PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 10, 2013

OSCARS DISCOVER RHODE ISLAND’S MOONRISE KINGDOM
NOMINATIONS RECEIVED FROM THE ACADEMY, GOLDEN GLOBES
AND SPIRIT AWARDS

The Rhode Island Film & TV Office is delighted to announce that Wes Anderson’s highly acclaimed motion picture, MOONRISE KINGDOM, which was shot entirely in the beautiful State of Rhode Island, has been nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Original Screenplay.

Premiering to a worldwide audience in the spring of 2012 at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival, MOONRISE KINGDOM became an immediate sensation, beloved by the critics who responded exuberantly to Director Wes Anderson’s magical movie.

Starring Edward Norton, Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Jason Schwartzman and Bob Balaban, MOONRISE KINGDOM follows the whimsical tale of a young boy and girl (newcomers Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward) who fall in love and run away together while a variety of townspeople mobilize to search for them on a unique island off the coast of New England in the 1960’s.

MOONRISE KINGDOM was produced by Wes Anderson, Scott Rudin, Steven Rales and Jeremy Dawson for Focus Features and Indian Paintbrush. Director Wes Anderson co-authored the screenplay with Roman Coppola.

Rhode Island Governor Lincoln D. Chafee said, "We are very pleased that the Academy of Arts and Sciences has recognized the remarkable efforts of Wes Anderson and his team for their film 'Moonrise Kingdom.' With the collaboration of our Film & TV Office, various city and town officials, and a dedicated local workforce, 'Moonrise Kingdom' is a prime example of how, through teamwork, our beautiful state can be showcased to a worldwide audience."

Steven Feinberg, Executive Director of the Rhode Island Film & TV Office, commented, “When the visionary artist Wes Anderson picked Rhode Island as the unique location for his personal project and enlisted our talented local crew and vendors to make his movie dream come true, we could not have been more enthusiastic. Now that “Moonrise Kingdom” is receiving so many awards and accolades, it officially puts Rhode Island at the top of the independent filmmaking map.”

To date, over 100 critics, including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone and New York Film Critics, have deemed MOONRISE KINGDOM “one of the year’s best pictures.“ MOONRISE KINGDOM was selected as Movie of the Year at the American Film Institute Awards and Best Film at the Gotham Awards. The National Board of Revue voted MOONRISE KINGDOM one of the Top Ten Independent Films. They also won a Boston Society of Film Critics award for Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Use of Music in a Film; Best Production Design from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association; and Best Screenplay from the New York Film Critics Circle

Additional nominations include the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy; the Gotham Award for Best Ensemble Cast; Independent Spirit Awards for Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Feature, Best Screenplay and Best Supporting Male (Bruce Willis).

The Academy Awards will be presented on Sunday, February 24, 2013 at 7PM EST on ABC.

The Rhode Island Film & TV Office is a government agency under the umbrella of the State of Rhode Island Department of Administration. For more information, please visit:

http://www.film.ri.gov