FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BEGLEITER NAMED BEST SHORT AT ANCHORAGE FEST

December 10, 2006

Anchorage - The Golden Oosik Award went to first-time writer/producer/director Dan Margules for his short film "Begleiter" last night at the 6th annual Anchorage International Film Festival. The charming 27-minute film follows the adventures of an orphaned dog named Happy in search of a new master.

The San Diego-based short film starring Aleisha Russell and John Henry Litten screened in competition along with 9 other finalists. Thirty additional short films were selected to screen at the festival out of competition.

"The festival scene has become so crowded in the last two years that it was a lot harder than I expected just to get a film into a festival," explained Margules. "This award is an amazingly unexpected thrill."

"Begleiter" led off a compilation of comedy shorts in the "Funny Bone" program. According to the Anchorage Daily News, last week's Saturday night screening was filled to capacity and had to be added to another screen to satisfy the overflow demand.

Margules was unable to attend the award ceremony as his film has already started earning him some attention from Hollywood. He was recently hired to rewrite a feature-length screenplay for Twinstar Entertainment. Other independent production companies have started asking to look at his original scripts.

"It's crazy how fast everything is starting to happen," says Margules, who left his day job as a "configuration management manager" in 2004 to pursue more creative endeavors.

The filmmaker ascribes his recent career momentum to networking. Last year, he helped create San Diego Filmmakers, a non-profit networking organization for local filmmakers. He is now the president of the group, which meets monthly and has hosted such guest speakers as Doug Jones (Hellboy's Abe Sapien), composer Larry Groupé ("Commander in Chief"), and producer/director Bob Misiorowski (Tombstone, Children of Glory).

"Begleiter" was an Official Selection in this year's Solstice Film Festival in St. Paul, Minnesota and can be seen next at the Trail Dance Film Festival in Duncan, Oklahoma the weekend of January 26. The film features a cameo appearance by Ken Osmond, best known as Eddie Haskell from "Leave it to Beaver," and an original score by Alphonse Mouzon of the pioneering fusion band Weather Report.

Additional Information:
AIFF - anchoragefilmfestival.org
"Begleiter" - happy-the-dog.com
San Diego Filmmakers - sdfilmmakers.org
Trail Dance Film Festival - traildancefilmfestival.com