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AARP's Life@50+ to Offer Attendees Preview of Five Unreleased Films At 'Movies For Grownups' Film Festival

Posted on: Tuesday, 21 August 2007, 15:14 CDT

WASHINGTON, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AARP, one of the world's largest membership organizations, today announced it will offer the 25,000 expected attendees of its annual Life@50+ National Event & Expo in Boston, MA on September 6-8, 2007, the rare opportunity to preview five major motion pictures before release to the general public. As part of the popular "Movies for Grownups" Film Festival at the event, AARP members and show attendees will get a chance to catch screenings of 3:10 to Yuma, In the Shadow of the Moon, The Jane Austen Book Club, King of California, and Feast of Love before they hit the big screen. Attendees will also get a chance to catch Aurora Borealis and Away from Her, two recently released films with poignant stories about multi-generational issues within families. Cast lineups feature the biggest stars in Hollywood such as Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Peter Fonda, Morgan Freeman, Greg Kinnear, Maria Bello, Lynn Redgrave, Emily Blunt, Selma Blair, Donald Sutherland, Olympia Dukakis, Evan Rachel Wood, Michael Douglas (who will be kicking of the Life@50+ event) and others.

(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070209/NYF043LOGO )

"AARP The Magazine's 'Movies For Grownups' feature resonates with millions of readers, and we're thrilled to take it to the next level with a sneak peek of some of some highly anticipated movies," said Steve Slon, editor of AARP The Magazine. "We're the only film event that focuses on movies catering to the 50+ crowd and with films that feature veteran actors and actresses as well as Hollywood's hottest young stars, we know this film festival will be standing room only!"

AARP's Life@50+ National Event & Expo is a national event for AARP members, friends and their families that brings the very best exhibits, experts and entertainment to the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center. Attendees get to experience the best AARP has to offer with first-rate entertainment including Earth, Wind & Fire, Rod Stewart, Lily Tomlin, and Tony Bennett; lifestyle, education and feature sessions with politicians and entertainers; health and fitness classes; and popular lectures.

"Movies for Grownups" Film Festival Schedule 3:10 to Yuma -- Thursday, September 6th -- 1:45 p.m. - 3:45 p.m.

3:10 to Yuma stars Russell Crowe, Christian Bale, Ben Foster, Gretchen Mol and Peter Fonda in a modern take on the classic western by Elmore Leonard from producing/writing/ directing team Cathy Konrad and James Mangold (Walk The Line).

In Arizona in the late 1800's, infamous outlaw Ben Wade (Crowe) and his vicious gang of thieves and murderers have plagued the Southern Railroad. When Wade is captured, Civil War veteran Dan Evans (Christian Bale), struggling to survive on his drought-plagued ranch, volunteers to deliver him alive to the "3:10 to Yuma", a train that will take the killer to trial. On the trail, Evans and Wade, each from very different worlds, begin to earn each other's respect. But with Wade's outfit on their trail - and dangers at every turn - the mission soon becomes a violent, impossible journey toward each man's destiny.

In the Shadow of the Moon -- Friday, September 7th -- 9:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.

Between 1968 and 1972, nine American spacecraft voyaged to the Moon, and 12 men walked upon its surface. They remain the only human beings to have stood on another world. In the Shadow of the Moon brings together for the first, and possibly the last, time surviving crewmembers from every single Apollo mission that flew to the Moon, and allows them to tell their story in their own words.

This riveting first-hand testimony is interwoven with visually stunning archival material which has been re-mastered from the original NASA film footage -- much of it never used before. The result is an intimate epic that vividly communicates the daring, the danger, the pride, and the promise of this extraordinary era in history when the whole world literally looked up at America.

The Jane Austen Book Club -- Friday, September 7th -- 12:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Today's central California may be far removed from Regency England, but some things never change. We're still every bit as preoccupied with the complexities of marriage, friendship, romantic entanglements, position, and social manners and mores as was Jane Austen at the turn of the 1800s. Featuring actors Hugh Dancy, Emily Blunt and Jimmy Smits, The Jane Austen Book Club reveals the lives of an ensemble of present-day friends through the witty prism of their literary heroine.

Six book club members, six Austen books, six interwoven story lines over six months in the busy modern setting of Sacramento, where city and suburban sprawl meet natural beauty. While the contemporary stories never slavishly parallel the Austen plots, the six characters find echoes, predictions, warnings and wisdom about their own trajectories within Austen's beloved narratives.

King of California -- Friday, September 7th -- 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m.

At the age of sixteen, Miranda (Evan Rachel Wood) has already had to live with her share of disappointments. Abandoned by her mother, she's dropped out of school and has been supporting herself as an employee at McDonald's while her father Charlie (Michael Douglas) resides in a mental institution.

When Charlie is released and sent back to their home, Miranda finds the relatively peaceful existence she's built for herself completely disrupted. Charlie has become obsessed with the notion that the long-lost treasure of Spanish explorer Father Juan Florismarte Garces is buried somewhere near their suburban California housing unit. Armed with a metal detector and a stack of treasure-hunting books, Charlie soon finds reason to believe that the gold resides underneath the local Costco, and encourages Miranda to get a job there so that they can plan a way to excavate after hours.

