NEWS RELEASE

CLAY LIFORD'S DALLAS-BASED “WUSS” TO PREMIERE

AT SOUTH BY SOUTHWEST FILM FESTIVAL

PRODUCED BY TEXAS THEATRE PARTNERS

DALLAS, TX (February 7, 2011)—The prestigious South By Southwest Film Festival recently announced in its 2011 line-up that Texas filmmaker Clay Liford (EARTHLING, MY MOM SMOKES WEED) has been invited to premiere his latest feature, WUSS.

“…WUSS boasts an impressive cast that includes Alex Karpovsky and 'Arrested Development's' Tony Hale.” – Dallas Observer

“Clay Liford is an established cinematographer and award-winning filmmaker, who's had a short play the Sundance Film Festival and a recent feature travel the festival circuit the world over.” – Film Threat

“I really appreciated Clay's honesty with this topic. He didn't glorify the kids' behavior and there were consequences for their behavior.” – Tony Hale (in an interview with Pegasus News)

WUSS is the story of a high school teacher who faces constant ridicule after he’s repeatedly beaten up by several of his own students. Having nowhere else to turn, he eventually teams up with another of his students to fight back. This student, a young girl, is feared school-wide because of a dark family reputation. She also has an unfortunate nickname grafted to her due to her predilection for smoking discarded cigarettes. Bonded in battle, the student and teacher form a friendship that stretches the use of the word inappropriate.

Starring Nate Rubin (BLOOD ON THE HIGHWAY, MY MOM SMOKES WEED) and newcomer Alicia Anthony; featuring Jonny Mars (THE HAPPY POET, TREE OF LIFE) and Jennifer Sipes (W., TREE OF LIFE, EARTHLING); with Alex Karpovsky (TINY FURNITURE, LOVERS OF HATE) and Tony Hale (TV’s “Arrested Development”), the film is a dark comedy that almost plays as a horror film. Says Liford, “In most comedies, when characters do harebrained schemes they’re never held accountable for them. I hold them accountable.”

Produced by Texas Theatre partners Barak Epstein (EARTHLING, BLOOD ON THE HIGHWAY), Eric Steele (UNCERTAIN TX, TOPEKA) and SXSW regular Adam Donaghey (EARTHLING, LOVERS OF HATE, AUDREY THE TRAINWRECK) and executive produced by Dallas-resident Bala Shagrithaya, WUSS represents the first true collaboration of all three partners. Chief People Officer Eric Steele promises it won't be the last: “Our dream was always to make Aviation Cinemas and the Texas Theatre a central hub in film production. WUSS, in many ways, is the flagship for us in terms of Adam, Barak and I working together to produce something. We even did early rough-cut screenings of WUSS at the Texas as Clay was in the editing process. We are beaming with pride about Clay's work—it's a stunning film and one that all of Dallas will be proud of.”

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LOCAL PRESS CONTACT:

Eric Steele

Chief People Officer

Aviation Cinemas, Inc.

214-808-0818

[email protected]

CORPORATE PRESS CONTACT:

Adam Donaghey

Chief Marketing Officer

Aviation Cinemas, Inc.

832-315-7700