STARLIGHT RUNNER ENTERTAINMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
April 9, 1999

“RED LIGHT AUGUST” NY PREMIERE TO BENEFIT OCD TEENS
Indie film about sexual obsession places director with Ovitz’s AMG

Jeff Gomez’s Red Light August, a short film about a young artist's struggle with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), will make its New York premiere at the Screening Room, 54 Varick Street, at 2 PM and 3 PM on May 1, 1999. A Manhattan native of Puerto Rican heritage, Gomez has lived with OCD since childhood. The haunting, music driven film’s hero engages in a bizarre erotic ritual that reflects symptoms of the mysterious mental affliction. The premiere will be a fund-raiser for the LA based Obsessive-Compulsive & Spectrum Disorders Association, which specializes in the treatment and education of young people who have OCD.

Essentially a disruption of the chemical seratonin’s uptake between the cells in the human brain, OCD creates intrusive, often frightening “thought loops” which tend to wrap themselves around fundamental anxieties such as body image and sexuality. A person who may have been concerned about germs as a child, for example, will be compelled to wash his hands repeatedly as an adult when stress levels rise.

Gomez wrote and directed the intensely personal independent film, which was screened an unprecedented three times at Park City's Slamdunk Film Festival this past January, and closed the Hollywood Shorts Film Festival the following month. Red Light August was recognized as a remarkable artistic achievement by agents from Michael Ovitz's newly created Artists Management Group, who represent such artists as Leonardo DiCaprio, Robin Williams, Cameron Diaz and Martin Scorsese. AMG has since signed Gomez to a two-year agreement, and is now in the process of developing several of his properties for film, TV, video games and the internet.

Despite his affliction and impoverished Lower East Side background, Gomez has managed to develop a huge following in the world of science fiction and fantas y entertainment. His writing and development for the Nintendo 64 video games Turok: Dinosaur Hunter and Turok 2: Seeds of Evil have helped them gross over $200 million. Gomez’s comic books based on the hit trading card game, Magic: The Gathering - with stories inspired by his childhood fantasies on the streets of Manhattan - have been translated into five languages and sold over 2 million copies.

Red Light August is a co-production of executive producer Andrew Sullivan’s Zealous Pictures, producer Jonathan Gray’s Simian Pictures, and Gomez’s own Starlight Runner Entertainment. In what he considers a career highlight, Gomez will screen the film at the OCSDA Conference at Universal City in Los Angeles, May 7 - 9, and hopes to speak with hundreds of doctors, parents and researchers about education reforms in the recognition of symptoms of OCD in children.

The May 1 premiere at the Screening Room is open free to the public, but seating is limited and charitable donations requested. Attendees are advised to arrive early. A reception in the bar will follow. Videocassette copies of Red Light August will be available for sale at the event.

Please RSVP for reserved seats.