PRESS RELEASE; Festival Success of 'Dear Juliet'

 

'Dear Juliet' is truly reaching a global audience, as indeed dear Juliet's letters should...

 

The cinema was silent as an angel unfolded onscreen in the Palm Beach USA... at the world premier of Dear Juliet at the 10th Palm Beach International Film Festival. The much heralded opening began with actors from the Shakespeare Society performing 'That' Most Famous Scene of Romeo and Juliet.. and then Dear Juliet came to life. As autograph hunters waited patiently after the film for Wendy Dent's signatures, the audience waited with baited breath to find out more about how to contact Dear Juliet themselves and to share their own reflections on such a heartfelt film, proving Dear Juliet to be a film a truly dearly loved by its audience.

Wendy Dent also was a special guest at the Gala Awards, presenting the Lifetime in Entertainment Award to Leslie Nielsen, in front of an audience including such luminaries as Woody Harrelson, Salma Hayek, Venus Williams and Serena Williams.

Just days later Dear Juliet then won a prestigious GOLD SPECIAL JURY AWARD at The 38th Worldfest Houston (Houston International Film Festival), and screened in official selection in the Film as Art program.

Dear Juliet was then officially invited and screened in competition at Rome International Film Festival, The International Audiovisual Festival of Azerbaijan, where Wendy Dent won the golden angel award for Best Producer, and then at one of the prestigious DaKINO International Film Festival (Bucharest, Romania) where it was a favourite to audiences and judges alike.

 

And then... a special day came for perhaps the most special of all the screenings; For St Valentine's Day this year, Dear Juliet screened in Verona, Italy - the beautiful romantic Italian town where it was filmed. It was presented in a beautiful palace by the famous Piazza Bra by the city council of Verona, and Verona's Festival of Films about Love ('Schermi D'Amore'), and introduced by Guilio Tamassia, the the President of The Juliet Club .

 

Yes, in the hearts and minds of people all around the world, and now on screens around the globe also, 'Dear Juliet' lives on...

 

 

MORE festival red carpet photos & director portraits;

 

FILM PREMIERES 2005 (red carpet portraits

FILM PREMIERES 2005; Dear Juliet world premiere

FILM PREMIERES; PBIFF 2005 opening party

FILM PREMIERES (red carpet portraits)

 

 

 

PRESS RELEASE NOVEMBER 2004;

'Girls From Ipanema' & 'Kissed By A Crocodile' screened in 5 continents;

international film festival success

By the year's end audiences across AUSTRALIA, EUROPE, NORTH AMERICA and the CARRIBEAN, AFRICA and the MIDDLE EAST will have enjoyed two Wendy Dent feature documentaries; Girls From Ipanema and Kissed By A Crocodile were included in festivals and screened for the public in;

AUSTRALIA, AZERBAIJAN, USA, GERMANY, GREECE, CANADA, BELGIUM, ROMANIA, BAHAMAS, TURKS & CAICOS, CZECH REPUBLIC, ZIMBABWE

Following the WORLD PREMIERE of

GIRLS FROM IPANEMA on April 18, 2004

at the prestigious Palm Beach International Film Festival (Florida USA) and Worldfest Houston GOLD AWARD- comes more good news;

Girls From Ipanema has now also been selected for the International Audiovisual Festival of AZERBAIJAN and the 1st TURKS AND CAICOS film festival in the CARRIBBEAN.

Wendy Dent's documentary KISSED BY A CROCODILE had its African and West Coast USA premieres this September in the official selection of 3 upcoming film festivals (See below for further details). It will next screen in GERMANY in the Biberach Independent Film Festival and in ROMANIA in competition at the Dakino International Film Festival.

Wendy Dent is now also a two-time GOLD AWARD WINNER over 2 consecutive years, with GIRLS FROM IPANEMA, submitted as a Work In Progress, winning a coveted GOLD AWARD in the Theatrical Feature Film category at the 37th Worldfest Houston on 24 April 2004!

 

Worldfest Houston is the biggest film festival in the world in number of entries received; over 4,500 from around the globe, and the 3rd oldest film festival in the USA - so this award is a great honour. Especially considering Wendy Dent's documentary KISSED BY A CROCODILE won the GOLD AWARD for BEST ENTERTAINMENT at the 36th Worldfest Houston just last year! The categories of Best Theatrical Feature Film and Best Entertainment are of course also 2 of the top awards of Worldfest Houston with the greatest number of entries competing.

GIRLS FROM IPANEMA had its WORLD PREMIERE screening 4 times in competition at Palm Beach International Film Festival, on April 18, 19, 21 and 22 - meaning it was regarded as one of the highlight films in the program.

Girls From Ipanema

At the opening of the Palm Beach International Film Festival Wendy Dent walked the red carpet with famous US celebrities/ film stars including writer/actress of 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding' and 'Connie & Carla', Nia Vardalos, and joined a Gala Awards night/dinner (at US$1000 per head) honouring actors such as Michael Clarke Duncan (star of The Green Mile).

The screenings of Girls From Ipanema were highly popular with film-makers, the jury, critics, press and the audience - with a keen Brazilian following as well! Great reviews were written by David Poland in The Hot Button, Neusa Martinez of Archeiusa & Brazil on TV, and Brandon Judell for Yahoo Movie News & Indiewire.

