(October 21, 2007) FILM INDEPENDENT ANNOUNCES SLOAN PRODUCERS GRANT RECIPIENT

Film Independent announced today the recipient of the first annual Sloan Producers Grant. The organization also announced the fellows selected for Film Independent's annual Producers Lab, which runs in Los Angeles from October 22 through December 6, 2007. Ram Bergman (Brick) will teach the Lab, which is sponsored by Technicolor.

The Sloan Producers Grant was awarded to Monique Caulfield, who is producing the feature film Basmati Blues, a comedy with musical elements about love, adventure, and genetically-modified rice. The film is written by Danny Baron and Jeff Dorchen and will be directed by Baron; among the musical artists with songs in the film are Burt Bacharach and Brian Wilson, Taj Mahal, Cornershop, Sonu Nigam, and Anoushka Shankar. As the recipient of the Sloan Producers Grant, Caulfield will receive a $25,000 development grant, admission to Film Independent’s 2007 Producers Lab, and year-round support from Film Independent.

The grant is funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which seeks to create and develop new scripts and films about science and technology and to see them into commercial production with national and international distribution. It has screenplay development programs with the Tribeca, Sundance and Hamptons Film Festivals, as well as other select independent partners and film schools.

Two other projects accepted into the Producers Lab were singled out as honorable mentions for the Sloan Producers Grant: Gretchen Somerfeld and David Baxter’s project Face Value, about actress-inventor Heddy Lamar; and Minh Nguyen-Vo and Julien Favre's film Point of Reference.

"Monique Caulfield's Basmati Blues truly reflects the spirit of the Sloan Producers Grant and Film Independent – diverse, imaginative and original," said Dawn Hudson, Executive Director of Film Independent. "Monique and the future recipients of this new grant will be able to draw from the vast resources that Film Independent has to offer."

"We are delighted to partner with Film Independent in launching this inaugural Producer's Grant for a feature film with science and technology themes and/or characters, and we were thrilled by the high caliber of submissions," said Doron Weber, Program Director at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. "With its musical and comical elements and its multicultural cast of characters, Basmati Blues takes a fresh and slyly irreverent approach to a serious subject, showing that science and technology can be fodder for entertainment, illumination and, we hope, box office success."

Film Independent's Producers Lab began in 2001. Sponsored by Technicolor, the intensive seven-week program is designed to assist producers working in independent film improve their craft and move their current projects into production. The Lab has been taught by such producers as Effie T. Brown (Rocket Science), Eric d’Arbeloff (Lovely and Amazing), Matthew Greenfield (The Good Girl), Gina Kwon (Me and You and Everyone We Know), Shelby Stone (Lackawanna Blues), and Alison Dickey (Piggie).

This year's guest speakers will include writer/director Stephanie Allain (Black Snake Moan), writer/director/producer Scott Prendergast (Kabluey), attorney Craig Emanuel (Loeb & Loeb), producer Julie Lynn (The Jane Austen Book Club), producer Sam Kitt (Love and Basketball), and executive Joe Pichirallo (Overbrook Entertainment).

"We are so happy to have Ram Bergman leading this year's Lab," said Josh Welsh, Film Independent's Director of Talent Development. "And partnering with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation marks a substantial step forward in the support we can offer to these producers as they move their projects forward."

The Film Independent Producers Lab participants were chosen based on the strength of screenwriter's submitted script and application, and an interview process. This year's participants and their projects are:

Monique Caulfield, BASMATI BLUES
Mike Miller, CLEAVE
Suzi Yoonessi, DEAR LEMON LIMA,
Jennifer Westin, ENGLISH ROSE
Susan Glatzer and Martha Little, EVA AND ME
Gretchen Somerfeld and David Baxter, FACE VALUE
Jason Weiss, THE GORDONS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Morgan Stiff, MISSISSIPPI DAMNED
Gert Basson, PO’ BOYS
Julien Favre and Minh Nguyen-Vo, POINT OF REFERENCE

Past Producers Lab participants include Scott Prendergast, whose debut feature Kabluey premiered at the 2007 Los Angeles Film Festival; Ted Kroeber, who produced the IFC film American Gun, Four Sheets to the Wind, and Splinter; So Yong Kim, whose debut feature In Between Days was released by New Yorker Films this year; and Jessica Sanders, whose documentary film After Innocence was short-listed for the 2006 Academy Awards®.

ABOUT FILM INDEPENDENT
Film Independent is a non-profit membership organization that champions independent film and supports a community of artists who embody diversity, innovation, and uniqueness of vision. Film Independent helps filmmakers make their movies, builds the audience for their projects, and works to diversify the film industry. Anyone passionate about film can become a member, whether you are a filmmaker, film industry leader, or a film lover.

With over 250 annual screenings and events, Film Independent provides access to a network of like-minded artists who are driving creativity in the film industry. Film Independent also offers free Filmmaker Labs for selected writers, directors, and producers; provides cut-rate services for filmmakers; and presents year-round networking opportunities. Film Independent's mentorship and job placement program, Project:Involve, pairs emerging culturally-diverse filmmakers with film industry professionals.

Film Independent produces the Los Angeles Film Festival, celebrating the best of American and international cinema, and the Spirit Awards, a celebration honoring films and filmmakers that embody independence and dare to challenge the status quo. For more information or to become a member, visit FilmIndependent.org.

ABOUT THE SLOAN FOUNDATION
The New York-based Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, founded in 1934, makes grants in science, technology, and the quality of American life. The Foundation's program in public understanding of science and technology, directed by Doron Weber, supports books, radio, film, television, and theatre, including not only Proof, Copenhagen, and Alan Alda's QED, but dozens of new plays from the Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Magic Theater, and the Manhattan Theater Club, such as Kenneth Lonergan's upcoming The Starry Messenger with Mathew Broderick, developed as both play and screenplay.