VANCOUVER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2007

VIFF announces $25,000 Kyoto Planet “Climate for Change” Award

Vancouver, BC (June 27, 2007) - The Vancouver International Film Festival today announced that it is launching an annual environmental film series and a $25,000 juried environmental award, one of the largest cash prizes at any film festival in North America. The new series, called Climate for Change, is sponsored by new festival partner Kyoto Planet. The series will include both dramatic features and documentaries and emphasize fresh information, vision and cinematic artistry. The jury will award the prize to the director of the film that best meets these criteria. The 26th annual VIFF takes place September 27 to October 12.

Festival Director Alan Franey said, “This is a major and very important development for our festival. Although it is true that we have featured many films on environmental issues over the years, the generous and enlightened support of Kyoto Planet encourages us to put environmentally themed films front and centre in our program. The time is right. This sponsorship is indicative of the change of consciousness we are witnessing in the world. Not only is there a greater audience for films that contend with the challenges our society faces today, but more of the best films made now, and the most artistic ones, engage with issues of man’s relationship to nature and the inherent drama of the ever-higher stakes involved. We are delighted to have found a company that is putting its money where its mouth is, and offering something as significant to filmmakers as a $25,000 adjudicated cash prize, the largest of the cash awards at VIFF.”

Damien Reynolds, founder of Kyoto Planet added, “It is very exciting for us as a new company to associate ourselves with as prestigious an event as the Vancouver International Film Festival, and to be in a position to reward filmmakers for working so hard to address and help solve the issues that face us regarding the environment. Kyoto Planet is committed to the notion that we all need to participate to make a difference. It is our hope that by offering this prize, we will help inspire those who can motivate others through the incredibly powerful medium of film to continue those efforts and, as such, become agents of change.”

Kyoto Planet is a new eco-conscious company with three distinct but interrelated parts: a financial vehicle to support and facilitate investment in, and management of, business opportunities in the green sector, a foundation to award grants and manage the non-profit portion of the company’s business, and a consumer company grounded by a broad portal to serve as the preeminent marketplace for knowledge, ideas, discussion and goods and services in the environmental space.

Kyoto Planet joins Visa, Vancity, and Rogers Communications in the Partnership Category at VIFF.