For Immediate Release, Please

IFC UNIT RIDES DIGITAL WAVE OVERSEAS

SANTA MONICA, CA -- August 3, 2000 -- The Independent Film Channel's Next Wave Films today announced that THE TROUBLE WITH MEN AND WOMEN is its first UK digital feature. The film is being fully funded through its production arm, Agenda 2000, which finances and produces digital features for wide release.

Currently shooting in London, THE TROUBLE WITH MEN AND WOMEN is writer-director Tony Fisher's feature film debut. It is a comic drama that depicts the sentimental education of a Candide-like young man. Christopher Simon is producing THE TROUBLE WITH MEN AND WOMEN. It is his second collaboration with Tony Fisher and follows the success of their short film, TO HELL WITH LOVE, which screened at the London Film Festival last year.

Fisher and Simon have assembled a strong cast for their film, which stars Joe McFadden (THE CROW ROAD; SMALL FACES), Kate Ashfield (THE WAR ZONE) and Matthew Delamere (EIGHT AND A HALF WOMEN). Other members of the ensemble cast include: Christine Tremarco (PRIEST), Vaz Blackwood (LOCK, STOCK & TWO SMOKING BARRELS), Neve McIntosh (GORMENGHAST), Karine Adrover (RHINOCEROS HUNTING IN BUDAPEST), Julian Glover (STAR WARS: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK), Christopher Simon (ROOM TO RENT), and Karen Tomlin (PRIME SUSPECT).

Fisher said that "Next Wave Films is at the forefront of the revolution in filmmaking, not just the digital one but a moral one, putting creativity back where it belongs—in the hands of the filmmaker." According to Peter Broderick, president of Next Wave Films, "THE TROUBLE WITH MEN AND WOMEN is a model digital feature—a smart script, a great producer-director team, a terrific cast, and the right digital tools." The film is one of the first features in the UK to be shot with Sony's new camera, the PD 150, and edited with Apple's Final Cut Pro software.

A graduate of the National Film and TV School, Fisher observed that "shooting on DV has enabled me to find a balance between the constraints of low budget and creativity, between compromise and art, and has given me a new intimacy with performance. Capturing the hidden gestures of life has never been easier."

"Agenda 2000 was established to enable filmmakers to make exceptional features less expensively and with greater creative control," explained Liz Rosenthal, Next Wave's representative in the UK and the film's Associate Producer. "We have two other digital features underway in the US—MANIC just wrapped and PAPER CHASERS is in production."

Next Wave Films was created by the Independent Film Channel to help launch the careers of exceptionally talented new filmmakers. Its films include Joe Carnahan’s BLOOD GUTS BULLETS AND OCTANE, Christopher Nolan’s FOLLOWING, Ron Judkin’s THE HI-LINE, Julie Money’s ENVY, Josh Aronson’s SOUND AND FURY, Amir Bar-Lev's FIGHTER and David Shapiro and Laurie Gwen Shapiro's KEEP THE RIVER ON YOUR RIGHT: A MODERN CANNIBAL TALE.

The Independent Film Channel (IFC), managed and operated by Bravo Networks, is the first channel dedicated to independent film presented 24 hours a day, uncut and commercial-free. The Independent Film Channel, reaching more than 30 million homes on a full-time basis, is the most widely distributed channel dedicated to independent film on television.

For further information, please contact:

Virginia Nelson/Hannah Rothman JAC Publicity T: 020 7261 1211 virginia@jac-ltd.com Liz Rosenthal Next Wave Films T: 020 7 449 9779 LizRosen@aol.com

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