38 films to premiere in Hollywood

Continuing this year’s rush to pack pre-Oscar film festivals with high-profile movies, the Hollywood Film Festival will premiere 38 films from next Wednesday to Oct. 20. Ten of those will be world premieres.

The annual event will open with the U.S. premiere of “11:14,” a drama of murder and deceit starring Hilary Swank and written and directed by Greg Marcks, and close with “Shattered Glass,” a Lions Gate Film starring Hayden Christensen as factually challenged journalist Stephen Glass.

Anthony Hopkins will be honored Oct. 21 with a special screening of Miramax’s “The Human Stain,” a film adaptation of Philip Roth’s novel, starring Hopkins as a disgraced New England professor. The film also stars Nicole Kidman, Gary Sinise and Ed Harris.

This year’s decision by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to move up its Oscar ceremonies by a month to Feb. 29, 2004, has prompted studios to position their awards contenders at film festivals to raise their profiles, and the 7-year-old Hollywood event is a beneficiary.

In addition to Hopkins, honorees include Columbia Pictures Chairman Amy Pascal for leadership, Ron Howard for directing and Goldie Hawn for acting.

High-profile films in the festival’s lineup also include Paramount Classics’ “The Singing Detective,” starring Robert Downey Jr. as a crime novelist who imagines a murder mystery as he lies in a hospital bed, and Lions Gate’s “Girl with a Pearl Earring,” an imagined story behind the famous Vermeer painting, starring Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth and Tom Wilkinson.

The festival will also include 16 U.S. and foreign short films as well as a showcase of European films. The screenings and conference will be held at Hollywood’s ArcLight Cinemas, 6360 Sunset Blvd. The awards ceremony will take place at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

Additional information may be found at www.hollywood filmfestival.com.