ENGLEWOOD, Colo. and PAIA, Maui, Hawaii, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Starz Entertainment Group LLC (SEG) today announced the renewal of its support for the Maui Film Festival at an increased level. The company will be a Leadership Sponsor of the seventh annual festival, sponsoring the opening night double feature at the Celestial Cinema and the nightly Maui Film Festival StarShow on Wailea Beach. The festival will be held June 14-18.

"Support of the Maui Film Festival is a natural for us," said SEG senior vice president of channel management David Charmatz. "We love the island. Celestial Cinema and the StarShow are a perfect match for a company named Starz. And, like the film festival, at Starz Movies Make Us."

"We are delighted to have Starz back in an even bigger role this year," said Maui Film Festival director Barry Rivers. "It is a pleasure to work with a sponsor who understands the industry so well and can bring to the event creativity and expertise as well as critical financial support."

SEG president and CEO Robert B. Clasen will welcome the attendees at the Opening Night double feature, "Peaceful Warrior" and "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man," at the Celestial Cinema Wednesday, June 14 starting at 8:00 p.m. under the stars in Wailea.

Every night of the five-day festival at 8:30 p.m., Starz will sponsor a free StarShow on Wailea Beach where experts in astronomy and Polynesian marine and celestial folklore will take attendees on a nightly tour of the Cosmos. The StarShow will be followed by a 10 p.m. screening in the SandDance Theater of a Silent Film Classic starring Harold Lloyd.

Three top Starz executives -- executive vice president of advanced services Bob Greene; senior vice president of program acquisitions, planning and scheduling Stephan Shelanski and Charmatz -- will speak and answer questions on a on a panel at 11:45 a.m. on Saturday, June 17 at the Wailea Marriott. The panel will focus on how the digital revolution has changed the world of video production and distribution.

Charmatz said Starz will film festival events -- including interviews with the top stars who plan to attend -- and will air special reports from the festival on the Starz channels and as bonus programming on Starz on Demand.

Rivers added that Starz leads a list of distinguished sponsors including American Airlines, Starbucks Coffee, Bombay Sapphire, Tommy Bahama, Spago, Four Seasons Resort Maui, The Hollywood Reporter, Dolby, and the Hawaii Tourism Authority among others. The Maui Film Festival began in 1999 with just 1,500 attendees. This year's event is expected to draw more than 20,000 film lovers to see more than 60 movies in five venues, three of them under-the-stars including the Celestal Cinema and the Maui SkyDome, and the third, the SandDance Theater being not only under-the-stars but toes-in-the-sand as well!

Charmatz noted that Starz also sponsors the Santa Barbara, Telluride, Hollywood and Starz Denver International Film Festivals.

Starz Entertainment Group LLC (SEG) is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. SEG offers 16 movie channels including the flagship Starz(R) and Encore(R) brands with approximately 14.6 million and 26.4 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment Group airs more than 1,000 movies per month across its pay TV channels and offers advanced services including Starz HDTV, Starz On Demand and Vongo(SM). Starz Entertainment Group is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation that is attributed to Liberty Capital Group, www.starz.com.

Source: Starz Entertainment Group LLC