Initially skeptical, Miranda soon finds herself joining in Charlie's questionable antics in an effort to give him one last shot at accomplishing his dreams in this darkly funny, exciting and surprisingly hopeful take on the modern family and the American dream.

Feast of Love -- Friday, September 7th -- 4:45 p.m. - 6:45 p.m.

From venerable, multiple Academy Award(R) winning director Robert Benton (Kramer vs. Kramer, Places in the Heart), comes a kaleidoscopic ode to life and love in all its funny, sad, sexy, crazy, heartbreaking and life sustaining facets: cause and affection. In a coffee shop in a tight-knit Oregon community, local professor Harry Stevenson (Academy Award(R) winner Morgan Freeman) witnesses love and attraction whipping up mischief among the town's residents. From the unlucky in love, die-hard romantic coffee shop owner Bradley (Academy Award(R) nominee Greg Kinnear) who has a serial habit of looking for love in all the wrong places, including with his current wife Kathryn (Selma Blair); to the edgy real estate agent Diana (Radha Mitchell) who is caught up in an affair with a married man (Billy Buke) with whom she shares an ineffable connection; to the beautiful young newcomer Chloe (Alexa Davolos) who defies fate in romancing the troubled Oscar (Toby Hemmingway); to Harry himself, whose adoring wife (Jane Alexander) is looking to break through his wall of grief after the wrenching loss of a beloved ... they all intertwine into one remarkable story in which no one can escape being bent, broken, befuddled, delighted and ultimately redeemed by love's inescapable spell.

Aurora Borealis -- Saturday, September 8th -- 1:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.

Ever since the premature death of his father, 25-year-old Minneapolis slacker Duncan Shorter (Joshua Jackson) is content with shuffling aimlessly through life, hanging out with his lifelong friends, and ditching one dead-end job after another. Duncan takes a job as a handyman in a high-rise that allows him to be near his gravely ill grandfather Ronald (Donald Sutherland), who's more than a handful for his grandmother Ruth (Louise Fletcher). That newfound sense of purpose leads to a budding romance with Kate (Juliette Lewis) that gives Duncan the motivation to take charge of his life.

This funny and touching family drama from director James Burke, with a soundtrack featuring music by Minnesota natives Bob Dylan and Paul Westerberg, has something to say to audiences of all ages.

Away From Her -- Saturday, September 8th -- 3:30 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Away From Her is the lyrical screenplay adaptation of celebrated author Alice Munro's short story, "The Bear Came Over The Mountain," a beautiful yet unconventional story of a couple coming to grips with the onset of memory loss. Beloved by critics and audiences alike when it premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival, the film marks the arrival of an exciting new filmmaker in Canadian actress Sarah Polley, who makes her feature screenwriting and directorial debut.

Married for almost 50 years, Grant's (Gordon Pinsent) and Fiona's (Julie Christie) commitment to each other appears unwavering. Their daily life is filled with tenderness and humor; yet this serenity is broken by Fiona's increasingly evident memory loss -- and her restrained references to a past betrayal. For a while, the couple is able to casually dismiss these unwelcome changes. But when neither Fiona nor her husband can deny any longer that she is being consumed by Alzheimer's disease, the couple is forced to wrenchingly redefine the limits of their love and loyalty -- and face the complex, inevitable transition from lovers to strangers.

Away From Her also stars Olympia Dukakis, Kristen Thomson, with Michael Murphy and Alberta Watson. The Film Farm and Foundry Films production in association with Capri Releasing, HanWay Films and Echo Lake Productions. Executive producer, Atom Egoyan, Doug Mankoff. Co-Producer, Victoria Hirst. Produced by Daniel Iron, Simone Urdl, Jennifer Weiss.

About AARP The Magazine

With more than 30 million readers nationwide, AARP The Magazine (http://www.aarpmagazine.org/) is the world's largest-circulation magazine and the definitive lifestyle publication for Americans 50+. Reaching more than 22.5 million households, AARP The Magazine delivers comprehensive content through in-depth celebrity interviews, health and fitness features, consumer interest information and tips, book and movie reviews, and financial guidance. Published bimonthly in print and continually online, AARP The Magazine was founded in 1958 and is the flagship title of AARP Publications.

About AARP

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to either political campaigns or candidates. We produce AARP The Magazine, published bimonthly; AARP Bulletin, our monthly newspaper; AARP Segunda Juventud, our bimonthly magazine in Spanish and English; NRTA Live & Learn, our quarterly newsletter for 50+ educators; and our website, http://www.aarp.org/. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070209/NYF043LOGOPRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com

AARP

CONTACT: Michelle Alvarez, +1-202-434-2555, malvarez@aarp.org, orMelissa Hobley, +1-212-536-9824, melissa.hobley@coburnww.com, both of AARP

Web site: http://www.aarp.org/

Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire

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