Thursday, January 15, 2004

JVC to Hold the 26th Tokyo Video Festival "TVF 2004", International Celebration of Video Art in Feb.

100 works chosen for “Excellence Award” and “Selected Work”

Works selected for the "Excellence Award" will be available on the JVC web site from Jan. 16, and viewers are asked to select the "People Awards" (3 videos)

Screening week of the selected works (Shimbashi, Tokyo) from Feb. 7 thru 12 … Enlarge viewing opportunities such
as screenings and net distributions.

"Video Grand Prize" and "JVC Grand Prize" to be announced at Awards Ceremony on Saturday, February 14, 2004.

Victor Company of Japan, Limited (JVC) is pleased to announce the selection of 100 prizewinning works for the 26th Tokyo Video Festival (TVF). TVF is an international video contest sponsored by
JVC. This year the judges reviewed 2,881 submissions from 36 countries and regions (938 from Japan, 1,943 from other countries), a new record (up 21% from the year before.

The "Tokyo Video Festival" started in 1978 and is the longest-running international, public-participation video festival in the world. TVF is open to professionals and amateurs alike, and has achieved a reputation as a "forum for cultural and human exchange in the video medium."

In the 26th TVF, the winning entries were split between a new trend towards video journalism and extensions of the use of video as a personal medium. Examples of the former include "war and
terrorism," "protecting the natural environment" and other works focusing on social and life-style issues. In the latter category were "passing down traditional ceremonies and local cultures" and
"community learning and volunteer activities" that capitalized on the personal nature of the video medium.

The 100 winning entries will be shown at JVC's Shimbashi (Tokyo) Building during the "Tokyo Video Festival 2004" (February 7-14). They will also be available for viewing from the JVC web site.

The final day of the festival (Saturday, February 14) will have an Awards Ceremony (Ebisu, Tokyo) to announce the winners of the "Video Grand Prize," "JVC Grand Prize" and the new
"High-definition Digital Video Camera Prize," and to honour other exemplary entries. The hall will have free viewing corners to allow video lovers and the general public alike to view entries at their
leisure.

All 30 works selected for the "Excellence Award" will be available for viewing on the JVC web site beginning Friday, January 16. Viewers from the general public are asked to complete a web
survey form that will be used to select the "People Awards" (3 videos) from among the 30 works awarded the "Excellence Award."

* Live broadcasts of the 26th awards ceremony, scheduled from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, February 14, 2004, will be viewable on the internet at http://www.jvc-victor.co.jp/english/tvf/

Judges: Nobuhiko Obayashi, Film Director; Hakudo Kobayashi, Video Artist and Professor of Seian University of Art and Design; Hiroaki Sato, Video Artist and a teacher at Nippon Engineering College; Makoto Shiina, Novelist;Susumu Hani, Film Director; and Mr. Masanori Kitami, General Manager, Camcorder Category Div., Victor Company of Japan, Ltd. (JVC).
JVC web site: http://www.jvc-victor.co.jp/tvf/
DRIVER 3 - "Run the Gauntlet - Atari film"

First Trailer launched on Official Driv3r website

To coincide with the March launch of videogame Driver 3, a unique live action short film " Run the Gauntlet" debuts today online.

The plotline of this breath-taking three minute short film is being closely guarded, but producers' Ridley Scott Associates, in collaboration with Atari, is producing a series of 30 second vignettes as preview trailers for each one-minute episode of the film. The first of these trailers promoting Episode I debuts on www.DRIV3R.com from today.

The second trailer will debut on January 19th 2004, building to the exclusive release of Episode I on the site on January 23rd 2004. This film is closely inspired by and links to the story, characters and action of Driver 3. Never before have the motoring, games and film industries worked this close with such high production values.

Stay tuned for more information on Episodes II and III, and their corresponding trailers. These will be released exclusively to www.DRIV3R.com over the coming months, leading to the launch of the game itself.

Atari has also signed a blockbuster Hollywood cast to lend voices to this greatly anticipated videogame: Michael Madsen, Ving Rhames, Mickey Rourke and Michelle Rodriguez will play the lead roles of the third instalment of the crime-fighting driving game series, one of the most successful video game franchises of all time.

Developed by Reflections Interactive (an Atari videogame development studio), the masterminds behind DRIVER and DRIVER 2 – which have sold more than 12 million copies worldwide – Driver 3 is an action-packed driving adventure game that stays true to its roots, incorporating the cinematic gameplay and gritty street crime of its predecessors with ground-breaking graphics and three mammoth, wide-open city environments: Miami, Florida; Nice, France; and Istanbul, Turkey. Driver 3 is slated for release in March 2004 for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and the Xbox™ video game system from Microsoft.