Then She Found Me to Open 19th Annual Palm Springs Film Festival

Helen Hunt's directorial debut movie will make its U.S. premiere screening on January 3, 2008 in the 2008 Palm Spring International Film Festival as its opening film.

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On Tuesday, December 11, the Palm Springs International Film Society announced that "Then She Found Me" will open its 19th annual film festival. The movie which marked the directorial debut of the Academy Award winning actress, Helen Hunt, will be showcased at 6:30 PM on Thursday, January 3, 2008 at the Palm Springs High School auditorium. Following the premiere screening of the comedy drama movie, an Opening Night Reception will be held at the Palm Springs Art Museum.

The movie which also stars Colin Firth, Bette Midler and Matthew Broderick resolved around Hunt's character, April. April is a 39-year-old schoolteacher whose life crumbling around her when her adoptive mother passed away and her husband left her. At that time, she met her famous biological mother who claimed that she wanted to know her long-lost daughter. Making her life even complicated, she then met a new man, the father of one of her students.

Regarding Hunt's being the director of the ThinkFilm movie, the Festival director, Darryl Macdonald said, "It's rare to see such a seamless crossover from actor to director as that exemplified by Helen Hunt's witty and emotionally resonant directorial debut, 'Then She Found Me'. It is rarer still for the director/actor in question to also collaborate on the screenwriting, co-produce and star in said film."

The 19th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival will be held from January 3 to January 14, 2008 in Palm Springs featuring more than 230 movies from 65 countries. The complete movie line-up and entire festival events are expected to be announced on December 23, 2008, while the Awards Gala is going to be held on January 5, 2008 at the Palm Springs Convention Center.

Earlier, it was announced that Halle Berry and Daniel Day-Lewis will be honored with Desert Palm Achievement Award during the Awards Gala that is hosted by Mary Hart. The Palm Springs society will also honor "Juno" with the Chairman's Vanguard Award, "Hairspray" with the Ensemble Performance Award, Sean Penn with Director of the Year, Jerry Weintraub with the SAG Foundation Patron of the Arts Award, Marion Cotillard with the Breakthrough Performance Award, and Emile Hirsch and Nikki Blonsky with the Rising Star Awards.

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