(read REVIEWS & INTERVIEWS here)

 

Wendy Dent was then a guest speaker at New York's City College (of Albert Einstein fame), showing & speaking about Girls From Ipanema by invitation from City College's award winning Professor Brandon Judell.

Wendy Dent has also been invited to be a guest speaker at the acclaimed documentary film-making department of University of Florida, on her next visit to the state.

 

GIRLS FROM IPANEMA is now undergoing further post production, with subtitles being adapted for an international audience, and is in preparation for audience testing with a view to an international cinema release!

 

Palm Beach International Film Festival opening night & 'Girls From Ipanema' director portrait session by Ray Mickshaw

 

 

ALSO NEWS;

Kissed By A Crocodile, a documentary film about love & sex in Bali by Wendy Dent, will be included in the official selection of a further 3 upcoming international film festivals.

This month the documentary will have its ROMANIA PREMIERE in Official Selection at
DAKINO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL and its

GERMANY premiere at the
BIBERACH INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL

 

In September the documentary had its AFRICA PREMIERE at the

Zimbabwe International Film Festival 2004

and its WEST COAST USA PREMIERE in both the

SAN DIEGO International Film Festival 2004

& SAN DIEGO Independent Film Festival 2004

(making 13 festivals and markets the film has been included in to date).

 

Kissed By A Crocodile has now been included on the curriculums of Women's Studies at the University of Calgary, Canada & tourism studies at the University of Waikato, Hamilton NEW ZEALAND.

 

An interview with Wendy Dent regarding 'Kissed By A Crocodile' has also been featured in an article about romance tourism published in The Bulletin , a prominent national Australian news and current affairs magazine ("Sugar Mamas" by Nigel Bowen, The Bulletin edition 15 June 2004).

 

 

In April 2003 Kissed By A Crocodile was noted by the festival director and press as a highlight of the Palm Beach International Film Festival 2003 in Florida USA, where it had its very successful world premiere on April 4 with critical and audience acclaim.

 

On April 12 the film also won a prestigious GOLD AWARD for Best Film/Video Entertainment at the 36th WORLDFEST HOUSTON (Texas USA).

The three screenings of Kissed By A Crocodile at Palm Beach International film Festival on April 4, 6 and 7 were very popular with the audience, other film-makers and the media alike. Eight TV and radio interviews featured interviews with Wendy Dent about the premiere and clips from Kissed By A Crrcodile were even featured on NBC morning news and both ABC morning and prime time news. Venice (Los Angeles Arts and Entertainment) Magazine has also noted the film as a festival highlight in its May 2003 edition article about PBIFF;

mention in Venice (Los Angeles Arts & Entertainment) Magazine

Wendy Dent also attended the star-studded Gala Awards Night for the Palm Beach International Film festival as a festival guest; the black tie dinner at US$1000 a head was also attended by Michael Jackson, Adrien Brody (Best Actor Oscar winner 2003) , Robert Evans (producer of The Godfather series), Chris Tucker (star of Rush Hour), Brett Ratner (director of Rush Hour), and the legendary Fay Wray (Broadway star also made famous as the actress in the hands of King Kong).

 

Kissed By A Crocodile last screened in March in THESSALONIKI, GREECE at the prestigious Thessaloniki Documentary Festival Market - as a special selection and inclusion by the festival director.

To date the film has now screened in the USA, Canada, Germany, Greece, Belgium, Czech Republic and the Bahamas - as part of 10 international film festivals across North America, Central America and Europe.

The film was also shortlisted for award as Best International Documentary at Calgary International Film Festival, and granted a Vision In Film award at the inaugaural Bahamas One World Film Festival.

 

OFFICIAL SELECTION:

Palm Beach International Film festival (Florida USA)

Worldfest Houston GOLD AWARD WINNER (Texas USA)

Dahlonega International Film Festival ('The DIFF') (Georgia USA)

Calgary International Film Festival (Canada)

International Panorama of Thessaloniki (Thessaloniki Greece)

Bahamas One World Film Festival (Nassau, Bahamas)

Festival du Cinema de Bruxelles (Bruxelles, Belgium)

Jihlava International Documentary Film Festival; Industry Program (Jihlava, Czech Republic)

Thessaloniki Documentary Film Festival Market (Thessaloniki, Greece) March 2004

plus screening in European Film Market, Berlinale 2003 Berlin Film Festival (Berlin, Germany)

 

Kissed By A Crocodile is a frank and entertaining feature documentary about love and sex in Bali, from genuine love relationshiops between western women and Balinese men to gigolo affairs and the 'Crocodile' Mafia of Kuta's infamous nightclub district (scene of the 2002 terrorist bombings).

further information (film synopsis)

 

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Dear Juliet

Girls From Ipanema & Kissed By A Crocodile are truly independent films in every sense of the word; independently written, filmed, financed, directed, edited and distributed by Wendy Dent.

 

 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS:

 

Girls From Ipanema

DV 90 mins Stereo sound

English & portuguese language, part subtitles Australian production. (c) Wendy Dent 2004

Distributed by Wendy Dent. Worldwide distribution rights available.

 

Kissed By A Crocodile

DV 58 mins Stereo sound

(70 min 'Director's Cut' version also available)

English language, English subtitles (difficult accents only). Australian production. (c) Wendy Dent 2003

Distributed by Wendy Dent. Worldwide distribution rights available.

 

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