GRANT: Women in Film & General Motors

Women In Film & General Motors Announce
2007 Acceleration Grant for Emerging Filmmakers

WIF/GM Alliance Mentoring Programs Provide Talented Women Pursuing
Careers in Entertainment With Creative Foundation for Success

To Obtain an Application, Visit www.women-in-film.com
Deadline Submission is Aug. 31. Winners to be Announced Oct. 10

LOS ANGELES – Aug. 21, 2007 – For Immediate Release – The national
alliance organization of Women In Film (WIF) and the General Motors
Corporation (GM) announce the second annual WIF/GM Acceleration Grant
for Emerging Filmmakers.

The 2007 WIF/GM Acceleration Grant for Emerging Filmmakers will again
be presented to five up-and-coming female filmmakers, chosen through
an application process overseen by a WIF selection committee comprised
of professional filmmakers and entertainment industry executives. The
grant will provide recipients with a broad-based understanding of the
business of filmmaking through a six-day, full-immersion mentoring
program, shepherded by WIF members, which include some of the
industry's most successful female talent.

In July, the WIF/GM Alliance also announced the second annual WIF/GM
Opening Doors/Abriendo Puertas: The Acceleration Grant for Emerging
Latina Filmmakers. Both grants, awarded each fall,
are projects of the WIF/GM Alliance, the goal of which is to support
talented filmmakers from Latina/Hispanic communities and other
under-represented groups. To date, including the recipients of this
year's grants, 20 up-and-coming women will have benefited from WIF/GM
Alliance mentoring grants.

"The exceptional women who have been chosen to participate in the
Women In Film/General Motors Alliance grant programs hail from diverse
communities from across the country," said Judith James, chair of the
WIF/GM Alliance. "The recipients of both grants have been clearly able
to successfully advance their careers as a result of WIF's commitment
to mentoring new talent, which in turn benefits our industry."

Said Pamela K. Johnson, Long Beach, Calif., a previous recipient of
the WIF/GM Acceleration Grant for Emerging Filmmakers, "The experience
got me inside the core of the filmmaking world and demystified the
process of how one goes about having a career in the industry. The
experience was eye opening and helped me to create a foundation and
set me on a course as an emerging filmmaker. It provided the insight
that allowed me to gain entry into the AFI director's program and
definitely changed my life."

Johnson is currently participating in the American Film Institute's
Directing Workshop for Women, where she is producing the short film
Stitches, a coming-of-age story about a stylish, young girl displaced
by Katrina. A graduate of Stanford University, a former west coast
editor of Essence magazine, a published novelist and a successful
playwright, Johnson's short, Talk Me to Death, earned her the
attention of the WIF/GM Alliance. About rampant cell phone use at a
funeral, it was also the recipient of the Best Editing and Audience
Awards at the 2006 Duke City Shootout in New Mexico. Johnson's novel
Santa and Pete was made into a 1999 TV movie which starred James Earl
Jones and Hume Cronyn. Her anthology Tenderheaded: A Comb-Bending
Collection of Hair Stories was adapted into a musical stage play,
which drew sold-out audiences in Philadelphia and also played New York
in 2001 and 2002.

Added another past recipient, Shelley Niro, Brantford, Ontario,
Canada, "It gave me the knowledge and the confidence to move forward
and take my career to the next step. Meeting people in the industry
was really inspiring and important to my ongoing education. It was a
rich and enlightening experience that encompassed so many aspects of
filmmaking."

Niro is currently at work on a full-length dramatic film, Kissed By
Lightning. She received her M.F.A. from the University of Western
Ontario in 1997 and has participated in initiatives like the Women In
The Director's Chair Workshop at the Banff Centre for the Arts and,
most notably, the Sundance Producer's Conference in Park City, Utah.
Her film, The Shirt, was chosen to represent the Indian Arts Alliance
from New Mexico in 2003 at the Venice Biennale film festival before
going on to be screened at Sundance. It Starts With a Whisper was also
screened at Sundance. Her film Honey Moccasin took top honors,
including "Best Feature" and "Best Director," at the 1998 Red Earth
Film Festival. A Native-American, Niro is a member of the Six Nations
Reserve, Turtle Clan, Bay of Quinte Mohawk.

