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Bullock
Presents to 'Two Weeks' Costar
Grant Granted ShowEast Award
 ORLANDO,
Fla. – Hugh Grant received ShowEast’s “star
of the year” award Oct. 11 with a presentation by
his “Two Weeks Notice” costar, Sandra Bullock.
The actress joked in her introduction about Grant’s
alleged belief that all clothing “should be tailor-made
and cost as much as humanly possible,” and went on
to point out that “on a set of hundreds of people,
he knew everybody’s name.”
“You
actually said some very nice things about me, and I’m
grateful. Are you drunk?” Grant asked Bullock as
he accepted the trophy he’d wryly describe as “a
disappointing piece of plastic.”
Other
honorees at the event included directors Betty Thomas
(“I Spy”), who took home the “filmmaking
achievement” award, and M. Night Shyamalan (“Signs”),
recipient of the convention’s Kodak trophy (In Focus,
November 2002).
Much
of the four-day event’s agenda was taken up by 11
feature screenings, including Touchstone’s “The
Recruit,” Disney’s large-format edition of “The
Lion King,” Sony’s “I Spy,” Universal’s
“The Emperor’s Club,” and Warner Bros.’
“Femme Fatale.” Indie product on display included
Fox Searchlight’s “Bend It Like Beckham”
and “Antwone Fisher,” Artisan’s “Standing
in the Shadows of Motown,” Sony Pictures Classics’
“Laurel Canyon,” Newmarket’s “Real
Women Have Curves,” and Gold Circle’s “Pool
Hall Junkies.”
Panels
on digital cinema and international exhibition helped
fill out the schedule for ShowEast, which also boasted
a 280-booth trade show.
Some 1,100 delegates attended the 18th edition of the
confab, held Oct. 9-12 at Florida’s Marriott Orlando
World Center. ShowEast 2003 will be held at the same site
Oct. 29-Nov. 2. .
California/Nevada
Chapter
NATO Affilliate Launches College
Employee Recruitment Campaign
LOS ANGELES – NATO of California/ Nevada has joined
with the Campus Movie Network (CMN) to launch a campaign
encouraging college students to pursue career opportunities
in the motion picture exhibition industry.
CMN
plans to run a PSA in on-campus cinemas and on closed-circuit
television in dormitories and public viewing areas. The
pilot program will be tested in Southern California, reaching
a student population of around 200,000.
The
program will also offer a Website discussing industry
opportunities and an academic course on the exhibition
industry. The latter, expected to be offered on several
California campuses as well as over the Internet, was
prepared in concert with participating schools and timed
to coincide with the beginning of the 2003 spring semester.
“Recruiting
quality people has always been a concern of exhibition,”
said NATO California/Nevada CEO Milton I. Moritz. “More
and more positions in exhibition today are requiring a
college degree, and we welcome the support of the Campus
Movie Network in helping to draw attention to exhibition
as a career option for so many college students.”
The
campaign is set to kick off around the end of this year.
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Lights
over Leesburg, Va.
Business
Owners
Remount Tally Ho
 LEESBURG,
Va. – Nearly 350 people, including actor-director
Robert Duvall, filled Leesburg, Va.’s historic Tally
Ho Theatre Sept. 20 to celebrate its long-awaited reopening.
After the venue closed two years ago, local business owners
Pat Hoke and Judy Wilson joined with supportive Leesburg
residents to bring it back to life.
“I
wanted something more in-tune with today’s community,”
Hoke said. The team brought in an artist who remodeled
the décor, creating an art-deco ambiance. “When
you come into the Theatre, it looks like you are coming
into a hotel from the ‘30s.”
 The
renovated balcony reopened as “The Ellington Room”
(named after jazz baron Duke Ellington), a 25- to 30-seat
dinner theatre space with a wet bar. A storage room was
converted into a kid’s room, with cement squares
on the walls dotted with handprints and signatures of
local families, cinema owners and Hollywood stars.
Hoke and Wilson also plan to use the facility for poetry
readings, jazz festivals, art and antique auctions, teleconferences,
birthday parties and wedding receptions.
They
also plan to have special mid-day screenings catering
to seniors. A weeklong Tally Ho film festival is also
in the works, Hoke said.
“It
[the film festival] would be another part of our dream
that we may soon realize,” he said.
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