Hollywood Film Festival® News
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For Immediate Release
HOLLYWOOD FILM FESTIVAL TO HONOR
NOBEL PEACE PRIZE LAUREATE JODY WILLIAMS
WITH THE "HOLLYWOOD HUMANITARIAN AWARD"
AND CAROLE BAYER SAGER TO GET
"HOLLYWOOD OUTSTANDING ACHIEVEMENT
IN SONGWRITING AWARD"
Distinguished Nobel Laureate for Peace Jody Williams and Legendary Songwriter Carole Bayer Sager to Be Honored at the 6th Annual Hollywood Movie Awards Gala Ceremony
HOLLYWOOD, Calif., Aug. 29 -- The Hollywood Film Festival's Board of Advisors is proud to announce that Nobel Laureate for Peace JODY WILLIAMS will be this year's recipient of the festival's "Hollywood Humanitarian Award," and Academy Award-winning songwriter CAROLE BAYER SAGER will be honored with the "Hollywood Outstanding Achievement in Songwriting Award." Carlos de Abreu, Executive Director of the festival, formally made
the announcement today.
The awards will be bestowed upon Ms. Williams and Ms. Sager as part of the Hollywood Movie Awards Gala Ceremony on Monday evening, October 7, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Other festival honorees include MPAA president Jack Valenti, actress Jodie Foster, director Martin Scorsese, actress Naomi Watts, director McG, screenwriter Robert Towne, producers Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher, cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, editor Pietro Scalia, composer Marc Shaiman, production designer Harold Michelson, and casting director Marcia Ross.
Regarding the announcement, Mr. de Abreu said, "Ms. Williams's proven historic humanitarian achievements have been demonstrated by her efforts campaigning to get the international community to adopt and sign a treaty to ban antipersonnel landmines, which became international law faster than any other major international treaty in history. And Carole Bayer Sager, throughout her songwriting career, has made an extraordinary contribution to the music of our times, a great achievement worthy of recognition and honors."
JODY WILLIAMS and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. Ms. Williams and the ICBL were cited by the Nobel Committee for turning a "utopian dream" of a treaty to ban antipersonnel landmines into a virtual reality. The treaty marked the first time in history that a conventional weapon in widespread use for a century by all fighting forces in the world was to be removed from their arsenals. Ms. Williams is only the 3rd woman from the United States and the 10th globally to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Currently, Ms. Williams serves as campaign ambassador for the ICBL.
A Vermont native, Ms. Williams's work has demonstrated that ordinary people can bring about extraordinary change in the world. As founding coordinator of the ICBL, which was formally launched by six non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in October 1992, she and the campaign captured the public conscience globally in support of the elimination of landmines. After only five short years, governments from around the world came together in Oslo, Norway, to negotiate a ban treaty in September 1997. On December 3, 1997, some 122 countries signed the treaty in Ottawa, Canada, and on December 10, Ms. Williams and the ICBL were honored at the Nobel Ceremony in Oslo.
Prior to beginning the ICBL, Ms. Williams worked for eleven years to build public awareness about U.S. policy toward Central America. From 1986 to 1992, she developed and directed humanitarian relief projects as the deputy director of the Los Angeles-based Medical Aid for El Salvador. From 1984 to 1986, she was co-coordinator of the Nicaragua-Honduras Education Project, leading fact-finding delegations to the region. Previously, Ms. Williams taught English as a Second Language (ESL) in Mexico, the United Kingdom, and Washington, D.C., and has a B.A. from the University of Vermont, as well as an M.A. from the School of International Training and an M.A. from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Ms. Williams has written extensively and speaks around the world about the problem of landmines, the movement to ban them, and the role of individuals and civil society in creating a more peaceful and secure world. For the first time, Ms. Williams traveled with the ICBL to Afghanistan in July to address mine clearance needs, educating the new government in Kabul on the landmine treaty, and urging their signing, which they did on July 30. For further information on the ICBL, visit http://www.icbl.org .
CAROLE BAYER SAGER'S contribution to feature films includes the Oscar(R)-winning "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" from the 1981 film "Arthur," and the Academy Award-nominated songs "Nobody Does It Better" from "The Spy Who Loved Me," "Through the Eyes of Love" from "Ice Castles," "The Day I Fall in Love" from "Beethoven's 2nd," "Look What Love Has Done" from "Junior" and "The Prayer" from "Quest for Camelot." Ms. Sager co-wrote her first hit, "A Groovy Kind of Love," in the mid-sixties for The Mindbenders. Others include such hit songs as "Don't Cry Out Loud," "That's What Friends Are For," and "On My Own," to name a few. Ms. Sager has collaborated with such artists as Peter Allen, Burt Bacharach, Neil Diamond, Kenneth Edmonds, David Foster, Marvin Hamlisch, Albert Hammond, James Ingram, Carole King, Melissa Manchester, Bette Midler, Neil Sedaka, Dave Stewart, and Toni Wine, among others. Ms. Sager was inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame in
1987.
The 2002 Annual Hollywood Film Festival incorporates in its activities the Hollywood Film Conference, Hollywood Humanitarian Symposium, Hollywood Film Screenings, and Hollywood Movie Awards.
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