22ND ANNUAL ISRAEL FILM FESTIVAL

PRESENTS OVER 40 FILMS MARCH 7-22



Amy Pascal, co-chair of Sony Pictures Entertainment, will be honored with the 2007 IFF Visionary Award at the 22nd Annual Israel Film Festival Opening Night Awards Gala at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on March 6, was announced today by Festival Founder and Executive Director Meir Fenigstein.

Last year’s Visionary Award recipients were Focus Features CEO James Schamus and Universal Pictures Co-Chairman David Linde. Schamus also serves as this year’s festival chairman, along with past festival honorees Brillstein-Grey Entertainment co-founder and partner Bernie Brillstein and acclaimed producer David Brown (Jaws, A Few Good Men, The Player).

“Amy’s achievements within the film industry as well as her continued support of Israel, make her an ideal recipient for the Visionary Award,” Fenigstein said. “She is a champion within the film community, has been embraced by The Consul General of Israel, Ehud Danoch, and we are looking forward to honoring her.”

The Israel Film Festival is the largest showcase of Israeli films in North America presenting the best new Israeli feature films, documentaries, television dramas and series, student films and a variety of special events and community outreach programs.

The program presents 40 films in various venues with multiple screenings taking place at Laemmle Sunset 5 Theaters and Egyptian Theater in Hollywood, WGA Theater in Beverly Hills, Laemmle in Encino and Fallbrook 7 in West Hills.

A complete list of films to be presented at this year’s festival will be announced shortly.

The Festival will continue after Los Angeles, in Miami April 26-May 3 and in New York June 6-21.

Ms. Pascal was named Co-Chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment in September 2006 and has served as Chairman of the Sony Pictures Entertainment Motion Picture Group since December 2003.

In addition to her role in running Sony Pictures Entertainment, Ms. Pascal is responsible for overseeing all development and production activities at Columbia Pictures. Highly anticipated projects from the legendary studio include Ghost Rider starring Nicolas Cage and Eva Mendes, Sony Pictures Animation's Surf's Up, Spider-Man® 3 directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst, Reign Over Me, starring Adam Sandler, Angels & Demons, Bond 22, and many others.

Under Ms. Pascal's guidance, Columbia Pictures has enjoyed sustained success with such hit films as Spider-Man® and Spider-Man 2®, Hitch, Fun With Dick and Jane, R.V., The Grudge, 50 First Dates, Something's Gotta Give, Closer, Big Fish, Guess Who, Bad Boys 2, S.W.A.T., Once Upon A Time in Mexico, Charlie's Angels®: Full Throttle, Panic Room, Mr. Deeds, Men in Black II, Charlie's Angels®, and Big Daddy, among others.

Since 2002, Sony Pictures Entertainment has released 40 #1 films and has generated more cumulative domestic ticket sales than any other studio. In addition, Sony has generated more than a billion dollars at North American ticket booths for each of the past five years, a record matched by only one other studio in the history of box office.

Ms. Pascal was a studio executive for Columbia from 1987 to 1994, then served as President of Production for Turner Pictures for two years before rejoining Columbia in 1996 as President.


Earlier in her career, Ms. Pascal was Vice President of Production at 20th Century Fox in 1986-1987. Before joining Fox, she worked for producer Tony Garnett at Kestral Films, an independent production company affiliated with Warner Bros.


During the past two decades, she has overseen the production of such hit films as Michael, Big Daddy, A Knight's Tale, Groundhog Day, A League of Their Own, Little Women, Stuart Little, Stuart Little 2 and Awakenings, among many others.


In addition to her creative achievements in filmed entertainment, Ms. Pascal serves on the AFI Board of Trustees as well as the Executive Board of the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. She graduated from UCLA with a degree in International Relations.



About the Israel Film Festival

Celebrating its 22nd year with events in Los Angeles, New York and Miami, the Festival is one of the major foreign film festivals in the United States. In the last two decades, the Festival has presented more than 700 feature films, documentaries, television dramas and short films to over 750,000 filmgoers and brought hundreds of Israeli filmmakers to the U.S. to share their art.

Past festival honorees include executive chair Tom Rothman, directors Norman Jewison, Milos Forman, Sidney Lumet, Penny Marshall and Arthur Hiller, producers James Schamus, David Linde, Laura Ziskin, Gale Ann Hurd, Michael Fuchs, Arnon Milchan, David Brown and Mike Medavoy, manager Bernie Brillstein, Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, author Eli Wiesel, news anchor Larry King, and many more.

The 22nd Israel Film Festival is presented in association with the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles and sponsored in part by the Israel Film Fund, J-Date, The Ant Farm, The Ted Arison Family Foundation, The Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, Security Couriers, Modern Videofilm, New Regency Production, Millennium Films and The Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles among others.

The Israel Film Festival is presented by the IsraFest Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization created in 1982.

For additional information, including sponsorship opportunities, visit

www.israelfilmfestival.com or call toll-free 1-877-966-5566.