Xenon Pictures Inks DVD Rights to Sought After Faith-Based Theatrical Hit

Xenon Pictures Inks DVD Rights to Sought After Faith-Based Theatrical Hit

Vatican-Endorsed 'Therese' Coming to DVD

Story of the Most Popular Saint of Modern Times

"A magnificent film. There was hardly a dry eye in the movie theater." -- Father Andrew Apostoli, Franciscan Friar of the Renewal, author and EWTN host

"Therese is a masterpiece!" -- Father Donald Kinney, O.C.D., Chairman of the relics of Saint Therese (U.S.)

"Therese is a mirror of what's in us. I'm impressed with Luke Films' vision and understanding of the importance of a Catholic voice within the entertainment industry... I encourage Catholics to support THERESE any way they can."-His Eminence Francis Cardinal George, ARCHBISHOP OF CHICAGO, Vice President of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops

"The best film on her inspiring life" -- Archbishop John P. Foley, VATICAN

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Aug. 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Xenon Pictures announces it has officially licensed the DVD rights for "Therese" the story of Therese Martin, who later became known as St. Therese of Lisieux, the "Little Flower". The movie was produced by Luke Films, a Catholic media company based in Portland, Oregon, specializing in spiritual films for the modern audience. Xenon plans to release the DVD in the United States later this year.

Therese is the first-ever feature length film to receive an official Vatican endorsement before its theatrical release. Critics have called the film "sensitive and humorous," "a lesson in inspiration," "a beautiful two- hour retreat from the world," and "a tremendous cinematic achievement."

During its record breaking 2004 theatrical run, Therese ranked #2 in per screen average, compared to other major studio-driven films such as "Shark Tale", "Ray" and "Taxi" and continued to break records well into its fifth week, outperforming "I Heart Huckabees" and "Ladder 49."

Therese follows the life of Saint Therese Martin from early childhood until her death in 1897 from tuberculosis. Denied admittance to a Carmelite convent at the age of 15, Therese pleads her case to Pope Leo XIII himself and later is allowed to take her vows. After initially struggling to adjust to convent life, Therese grows to see her situation in a different light which leads to the authorship of her own spiritual manual "Story of A Soul" explaining her religious philosophy. This autobiography, emphasizing the "Little Way" of undertaking daily tasks with no expectation of personal gain, has been translated into 60 languages and has sold over 100 million copies. After her death, the numerous miracles attributed to her intercession resulted in Therese being canonized in 1925.

St. Therese is considered the most popular saint of modern times. After the overwhelming response to the 1997 debut of director Leonardo Defillppis' one woman play on St. Therese of Lisieux, millions of her followers around the world clamored for a feature film on her life and Defillppis happily obliged.

Steve Housden, Vice President/C.O.O. of Xenon Pictures, says that "We have followed the success of Therese for some time now, and are very pleased to be part of the process of taking this phenomenon into its next phase. This is a very special film with a faithful audience that is much larger than the theatrical release was able to reach."

The film's soundtrack, which was composed entirely by a cloistered Carmelite nun, features the talents of many notable Pacific Northwest musicians under the direction of conductor Vilem Sokol of the Seattle Youth Symphony Orchestra. The soundtrack album will be released by Xenon Records, also distributed through Universal Music Group.

Xenon Pictures, Inc., established in 1986 and based in Santa Monica California, is the leading distributor of Urban, Spanish language, and specialty programming in the United States.

ON THE WEB: www.xenonpictures.com

LUKE FILMS, INC: Launched in 2000, Luke Films, Inc. is the Media Acquisition, Production and Distribution division of Saint Luke Productions. Luke Films is recognized in the studios/mainstream industry as the premiere spiritual media company specializing in faith-based Catholic films and videos.

ON THE WEB: www.theresemovie.com

Universal Music & Video Distribution / Visual Entertainment is a unit of Universal Music Group, the world's leading music company.

ON THE WEB: www.UMVD.com

Contact: Susan Self at Xenon Pictures SusanSelf@XenonPictures.com

Source: Xenon Pictures, Inc.

CONTACT: Susan Self at Xenon Pictures, +1-310-597-0607, SusanSelf@XenonPictures.com

Web site: http://www.xenonpictures.com/ http://www.theresemovie.com/ http://www.umvd.com/

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