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Media Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler
(818) 677-2130
carmen.chandler@csun.edu
Media Release Archives

MEDIA RELEASE

Hollywood Foreign Press Awards CSUN’s Film Dept. $66,000

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., Aug. 5, 2008) — With "The Dark Knight’s" Aaron Eckhart and "Mad Men’s" Jon Hamm making the announcement, the Hollywood Foreign Press Association awarded Cal State Northridge’s Cinema and Television Arts Department $66,000 at a star-studded luncheon in Beverly Hills last week.

The gift includes $60,000 for senior film projects and $6,000 to underwrite Northridge’s annual senior film showcase.

"The gift from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association means a lot to the department, and most particularly our students," said cinema and television arts professor Nate Thomas, who heads the university’s film option. "Our students are working class and every financial gift helps move them closer to realizing their dreams of becoming filmmakers.

"I think the association understands that," Thomas continued, "and that’s why the fact that for the past two years we have received the association’s largest grant to an educational institution means so much to us. The association’s leadership understands who our students are. The gift says something about their commitment to young people and the future of film."

The grant was presented during the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s annual installation luncheon honoring its 2008-2009 slate of officers held on July 30 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. At that event, the association awarded more than $750,000 in grants to film schools and non-profit organizations. In addition to Eckhart and Hamm, the luncheon’s celebrity attendees included Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, Dakota Fanning, Rosario Dawson, Rosie Perez, Dana Delany, Elizabeth Pena and Chris Messina.

Among the other institutions receiving grants were UCLA, American Film Institute, California Institute of the Arts, Cal State Long Beach, Columbia University School of the Arts, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and North Carolina School of the Arts Foundation.

The Hollywood Foreign Press Association is comprised of international journalists who report on the entertainment industry. It hosts the Golden Globes each year, and has awarded more than $8 million in charitable donations in the last 14 years.

CSUN’s Department of Cinema and Television Arts’ relationship with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association goes back more than 12 years. In addition to the association’s support of student film projects and the film showcase, CSUN students also edit in the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Senior Film Edit Suite and, beginning this fall, students working on sound design will do so in a state-of-the-art sound mix facility made possible by a grant from the association.