Richard Gere to Receive Joel Siegel Award Presented by Diane Lane at VH1's 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards Ceremony

Richard Gere to Receive Joel Siegel Award Presented by Diane Lane at VH1's 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards Ceremony

Show To Be Broadcast Live On VH1 Thursday, January 8, 2009 at 9:00 PM (ET/PT)

Best Actress Nominee Kate Beckinsale, Best Supporting Actor and Actress Nominees Josh Brolin and Marisa Tomei and Academy Award(R) Winning Actor Dustin Hoffman are Among the Many Presenters for This Star-Studded Show

NEW YORK, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- The Broadcast Film Critics Association (BFCA) announced today that internationally renowned actor Richard Gere will be presented with the second annual Joel Siegel Award on Thursday, January 8, 2009 at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium during the 14th annual Critics' Choice Awards ceremony, which will air Live on VH1 at 9:00 PM (ET/PT).

Given annually, this special award pays homage to beloved "Good Morning America" film critic and BFCA member Joel Siegel, who lost his long struggle with cancer in June, 2007.

An accomplished advocate for human rights, Gere was the Co-founder and Chairman of Tibet House and joined the Board of Directors of the International Campaign for Tibet to more effectively address both national and international forums of influence. Second only to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Richard is the foremost public spokesman for the Tibetan crisis in forums from the United Nations to the United States Congress. He is a longtime sponsor of amfAR, Amnesty International, Survival International and Human Rights Watch. He has also focused on the battle against AIDS, working with the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Naz Foundation and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. He launched the Heroes Project in 2002 in partnership with the Avahan AIDS Initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

"We consider the Joel Siegel Award to be the highest honor we bestow," explained BFCA President Joey Berlin. "From his days as a student activist in the civil rights movement, to co-founding Gilda's Club to support cancer patients and their friends and family and to writing `Lessons for Dylan' inspired by his own illness, Joel strived mightily to make the world a better place. Richard personifies the qualities this award was created to celebrate."

The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards presenters include Amy Adams, Kevin Bacon, Elizabeth Banks, Angela Bassett, Kate Beckinsale, Kristen Bell, Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Josh Brolin, Common, Laura Dern, Rosemarie DeWitt, Aaron Eckhart, Dakota Fanning, Brendan Fraser, Sally Hawkins, Dustin Hoffman, Diane Lane, Melissa Leo, Eva Longoria, Chris Noth, Virginia Madsen, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Katy Perry, Sarah Silverman, Ben Stiller, Kristin Scott Thomas, and Marisa Tomei. The awards show will feature the rock band Rooney as this year's house band.

The largest film critics' organization with more than 200 members in the United States and Canada on television, radio and the Internet, the BFCA selected nominees for awards in each of 17 categories. The Critics' Choice Awards were created by the BFCA to recognize excellence in cinematic achievement. Eligible films were released in 2008. The accounting firm of Gregory A. Mogab tallied the written ballots. Historically, the Critics' Choice Awards are the most accurate predictor of the Academy Award nominations.

Counting down to the LIVE premiere of the Critics' Choice Awards, VH1 will air the "14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards Red Carpet Premiere" pre-show LIVE on Thursday, January 8 at 8:30pm (ET/PT). Covering the excitement of the celebrity arrivals on the red carpet will be "KTLA Morning News" entertainment reporter Sam Rubin and No Good TV's Carrie Keagan. Interspersed throughout the red carpet arrivals will be live backstage reports from NBC and Access Hollywood's Maria Menounos as she gives viewers an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at the final preperations before the big show. The pre-show will be available on http://criticschoice.vh1.com/ later that evening.

VH1's "Critics' Choice Awards" site http://criticschoice.vh1.com/, will be home to detailed information about the awards and will provide a forum for users to comment on this year's nominees. In the weeks leading up to the premiere VH1.com asked users to express their opinions on who they would pick to win the major categories online via user comments and opinion polls. This information will be fed to an online ticker that will run during the red carpet special and the poll results will be included in bumpers during the broadcast of the show. VH1.com will also have a live blog running during the show and post show, commenting on all the celebrities and excitement. Exclusive video footage from the event will include celebrity interviews, red carpet footage and more.

The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards are sponsored by Wal-Mart, AT&T and Crest Whitening Expressions.

The 14th Annual Critics' Choice Awards is executive produced by Bob Bain for Bob Bain Productions, Joey Berlin for Berlin Entertainment and Lee Rolontz for VH1.

