University Advancement

Public Relations and Strategic Communications

MEDIA RELEASE

Hollywood Foreign Press Awards CSUN $80,000

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Sept. 4, 2007) — While Academy Award winners Charlize Theron, Hilary Swank, Jamie Foxx and Forest Whitaker looked on, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded Cal State Northridge’s Cinema and Television Arts Department $80,000 at a star-studded luncheon in Beverly Hills last month.

The gift will fund senior student film projects, hardware and software upgrades in the department’s editing and sound mix facilities and help underwrite CSUN’s annual senior film showcase.

"Our students are working class and every financial gift helps them move closer to realizing their dreams of becoming filmmakers," said cinema and television arts professor Nate Thomas, who heads the university’s film option. "This generous gift from the foreign press association will make a huge difference, particularly since our students are responsible for coming up with their own financing to make their films."

The grant was presented during the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s annual installation luncheon honoring its 2007-2008 slate of officers on Aug. 9 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. At that event, the association awarded more than $1.2 million in grants to film schools and non-profit organizations.

Among the luncheon’s celebrity attendees were Marc Anthony, Jennifer Lopez, Josh Brolin, Billy Bush, Kate del Castillo, Sam Elliot, Peter Falk, Christine Lahti, Masi Oka and Tony Plana.

Northridge tied with UCLA in receiving the largest higher education grant, $80,000 each, from the association at the event. Other institutions receiving grants were the California Institute of the Arts, Columbia University School of the Arts, Cal State Los Angeles, Cal State Long Beach, the American Film Institute, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and North Carolina School of the Arts.

Of CSUN’s grant, $60,000 will go toward student fellowships, $15,000 for equipment upgrades in the university’s Hollywood Foreign Press Association Senior Film Edit Suite and the Film Sound Mix facility and $5,000 to help underwrite the annual senior film showcase.

The equipment upgrades and student scholarships will continue to assist Northridge students in producing portfolios that rival others seeking jobs in the film industry, Thomas said.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is comprised of international journalists who report on the entertainment industry. It hosts the Golden Globe Awards each year, and has awarded more than $7.7 million in charitable donations in the last 13 years.