'Hairspray' Wins 3 Hollywood Film Festival Awards

The movie-musical Hairspray garnered three prestigious awards from the 11th Annual Hollywood Film Festival held October 17-22.  The Hollywood Awards Gala Ceremony will be held at the Beverly Hilton Hotel on Monday, October 23.

Craig Zadan and Neil Meron received the Hollywood Producers of the Year Award.  John Travolta, who starred as Edna Turnblad, won the prize for Hollywood Supporting Actor of the Year.  Plus the cast of Hairspray garnered the Hollywood Ensemble Musical Comedy of the Year Award.

The cast of Hairspray included John Travolta, Michelle Pfeiffer, Christopher Walken, Amanda Bynes, James Marsden, Queen Latifah, Brittany Snow, Zac Efron, Elijah Kelley, Allison Janney, Jerry Stiller, Paul Dooley and Nikki Blonsky.

The 11th Annual Hollywood Film Festival took place October 17 to 21 at ArcLight Cinemas. This year's festival highlights the films of emerging filmmakers.

The festival's programming includes features, documentaries, shorts and music videos from around the world, including films from Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

For more information on the Hollywood Film Festival and Award winners, visit HollywoodAwards.com

"Hairspray, written by Leslie Dixon, produced by Craig Zadan and Neil Meron and directed by Adam Shankman, is the story of Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, who has only one passion -- dancing. Her dream is to appear on 'The Corny Collins Show,' Baltimore's hippest dance party on TV. Tracy (Nikki Blonsky) seems a natural fit for the show except for one not-so-little problem -- she doesn't fit in. However, when big hair meets big dreams anything can happen -- and does," state press notes.   The film features a screenplay by Leslie Dixon, who adapted it from Thomas Meehan and Mark O'Donnell's original book, as well as a score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, who contributed new songs to their existing Tony Award-winning score.

Hairspray is reported as the 3rd most successful movie musical in 30 years, beneath films Grease and Chicago.  Hairspray debuted in theaters on July 20 with the largest opening weekend gross ever for a musical film.

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