The Atheist Film Festival Contact: David Fitzgerald Tel: (415) 939-3043 Email: atheistfilmfestival@gmail.

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GODLESS HOLLYWOOD NOT GODLESS ENOUGH FOR ATHEISTS San Francisco holds a film festival atheists can believe in Though evangelicals frequently rail against the evils of the film industry, for many nonbelievers, godless Hollywood simply isnt godless enough. Too often mainstream films have embraced a generic, watered-down spirituality and magical thinking, says David Fitzgerald, director of the Atheist Film Festival. Whats worse, many films treat science and reason as a cold, comfortless, empty worldview and paint skeptical characters as either uptight killjoys who get their come-uppance; or as victims, bitter at their loss of faith who are humbled and tearfully return to God at the films end. But atheist filmmakers are starting to change all that. This year marks San Franciscos third annual Atheist Film Festival, the oldest but no longer the only film festival aimed at the actively antitheist crowd. The 2011 festival highlights The Ledge, a new thriller touted as the first drama in Hollywood history to feature an openly atheist hero in a story about religious conflict. Writer/director Matthew Chapman, who will be attending the festival in person, has impeccable atheist credentials - he is the great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin. The film was nominated for Best US Drama at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival and boasts an impressive cast A-list stars: Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy), Liv Tyler (Lord of the Rings), Tony/Emmy/Golden Globe nominee Patrick Wilson (Watchmen) and Oscar nominee Terrence Howard (Crash, Iron Man). Other features of this years festival include The Nature of Existence, director Roger Nygards (Trekkies) fascinating documentary that poses the big questions of life, the universe and everything to a remarkable cross-section of humanity ranging from scientists like Richard Dawkins and Stanford physicist Leonard Susskind (co-discoverer of string theory), to modern druids, a 24th generation Chinese Taoist Master, and the founder of Ultimate Christian Wrestling, and Join Us, Ondi Timoners powerful documentary that follows four families as they leave an abusive church in South Carolina and realize they have been in a cult, examining the inner workings of a cult from both the members and the cult leaders points of view. Like Chapman, directors Ondi Timoner and Roger Nygard will also be in attendance at the Festival, which also screens Spanish director Alejandro Amenbars Agora, the widely acclaimed 2009 biopic of the 4th century female mathematician and astronomer Hypatia of Alexandria starring Rachel Weisz. Rounding out the program will be the

debut of two collections live and animated shorts entitled 2011: Year of the Rapture and The First Atheist Musical. Fitzgerald sees the popularity of atheistic events like the film festival as just part of the ongoing blossoming of a vibrant, enthusiastic atheist culture in mainstream America, and foresees taking the festival worldwide: The audience is there, and theyre hungry for what were offering - a film festival you can believe in. The Atheist Film Festival is the worlds first and oldest film festival dedicated to showcasing films for the secular community: atheists, agnostics, brights, skeptics, heathens and other heretics. This year the festival will be held Sunday, August 21st at the historic Roxie Theater in San Francisco. For more details on the film schedule and to purchase tickets, visit www.sfatheistfilmfestival.org ### If you would like more information about this topic, or to schedule an interview with David Fitzgerald, please call or text him at 415.939.3043 or e-mail him at everybodylovesdave@gmail.com.