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April 18, 2007

For Immediate Release

12th PALM BEACH INTERNATIONAL
FILM FESTIVAL FESTIVAL HONOREES

Malcolm McDowell, Anant Singh, QOrianka Kilcher
and the Legendary Margaret OBrien to be honored.

BOCA RATON, FL. The 12th Annual Palm Beach International Film Festival (PBIFF) begins this week, April 19-26, 2007, presenting eight days of more than 120 feature films, documentaries and shorts from around the world.  In addition, The Annual PBIFF Awards Gala, a black-tie celebration which takes place at the Boca Raton Resort & Club on Saturday, April 21, will honor some of the great talents in the industry.  Those who will be awarded this year for their contribution to filmmaking include actor Malcolm McDowell (Clockwork Orange, and most recently NBCs Heroes), South African producer Anant Singh (Sarafina!, Cry, The Beloved Country,), actress QOrianka Kilcher (The New World) and the legendary Margaret OBrien (Meet Me In St. Louis, Little Women).  The Gala will be hosted by General Hospitals Tristan Rogers.

Malcolm McDowell, who will be presented with the Career Achievement Award, is well known for his unforgettable role of Alex in the Clockwork Orange and considered among many to be an actors actor and so regarded for his unforgettable characterizations that the public sometimes has a hard time separating the actor from the character.  While having a history of playing hot tempered and ruthless characters, he does not share those traits and possesses charm and grace off the screen.  Malcolm McDowell is also currently seen in NBCs hit series Heroes, and is at the PBIFF with the World Premiere of The List with co-star Will Patton.

Receiving the World Visionary Award,  Anant Singh, has produced more than 50 films since 1983 and is highly recognized as South Africas pre-eminent film producer.  He received South Africas first Academy Award Nomination for Best Foreign Language Picture in 2005 as well as receiving the Peabody Award and an Emmy Nomintion in 2006 in the Outstanding Made For Television Movie category.  He is also the only South African member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and was appointed by President Thabo Mbeki to the Creative Collective, the body responsible for the organization of South Africas Ten Years Of Freedom Celebrations in 2004.  He is responsible for many of the greatest anti-apartheid films made in South Africa, including Sarafina!, Cry, the Beloved Country and Red Dust.

QOrianka Kilcher will receive the Shooting Star Award.  Kilcher came on the scene as Pocahontas in Terrence Malicks 2005 film, The New World, who guides John Smith (portrayed by Colin Farrell)  towards an understanding of the American wilderness and its indigenous inhabitants.  Already an experienced activist and now producer at seventeen years old, QOrianka has used her time in the spotlight to illuminate the environmental and human rights disaster in Peru.  She is currently producing and starring in a various projects including The Power of Few.   Kilchers humane efforts are currently concentrated on an untitled documentary where she visits the people of Achuar, Quichua and Urarinas in the Corrientes river basin in the Peruvian Amazon who are being poisoned by their only water source. With a film crew in tow, Kilcher is making the documentary through her new production company, and recently presented her findings at the United Nations.

The PBIFF is proud to present the Legend In Film Award to Margaret OBrien.  OBrien made her film debut -- a one-minute shot in MGM's Babes on Broadway -- in 1941 at the ripe old age of 4. Her big moment came the following year when she was cast in Journey for Margaret, which made her into an instant star. Throughout the 1940s Margaret was a major child star. Her unforgettable performance as Tootie in Vincente Minnelli's Meet Me in St. Louis (1944) won her an Academy Award as "Outstanding Child Actress" of her day. She gave brilliant performances in such films as The Canterville Ghost, Our Vines Have Tender Grapes, The Secret Garden, Little Women and Jane Eyre. In 1951 she retired from the screen. OBrien remained active on TV and on the dinner-theater circuit and in 1979 she began a stint as a civilian aide for Southern California to Secretary of the Army Clifford Alexander, while also concentrating her fundraising efforts for the AIDS cause.

The Palm Beach International Film Festival is a 501(c)(3) not for profit organization supporting film programs in local schools and dedicated to making a difference in the lives of future filmmakers by helping them fulfill their dreams to one-day work in the world of film.  For more information, please call (561) 362-0003 or visit the festival web site at www.pbifilmfest.org.  

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