Starz Entertainment Group Dons a Lei to Sponsor Maui Film Festival

Starz Entertainment Group Dons a Lei to Sponsor Maui Film Festival

Premium Television Service Will Support Audience Awards and Cosmic Closing Party at Festival June 15-19

MAUI, Hawaii, and ENGLEWOOD, Colo., June 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Starz Entertainment Group, LLC, (SEG) announced today that it will sponsor the Audience Awards and the Cosmic Closing Night Party at the Maui Film Festival June 15-19. The five Audience Awards -- for narrative feature, documentary feature, narrative short, documentary short and world cinema -- are presented at the Cosmic Closing Night Party based on audience votes for the 60+ films screened during the festival. In addition, SEG will present a special award for short form film making at the Cosmic Closing Night Party.

"In just six years the Maui Film Festival has earned a place among the top film festivals in the world," said Jerry Maglio, executive vice president of marketing, SEG. "We are delighted to become part of this important showcase for the most innovative film makers, not least because of its extraordinarily enchanting setting."

Maui Film Festival director Barry Rivers said that the support of SEG is a gratifying vote of confidence for the festival because, "these folks live, breathe and dream movies 24 hours a day on 13 different channels. If anybody knows films, it is the folks at Starz, who are also a perfect fit for the festival given the fact that our crown jewel under-the-stars venue is the Celestial Cinema and our festival passes are named Shooting Star, Rising Star, Shooting Star, Comet and Galaxy. We are extremely happy to extend our warmest aloha and welcome them to our 'ohana (the Hawaiian word for 'family')."

Maglio said SEG plans to use footage shot at the festival -- including interviews with the stars who will attend this year's event -- as interstitial programming between films on the Starz linear services and as bonus short features on Starz on Demand and Starz Ticket. "Our viewers love movies, and they enjoy seeing the events and celebrities that make the film industry. We are delighted that we will be able to bring the magic and excitement of the Maui Film Festival to millions of Starz customers."

Rivers noted that SEG joins a distinguished list of sponsors including American Airlines, Cingular Wireless, Starbucks Coffee, Hollywood Reporter, Daily Variety and Tommy Bahama. The Maui Film Festival began in 1999 with just 1,500 attendees. This year's event is expected to attract more than 20,000 film lovers. And the list of celebrities who will attend, Rivers predicted, will be the most extensive in the history of the festival.

A-list stars who have attended the MIFF in the past include Clint Eastwood, Angela Bassett, Greg Kinnear, Rob Reiner, Adrian Brody, Woody Harrelson, Geena Davis, Anthony Hopkins and Bill Mahr.

Maglio noted that SEG already is the name sponsor of the Starz Denver International Film Festival, scheduled this year for Nov. 10-20. "The addition of Maui to the film festivals we support provides a nice geographic and seasonal balance," he said.

Starz Entertainment Group LLC (SEG) is the largest provider of premium movie services in the United States with approximately 174 million pay units. SEG offerings include the Starz Encore Movie Pack with 13 digital movie channels and more than 750 movies per month, Starz HDTV, Starz On Demand, and Starz Ticket, the first and only on-demand premium TV subscription service available on the broadband platform. Starz Entertainment Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, www.starz.com.

Tom Southwick Ellen Peterson Starz Entertainment Group Maui Film Festival 720.852.5821 808.264.7083 tom.southwick@starz.comcoconut@maui.com

Source: Starz Entertainment Group, LLC

CONTACT: Tom Southwick of Starz Entertainment Group, +1-720-852-5821, tom.southwick@starz.com; or Ellen Peterson of Maui Film Festival, +1-808-264-7083, coconut@maui.com

Web site: http://www.starz.com/

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