DivX, Inc. announced today the panel of judges for the DivX(R) Film Festival, an online video festival devoted to creativity, storytelling and improving digital media. Hosted on DivX Stage6(TM), the festival offers filmmakers the chance to win prizes plus gain exposure to key entertainment industry figures and access to an international audience.
Filmmakers are urged to act quickly and send their submissions by April 30, 2007. Prizes up for grabs include a series of DivX Certified and DivX Ultra Certified hardware and software bundles as well as US $12,000 in cash prizes, including a grand prize of US $5,000. All eligible entries are available on the DivX Film Festival channel on Stage6. Winning films will be posted starting May 23, 2007.

Contest submissions will be evaluated by DivX employees in conjunction with the following judges:

-- Michael Muhney, actor (most famous for his role as Sheriff Don Lamb on the UPN/The CW drama Veronica Mars)

-- Rodney Satterwhite, Genius Products, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer

-- Chris McGurk, CEO of Overture Films and former Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

-- Christophe Loizillon, French film writer, director and producer for both full feature and short films

-- Mike Draghi, supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer for over 100 Hollywood full feature and short film productions

The panel of judges will select the best short films in animation, comedy, documentary, fiction and music. All entries must be submitted in the high-quality DivX media format and contain an interactive menu and at least one other advanced feature--chapter points, subtitles or alternate audio tracks. Using open-source tools found on http://labs.divx.com/tools or commercial applications such as DivX Author, filmmakers can easily use their own existing content to create an entry for the contest.

"The interactive element of the advanced features of DivX really adds to the film experience allowing you to easily create a full product for your film," said Phillip Day, filmmaker and DivX Film Festival contestant. "This contest is a great opportunity to expose my work to Hollywood heavy-hitters and access an international audience."

"The DivX Film Festival lets filmmakers showcase their content to key members of the entertainment industry and gain exposure among a community of movie aficionados from all around the world," said Darrius Thompson, Cofounder, Senior Vice President of Strategy and New Business at DivX, Inc. "By creating content with the advanced features of DivX, filmmakers will create a richer media experience for consumers while building a content brand and interacting directly with the Stage6 community."

For official rules and to learn more about the contest visit the official film festival page at http://www.divx.com/DivXFilmFestival.

About Michael Muhney

On television, Michael Muhney has starred as a series regular in the television series "Turks," "The Huntress" and most recently as Sheriff Lamb on the hit show "Veronica Mars." His other television credits include numerous guest starring roles in "Without a Trace," "Numb3rs," "ER," "Charmed," "Navy NCIS" and "Boomtown." Muhney has starred in films such as "Lovers, Liars and Lunatics," with Amber Benson, "Angst," which he also co-wrote and produced, "Virtual Nightmare," "Disconnect," "Love 101" and the award-winning Independent feature at the DigiDance Film Festival, "Nicolas." He also appeared in the NBC mini-series, "A Will of Their Own," with Lea Thompson, Ellen Burstyn and Faye Dunaway.

About Rodney Satterwhite

Rodney Satterwhite was appointed COO of Genius Products, Inc. in April 2005. Mr. Satterwhite has 20 years of management experience in entertainment and retail operations and strategy. He spent more than five years as an executive at Warner Bros., where he was responsible for developing category management processes as well as revamping non-traditional video markets and rental strategies. Located in Santa Monica, CA with offices in New York, Genius Products is a leading distributor of home entertainment for well known media entities such as The Weinstein Company, IFC Films, Bauer Martinez Entertainment, Wellspring, Asia Extreme, ESPN, World Wrestling Entertainment, Big Idea, Classic Media, Sesame Street, Discovery Kids and others.

About Christopher McGurk

Chris McGurk is CEO for Overture Films, the motion picture studio formed in 2006 to produce, acquire, and distribute feature films on a worldwide basis. Overture is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Starz, LLC, a division of Liberty Media, a multinational media and entertainment company. McGurk currently serves on the Board of Directors and heads up the Audit Committee for DIC Entertainment, and is also a Board member of DivX and BRE Properties, Inc. McGurk's career spans over 24 years and includes senior executive positions at MGM, Universal, Disney, Pepsico and Price Waterhouse.

About Christophe Loizillon

Christophe Loizillon is credited for writing, directing, producing and acting in numerous French full feature and short films, including "Ma camera et moi" ("My Camera and Me"), "La jalousie" ("Jealousy") and "Riens du tout" ("Nothing at All"). After earning a Master's Degree in Science & Economy, Loizillon worked as an editor for Christine Pascal, Leos Carax, and Alain Corneau.

About Mike Draghi

Mike Draghi has worked as supervising sound editor and re-recording mixer on over 100 Hollywood full feature and short film productions including "Dreamland," "Ultimate Avengers" and "Ultimate Avengers II," and upcoming films "Dr. Strange" and "Ironman." His awards include the 2005 Motion Picture Sound Editors Award for Best Sound Editing for "The Ark," and the Cinema Audio Society Award for Outstanding Mixing for "Ultimate Avengers." Draghi also worked as a re-recording mixer on launch campaigns for "Halo 2," "MSN Search" and "Windows Vista" and has produced several short films, including the award-winning "Dirty Mary" and "No Ordinary Hero."