A Five-Star Panel: Judges Announced for Stella Artois Short Film Project

A Five-Star Panel: Judges Announced for Stella Artois Short Film Project

Kevin Spacey, Sacha Baron Cohen and Laurence Fishburne Among Panel to Select Winner

ST. LOUIS, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Stella Artois and Triggerstreet.com announced today a celebrity-filled panel of five judges chosen to select the winner of the $50,000 Stella Artois Short Film Project. The judging panel includes actors Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne and Sacha Baron Cohen, actress Judi Dench and songwriter James Blunt. Each judge will review and rank the ten short films selected as finalists by Triggerstreet.com members.

"When you see this level of award-winning talent volunteering their time to select the winner of the Stella Artois Short Film Project, it sends a clear message about the importance of supporting the arts and independent film makers," said David Daniels, product manager, Stella Artois. "Through the Stella Artois Short Film Project, the sacrifices these filmmakers have made to bring their visions to life are being recognized."

Filmmakers have until June 15 to submit their short film projects to TriggerStreet.com to be considered for the $50,000 grand prize. To be eligible, participants must be 21 years of age or older and the films must display the themes of "sacrifice" or "perfection" in less than 10 minutes. A complete list of rules is available on TriggerStreet.com.

"The judges serving on this panel have volunteered because we want to foster an environment where independent filmmakers have every opportunity to find success," said Kevin Spacey, Academy Award winning actor and TriggerStreet.com co-founder. "Everyone reviewing the finalists understands how hard it is to find a break in the entertainment industry and by giving our time to the Stella Artois Short Film Project, we can help one filmmaker take the next step in his or her career."

   The panel of judges includes:    --  Kevin Spacey - An actor, director, screenwriter and producer, Spacey       won his first Academy Award for The Usual Suspects (Best Supporting       Actor), followed by a Academy Award for Best Actor in 1999 for his       role in American Beauty.   --  James Blunt - A former British Army officer, singer/songwriter, James       Blunt's debut album, Back to Bedlam, and its hit single, "You're       Beautiful," hit number one in over a dozen countries, and sold over 10       million copies worldwide.   --  Sacha Baron Cohen - A British comedian, Cohen is well-known for his       highly successful comedy characters Ali G and Borat.  Cohen co-starred       in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" and received a 2006       Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion       Picture for "Borat."   --  Judi Dench - Widely recognized as one of Great Britain's greatest       modern actresses, Dame Judi Dench is one of the most frequently       nominated actresses in Academy Award history, earning a "Best       Supporting Actress Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in       "Shakespeare in Love" (1998).    --  Laurence Fishburne - An Emmy Award-winning, Tony Award-winning and       Academy Award-nominated actor of screen and stage, Fishburne also is a       playwright, director, and producer. He is perhaps best known for his       role as Morpheus in the Matrix science fiction film trilogy, and for       his portrayal of singer-musician Ike Turner in the Tina Turner biopic       What's Love Got to Do With It.    

TriggerStreet.com was founded in 2002 by two time Academy Award winner Kevin Spacey and producer Dana Brunetti as an interactive mechanism to discover and showcase emerging filmmaking and writing talent. With the legal--and attendant procedural--restrictions on outsiders in Hollywood, Spacey and Brunetti sought to democratize exposure, providing an avenue of communication between Hollywood and emerging talent everywhere, thereby working to overcome the barriers they so often encounter.

Responding to the enthusiasm and high quality of work produced by its burgeoning film community, TriggerStreet.com evolved as a social networking utility to provide an evolving platform for emerging artists in different media: the strength of the peer-based review system and the positive impact of the resultant constructive criticism catalyzed the addition of several new specialized communities. Beyond its Short Film and Screenplay sections, TriggerStreet.com now provides opportunity for feedback and exposure for Short Stories, Books, Plays, and - most recently - Comics.

Stella Artois traces its origin back to 1366 to a brewery called Den Hoorn, located in Leuven, a town just outside of Brussels. In 1717, master brewer Sebastian Artois purchased the brewery and renamed it to his namesake. The Artois Brewery created a special brew to celebrate Christmas and named it Stella (Latin for star) for its exceptional clarity. Today, Stella Artois is the gold standard for Belgian lagers with its distinctive flavor and spicy hop character.

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Source: Stella Artois; Triggerstreet.com

CONTACT: Dan Pierce of Anheuser-Busch, +1-314-577-7197,
Dan.Pierce@anheuser-busch.com

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Profile: International Entertainment