Jolie and Pitt Support American Foster Children With Grant of $100,000 for Christmas to American SOS Children’s Villages

WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — SOS Children’s Villages – USA today announced a gift of $100,000 from Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt to support its two American SOS Children’s Villages for Christmas.

SOS-Florida and SOS-Illinois were founded over fifteen years ago to provide an alternative form of foster care in the U.S. that puts an end to multiple placements, separation from siblings, physical and sexual abuse or neglect and abandonment.

Ms. Jolie said of the donation, “We have seen first-hand the remarkable job SOS does to raise orphaned and abandoned children and keep families together. No one ‘ages out’ of an SOS Village: vocational training, advanced education, living assistance and moral support are there forever.”
SOS Children’s Villages – USA CEO Heather Paul stated, “The Jolie-Pitt Foundation has been a strong and loyal supporter of SOS Children’s Villages around the world. We are deeply grateful that this year this couple has included in their generosity our villages in Illinois and Florida and our 300 children who call SOS ‘home.’” Brad Pitt: “In this holiday season, many of us take for granted that we are surrounded by loving family members. The poor outcomes for foster children indicate that we must do a much better job of supporting them.”
About SOS Children’s Villages in Illinois and Florida
SOS-Florida in Coconut Creek provides a home for 75 children of all ages. Services include tutoring, therapy, life skills, and family reunification when possible.
SOS-Illinois operates two villages, one in Lockport which cares for 102 children. A second village in South Chicago takes care of 84 children and youths. A Social Center also provides day care and support services for other families at risk. Another SOS Village on the West Side of Chicago is in the planning stages.
About SOS Children’s Villages
For 60 years, SOS Children’s Villages has been dedicated to the long-term care of orphaned and abandoned children. With 500 villages in 132 countries, SOS offers a family-based village model that provides for the holistic needs of a child – family, community, education and support – essential for the successful transition from childhood into adulthood. Through Villages, schools, medical facilities, micro-lending, and family strengthening programs, SOS Children’s Villages impacts the lives of over 1 million people each year. In 2009, SOS Children’s Villages was honored with the Save the World Award. SOS is also the recipient of the Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize and the Mother Teresa Gold Medal.

About U.S. Foster Care
There are 518,000 American children in foster care. Three in four are separated from their siblings. Most will live in six or more foster homes in the U.S. foster care system. Unfortunately, their future can be bleak: 25% are homeless at some time, 45% never finish high school

274 Films Eligible for 2009 Oscar® Race

Beverly Hills, CA — Two hundred seventy-four feature films are eligible for the Academy Award® for Best Picture of 2009, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today.
To be eligible for 82nd Academy Awards® consideration, feature films must open in a commercial motion picture theater in Los Angeles County by midnight, December 31, and begin a minimum run of seven consecutive days.
Under Academy rules, a feature-length motion picture must have a running time of more than 40 minutes and must have been exhibited theatrically on 35mm or 70mm film, or in a qualifying digital format.
Feature films that receive their first public exhibition or distribution in any manner other than as a theatrical motion picture release are not eligible for Academy Awards in any category.
The 82nd Academy Awards nominations will be announced on Tuesday, February 2, 2010, at 5:30 a.m. PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater.
Academy Awards for outstanding film achievements of 2009 will be presented on Sunday, March 7, 2010, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

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ABOUT THE ACADEMY
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is the world’s preeminent movie-related organization, with a membership of more than 6,000 of the most accomplished men and women working in cinema. In addition to the annual Academy Awards – in which the members vote to select the nominees and winners – the Academy presents a diverse year-round slate of public programs, exhibitions and events; provides financial support to a wide range of other movie-related organizations and endeavors; acts as a neutral advocate in the advancement of motion picture technology; and, through its Margaret Herrick Library and Academy Film Archive, collects, preserves, restores and provides access to movies and items related to their history. Through these and other activities the Academy serves students, historians, the entertainment industry and people everywhere who love movies.

Supple magazine has been given accreditation for the coverage of the 39th edition of the International Film Festival Rotterdam, from January 27 to Sunday February 7, including the much coveted CineMart, from January 31 -February 3, 2010.

Hundreds of filmmakers and other artists will show their films and special projects to a large audience in 24 screening venues located within central Rotterdam. Supple magazine will be among the over 3,000 newspapers and magazines, including radio and TV journalists and other stakeholders in the film industry coming to this highly acclaimed film festival. You are invited to join us.

~ Ekenyerengozi Michael Chima

Through the Glass and The Figurine Raised the Bar in Nollywood

Stephanie Okereke’s romantic comedy, Through the Glass and Kunle Afolayan’s horror movie, The Figurine: (Araromire) raised the bar for Nollywood movies in 2009.
These movies were accomplishments of young Nigerian directors who are not afraid to compete with the best in the world.

Through the Glass which was shot in America has made Stephanie a bankable filmmaker in Nollywood since the world premiere at the Pacific Design Center on Melrose Avenue, West Hollywood, CA, on October 18th, 2008 in US and screenings in Nigeria.
Stephanie said her movie was a sort of autobiography, because she used it to express the trials of her own turbulent romance.

Garrett McKechnie who is Stephanie;s gambit plays Jeffery who is stuck with an unknown baby and he must find the mother before his life is completely ruined.

The Figurine: (Araromire) is Kunle Afolayan’s most daring movie since he stepped into the big shoes of his late father, Adeyemi Afolayan a.k.a “Ade Love” who was an accomplished Nigerian filmmaker in the 1970s and early 1980s.

The Figurine (Araromire) tells the melodramatic story of two buddies and their love for the same girl. Their lives take a dramatic turn when one of them discovers the accursed “Araromire”, a mysterious figurine in an abandoned shrine in a Nigerian village, which, according to legend bestows seven years of good luck, but they are ignorant of the next seven years of unforeseen circumstances. The movie has Nollywood star Ramsey Nouah and the filmmaker himself playing the lead roles of the two buddies with Funlola Aofiyebi-Raimi, Tosin Sido, Omoni Oboli and Muraina Oyelami who did not disappoint in their challenging roles.

Using good professionals in the cast and crew made the productions of the two movies more accomplished than previous Nollywood movies.