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March 28, 2007

For Immediate Release

South Africas Top Filmmaker Anant Singh To Be Honored at Inaugural World Showcase of Films South Africa

PALM BEACH, FL., March 26, 2007 The 12th Annual Palm Beach International Film Festival (PBIFF) will pay a special tribute to South Africa on Monday, April 23 with a full day of festivities, including screenings of South African films, a special tribute to one its leading filmmakers, Anant Singh. All four of the films featured are Singh films including the first South African film ever to be nominated for an Academy Award as well as the highest grossing South African film of all time.

The daylong South African event, sponsored by South Africas 65,000-acre  private game reserve, Kwandwe Private Game Reserve, is part of a newly inaugurated World Showcase of Films, which will feature premieres of independent films from two new countries each year with this years focus on South Africa and Israel during the eight-day Festival from April 19-26.

In choosing a countrys films to recognize, South Africa was one of the first that came to mind, said Randi Emerman, Executive Director of the Palm Beach International Film Festival.  Because of the cultural impact these films have had on the world, its PBIFFs honor to bring this excellence to South Florida.

The 2007 World Showcase of Film Lineup all screening at Sunrise Cinemas in Mizner Park

Yesterday: After falling ill, Yesterday (Khumalo) learns that she is HIV positive. With her husband in denial and young daughter to tend to, Yesterday's one goal is to live long enough to see her child go to school.  Cast: Kenneth Khamubula, Leleti Khumalo, Harriet Lenabe, Lihle Mvelase and Camilla Walker. Directed and written by: Darrell Roodt;
Produced by: Anant Singh and Helena Spring
Screening time: 12:30 pm
Awards: Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film; Best Foreign Film Nominee Independent Spirit Award

Mr. Bones: A medicine man is looking for the son of his tribal king, and brings back an American golfer and a host of gooms intent on keeping him in the golf tournament.  Cast: Leon Schuster, David Ramsye, Faison Love, Written by: Leon Schuster, Gray Hofmeyr, Greg Latter. Directed by: Gray Hofmeyr; Produced by: Anant Singh and Helena Spring.
Screening time: 3:00 pm
*The Highest grossing South African film of all time, earning more than $32 million at the box office.

Red Dust: An intense courtroom drama set during South Africas Truth and Reconciliation hearings and its decisive struggle to heal the wounds of apartheid atrocities.  Cast: Hilary Swank, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Jamie Bartlett, Marius Weyers, Written by: Troy Kennedy-Martin. Directed by: Dennis Hooper; Produced by: Anant Singh and Helena Spring
Screening time: 6:45 pm

Dollars and White Pipes: In the poverty stricken Cape Flats in Cape Town, South Africa, drug addict Bernie Baaitjies dreams of hitting the big time like his Dallas TV hero, JR Ewing.  Problem is, Bernie is no JR.  Cast: Clint Brink, Joey Rasdien, Jonathan Pienaar, Genevieve Howard, Written by: Donovan Marsh. Directed by: Donovan Marsh;
Produced by: Anant Singh and Helena Spring
Screening time: 9:00 pm

With each paid theater admissions, guests are invited to join Sinhg, filmmakers and South African representatives at this free after party at La Cigale at 253 SE Federal Hwy., Delray Beach, hosted by Carl deSantis.

The excitement of the 12th Annual Palm Beach International Film Festival begins Thursday, April 19 and runs through Thursday, April 26. Additional activities, events, educational seminars and celebrity honorees will be announced in the coming weeks. For updates, schedules and ticket packages visit www.pbifilmfest.org or call  .

About PBIFF

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.

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Anant Singh Bio

Anant Singh is recognized as South Africas pre-eminent film producer, having produced fifty-eight films since 1984.  He is responsible for many of the greatest anti-apartheid films made in South Africa, including Place Of Weeping, Sarafina! and Cry, the Beloved Country.  Nelson Mandela called him a producer I respect very mucha man of tremendous ability when he granted him the film rights to his autobiography, Long Walk To Freedom.   Singh is set to film Long Walk to Freedom next year.

Singh is the producer of Yesterday (from director, Darrell James Roodt), which received South Africas first Academy Award Nomination in the Best Foreign Language Picture category in 2005, the Peabody Award and an Emmy Nomination in 2006 in the Outstanding Made For Television Movie category.

Born and raised in Durban, Singh began his film career at age 18 when he left his studies at the University of Durban-Westville to purchase a 16mm movie rental store.  From there, he moved into video distribution, forming Videovision Enterprises (now Videovision Entertainment).  He moved into film production in 1984 with Darrell James Roodts acclaimed Place of Weeping, the first anti-apartheid film to be made entirely in South Africa.

A selection of his subsequent feature films includes: Sarafina! with Whoopi Goldberg; The Road to Mecca, with Kathy Bates; Father Hood, with Patrick Swayze and Halle Berry; Captives, with Julia Ormond and Tim Roth; Cry, the Beloved Country, with James Earl Jones and Richard Harris;  Paljas (shot in Afrikaans, the first South African film to be selected for Oscar Consideration in the Best Foreign Language film category) Red Dust, with Hilary Swank and Chiwetel Ejiofor.

Singhs association with South Africas Number One Box office star, Leon Schuster, saw the production of the hit comedy Mr Bones which became the highest grossing South African film of all time, earning more than $32 million at the box office.

Anant Singh has also been involved in the production of many important documentaries, including Countdown to Freedom, about the first free election in South Africa, and Prisoners of Hope, about a reunion on Robben Island of 1250 of its former political prisoners led by Nelson Mandela.

Singh is a board member of the International Marketing Council Of South Africa and is the only South African member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

The South African Film Industry recognized Anant Singh for his significant contribution to the advancement of the industry with the Golden Horn Award for Outstanding Contributor at the inaugural South African Film And Television Awards. Singh is a recipient of the Crystal Award of the World Economic Forum and the Lifetime Founder Member Award of the Nelson Mandela Childrens Fund. Both the University of Durban-Westville and the University Of Port Elizabeth have conferred honorary doctorates on him.

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