves."

Gretchen details an awkward girl’s struggle to overcome an obsession with Boone High School’s most powerful dirt-bag, Ricky Maraschino. Her affliction is so severe, she’s banished to an emotional treatment center, where she begins to question why everything that she wants in the whole wide world is a boy. Gretchen is an extreme tale of ordinary things: prom, boys, and going to 2nd base, told with the unique gravity of a 17-year-old heart. The film was directed and written by Steve Collins. Rajen Savjani (Old Joy) is the executive producer and Lars Knudsen (Old Joy, Wild Tigers I Have Known), Anish Savjani (Old Joy), and Jay Van Hoy (Old Joy, Wild Tigers I Have Known) are the producers for the film. P.J. Raval is the director of photography, and Mike Shen edited the film. Graham Reynolds (A Scanner Darkly) provides the orchestral score for the film.

While Gretchen is Collins’ debut feature film, he has directed a number of acclaimed short films including Gretchen & The Night Danger, Lonelyland and The Ballad of Courtney & James. Gretchen & The Night Danger has also been featured in venues around the world, including the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival as well as the Directors Guild Theater.

 For more information, please contact Carla Sacks or Ross Clark at Sacks & Co., 212.741.1000, carla@sacksco.com or ross@sacksco.com.