MARCH 2006 (New York, NY) - You can almost smell the surf in the air as the 11th Annual Nantucket Film Festival gears up for June 2006. Executive Director Jill Burkhart and Artistic Director Mystelle Brabbée today announced the writing team Jim Taylor and Alexander Payne as the NBC Universal Screenwriter Honorees for the 2006 Nantucket Film Festival. "It's wonderful to have the opportunity to celebrate the work of a screenwriting team this year, a first for us,” said Jill Burkhart.

Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor have had both critical and commercial success with films such as “Citizen Ruth”, “Election” (2000 Oscar Nominee), “About Schmidt”, and 2005 Oscar winner for Best Adapted Screenplay, “Sideways”.

“Payne and Taylor possess a unique ability for using satire to tell incisive stories of real people and their not-so-perfect lives. Their perceptive character-driven scripts have resulted in richly satisfying films that bridge both the indie world and the mainstream world and speak to all audiences," said Mystelle Brabbée.

Mr. Taylor and Mr. Payne will be appearing at The NBC Universal Screenwriter's Tribute on Saturday, June 17th. The event will also feature various colleagues and special guests who are still to be announced.

Past NBC Universal screenwriter tributes include Steve Martin, Charlie Kaufman, Ruth Prawer Jhabvala, Jay Presson Allen, Paul Schrader, Walter Bernstein, Ring Lardner Jr. and James Schamus.

ABOUT NANTUCKET FILM FESTIVAL

The NFF was founded in 1996 to spotlight screenwriters, screenwriting and storytelling in today's cinema. The festival takes place over five days in June on the idyllic island of Nantucket, MA.

Now in its eleventh year, NFF has become a prestigious annual event within
the international film industry. Screening over 50 feature-length and short films in all genres that highlight the art of storytelling, the NFF is significant
attraction that draws over ten thousand attendees, screenwriters, producers, agents and development executives each year.

Screenwriting is further explored through panel discussions, a screenplay competition, an emerging screenwriter's mentorship with the Screenwriters Colony, an educational program for teens and community beach screenings. The Festival also hosts the popular evening of Late Night Storytelling (hosted by Peter Farrelly and Anne Meara and past stories told by Jim Carrey, Tina Fey, Mos Def and Paul Rudd) in addition to screenplay staged readings.

Past staged readings have included the hilarious SHOWSTOPPER by Anthony Barille & Geoffrey Nauffts including the talents of Ben Stiller and Academy Award winner Marisa Tomei. Last year’s reading, SPECTACLE, Part One of the Mark Rosen Chronicles by Stacy Weiss and Dan Chariton was directed by Ben Stiller and the cast included: Macaulay Culkin, Amy Sedaris, David Krumholtz, Lake Bell, Robert Sean Leonard, Ben Stiller and more. The coveted screenplay A CONFEDERACY OF DUNCES by Steven Soderbergh and Scott Kramer was the centerpiece staged reading of NFF 2003 and featured Will Ferrell in the starring role with Alan Cumming, Mos Def, and Rosie Perez.

The NFF has been a showcase for some of the top independent films of the last decade. The festival was one of the first to find and platform such films as: The Full Monty, Next Stop Wonderland and Girlfight. NFF 2005 Featured the North American Premiere of Jim Jarmush's Broken Flowers as the Opening Night Film.

For more information please visit our website at www.nantucketfilmfestival.org.