   NOMINEES FOR THE 14TH ANNUAL CRITICS' CHOICE AWARDS    Top Nods Go to:    Milk (Eight Nominations)   Best Picture, Best Actor, Two Best Supporting Actor Nominations, Best   Acting Ensemble, Best Director, Best Writer, and Best Composer    The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Eight Nominations)   Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best   Acting Ensemble, Best Director, Best Writer, and Best Composer    The Dark Knight (Six Nominations)   Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Acting Ensemble, Best Director,   Best Action Movie, and Best Composer    Doubt (Six Nominations)   Best Picture, Best Actress, Best Supporting Actor, Best Supporting   Actress, Best Acting Ensemble and Best Writer    Slumdog Millionaire (Six Nominations)   Best Picture, Best Director, Best Writer, Best Young Actor/Actress, Best   Song, and Best Composer    BEST PICTURE   Changeling   The Curious Case of Benjamin Button   The Dark Knight   Doubt   Frost/Nixon   Milk   The Reader   Slumdog Millionaire   Wall-E   The Wrestler    BEST ACTOR   Clint Eastwood - Gran Torino   Richard Jenkins - The Visitor   Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon   Sean Penn - Milk   Brad Pitt - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button   Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler    BEST ACTRESS   Kate Beckinsale - Nothing But the Truth   Cate Blanchett - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button   Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married   Angelina Jolie - Changeling   Melissa Leo - Frozen River   Meryl Streep - Doubt    BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR   Josh Brolin - Milk   Robert Downey, Jr. - Tropic Thunder   Philip Seymour Hoffman - Doubt   Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight   James Franco - Milk    BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS   Penelope Cruz - Vicky Cristina Barcelona   Viola Davis - Doubt   Vera Farmiga - Nothing But the Truth   Taraji P. Henson - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button   Marisa Tomei - The Wrestler   Kate Winslet - The Reader    BEST ACTING ENSEMBLE   The Curious Case of Benjamin Button   The Dark Knight   Doubt   Milk   Rachel Getting Married    BEST DIRECTOR   Danny Boyle - Slumdog Millionaire   David Fincher - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button   Ron Howard - Frost/Nixon   Christopher Nolan - The Dark Knight   Gus Van Sant - Milk    BEST WRITER (Original or Adapted Screenplay)   Simon Beaufoy - Slumdog Millionaire   Dustin Lance Black - Milk   Peter Morgan - Frost/Nixon   Eric Roth - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button   John Patrick Shanley - Doubt    BEST ANIMATED FEATURE   Bolt   Kung Fu Panda   Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa   Wall-E   Waltz With Bashir    BEST YOUNG ACTOR/ACTRESS (Under 21)   Dakota Fanning - The Secret Life of Bees   David Kross - The Reader   Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire   Brandon Walters - Australia    BEST ACTION MOVIE   The Dark Knight   Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull   Iron Man   Quantum of Solace   Wanted    BEST COMEDY    Burn After Reading   Forgetting Sarah Marshall   Role Models   Tropic Thunder   Vicky Cristina Barcelona    BEST PICTURE MADE FOR TELEVISION    "John Adams"   "Recount"   "Coco Chanel"    BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM   A Christmas Tale   Gomorrah   I've Loved You So Long   Let the Right One In   Mongol   Waltz With Bashir    BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE   I.O.U.S.A.   Man On Wire   Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired   Standard Operating Procedure   Young At Heart    BEST SONG   "Another Way to Die" - Jack White and Alicia Keys/Jack White - Quantum of    Solace   "Down to Earth" - Peter Gabriel/Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman - Wall-E   "I Thought I Lost You" - Miley Cyrus and John Travolta/Miley Cyrus and   Jeffrey Steele - Bolt   "Jaiho" - Sukhwinder Singh/A.R. Rahman and Gulzar - Slumdog Millionaire   "The Wrestler" - Bruce Springsteen/Bruce Springsteen - The Wrestler    BEST COMPOSER   Alexandre Desplat - The Curious Case of Benjamin Button   Clint Eastwood - Changeling   Danny Elfman - Milk   Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard - The Dark Knight   A.R. Rahman - Slumdog Millionaire     Contacts:   Lori Bogin/VH1   212-846-7131   lori.bogin@vh1staff.com    Scott Acord/VH1   310-752-8075   scott.acord@vh1staff.com    Jamie Falkowitz/Kelly Krause   323-933-3399   CCA@mprm.com  

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FCMN Contact:

Source: VH1

CONTACT: Lori Bogin, +1-212-846-7131, lori.bogin@vh1staff.com, or Scott
Acord, +1-310-752-8075, scott.acord@vh1staff.com, both of VH1; or Jamie
Falkowitz, or Kelly Krause, +1-323-933-3399, CCA@mprm.com, for VH1

Web Site: http://criticschoice.vh1.com/

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Profile: International Entertainment