About the 2007 WIF/GM Acceleration Grant for Emerging Filmmakers:

This year's winners will be hosted by the WIF/GM Alliance Oct. 30 -
Nov. 7. Awardees will attend individual and group meetings with film
industry professionals who will review with them the national and
international aspects of finance, marketing, distribution and legal
subjects.

Additionally, they will meet as a group with a panel of studio
executives and distributors in film and television to discuss the
trends and criteria shaping the industry. They will also meet with one
or more international sales agents to discuss the current trends in
buying and selling product for the international market. And they will
receive full access badges to the American Film Market (AFM)* to
attend AFM seminars and conferences, Oct. 31 - Nov. 7.

"By providing the opportunity to network with professionals from all
aspects of the filmmaking industry," said James, "these grants provide
a creative foundation—a broad base of skills and knowledge of how to
turn ideas into reality."

Applications and entry guidelines for the 2007 Women In Film/General
Motors Acceleration Grant for Emerging Filmmakers can be obtained at
www.women-in-film.com. Complete rules, restrictions and instructions
are available online.

Entries must be postmarked no later than Aug. 31, 2007. A selection
committee comprised of WIF members will evaluate all applications.
Winning applicants will be notified by phone by Oct. 3, 2007 and
winners will be announced Oct. 10, 2007.

Applicants are required to submit:
• A typed, one-or-two page, double-spaced candidate's statement: Why
do you want to participate in the grant? What are your artistic and
career goals?
• One letter of recommendation from an industry professional.
• A resumé detailing work experience and education.
• A DVD sample of their work.
• Statement of warranty.
Submitted materials will not be returned.

Applicants must be female and have made at least one film, but not yet
be established in the industry. They should be at a point where
access to industry resources provided by the grant would be
instrumental in forwarding their career. And they must show evidence
of their commitment to pursuing a career in the film and/or television
industries. Applicants do not have to be WIF members. Those who have
won a WIF/GM filmmaker grant in the past are not eligible.

About the Women In Film/General Motors Alliance:

General Motors Corporation is the National Presenting Sponsor of Women
In Film. The Women In Film/General Motors Alliance was created to
support women in the entertainment industry and to expand Women In
Film chapter programs across the country. The multi-year initiative
was announced in Los Angeles in January 2005 and is supporting
programs as diverse as the Film Finishing Fund, Women's Film
Preservation Fund, Legacy Series, PSAs, scholarships, mentorships and
local WIF chapter award events across the nation. For more
information about the WIF/GM Alliance and its programs, visit
www.women-in-film.com.

Founded in 1973 in Los Angeles, Women In Film (www.wif.org) is the
leading non-profit organization dedicated to women in the global
entertainment industry. Its purpose is to empower, promote, nurture
and mentor women in the industry through a network of valuable
contacts, events, programs, workshops, finishing funds and
scholarships. In the U.S., there are chapters in Arizona, California
(3), Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota,
Missouri, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas (2),
Washington and Washington, D.C. The international network, Women In
Film and Television International (www.wifti.org), of which WIF-Los
Angeles is a founding member, boasts 35 chapters on six continents.
Member chapters range from developing nations to countries with
established industries, including the U.S., Australia, Canada, France,
India, Ireland, Jamaica, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and the
United Kingdom, to name a few.

General Motors Corp. (NYSE: GM), the world's largest automaker, has
been the annual global industry sales leader for 76 years. Founded in
1908, GM today employs about 280,000 people around the world. With
global headquarters in Detroit, GM manufactures its cars and trucks in
33 countries. In 2006, 9.1 million GM cars and trucks were sold
globally under the following brands: Buick, Cadillac, Chevrolet, GMC,
GM Daewoo, Holden, HUMMER, Opel, Pontiac, Saab, Saturn and Vauxhall.
GM's OnStar subsidiary is the industry leader in vehicle safety,
security and information services. More information on GM can be
found at www.gm.com.

# # #

* The American Film Market® and the Independent Film & Television
Alliance® are not affiliated with the WIF/GM Acceleration Grant for
Emerging Filmmakers.

Contacts:

WIF/GM Alliance
Vicki Greenleaf — Greenleaf & Associates — 323-660-5800 —
[email protected]

GM Communications
Christie Conti – 805-373-9527 – [email protected]