Battle in Seattle

An all-star ensemble cast has been lined up to do "battle." The cast of the hotly anticipated indie flick, Battle in Seattle, has been rounded out by America's #1 up-and-coming male movie star Channing Tatum ( A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints), Michelle Rodriguez ( S.W.A.T., Blue Crush), Jennifer Carpenter ( The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Showtime's Dexter), Connie Neilson ( Gladiator) and Joshua Jackson ( Bobby). They'll join an ensemble cast headed by Academy Award winner Charlize Theron ( Monster), Academy Award nominee Woody Harrelson ( The People vs. Larry Flynt), Golden Globe nominee Ray Liotta ( Something Wild), actor/international hip hop sensation Andre Benjamin of Outkast and Martin Henderson ( The Ring).

Written and directed by Irish film star Stuart Townsend ( Queen of the Damned), the movie is based on the 1999 World Trade Organization riots that caused approximately $20 million worth of looting and damage to the city's downtown core.

Made with a budget of under $10 million, the independent feature was jointly produced by Kirk Shaw of Insight Film Studios in Vancouver, Mary Aloe of Proud Mary Entertainment in Los Angeles and Maxime Remillard of Remstar. The film, shot primarily on location in Vancouver, will debut next year. Grosvenor Park and Remstar Productions Inc. are also production partners in the project. Critically acclaimed Director of Photography Brit Barry Ackroyd ( United 93) is lensing the picture.

"Even though the feature is being made on a modest budget by movie industry standards, it's instantly perceived as a "big" picture once you cast a major international star like Charlize Theron,"� says Shaw. "Because of the film's star power and contentious subject matter, it's being highly anticipated by both media and moviegoers alike."�

Battle in Seattle 's script weaves together the stories of an ensemble cast while tackling the controversial issue of the 1990 WTO riots. In 1999, tens of thousands of activists halted the organization's first ministerial meeting on soil. For five days, the riots brought the downtown area to a standstill, with police driving back unarmed protesters with pepper spray, tear gas and rubber bullets. Political fallout from the event played a part in the resignation of former Police Chief Norm Stamper and the failure of former Mayor Paul Schell to win a re-election bid in 2001.

But the movie is careful not to take sides, Aloe explains: "The lead characters run from protesters to pedestrians to police to politicians. We did not want to give only one point of view. When you see the movie, you'll find lots of gray areas. It's neither sympathetic nor unsympathetic to protesters and police."�

Incorporated in 1990, Insight Film Studios is Western Canada's fastest growing independent production company. It ranks as the region's single largest High-Definition television producer and as one of the top ten production companies in . The company's client list includes all national Canadian networks, as well as ABC Family, WB Kids, Sony, PAX TV, NHK Japan, MTV, Lifetime, Discovery US, Cinetel, Blockbuster US, TFI France and Telecinco Spain.

Headed by Mary Aloe, Proud Mary Entertainment, Inc., is a company dedicated to discovering and producing exceptional stories for film and television. Aloe is currently partnering with movie star Ashton Kutcher on an MTV pilot titled Trick'd. She is also teaming with #1 female prosecutor Nancy Grace on a one-hour drama series based on the CNN talk show hosts trials and times called Amazing Grace, now in development with 20 ^th Century Fox. As well, Aloe is in pre-production on the feature films Cabin Fever 2 with Lions Gate and Ruthless, based on the best-selling book chronicling the rise and fall of famed hip hop star Eazy-E and his manager, Jerry Heller.

Together, Insight and Proud Mary are successfully bridging the gap between Hollywood and Hollywood North (Vancouver), recently producing the feature films When a Man Falls in the Forest with Sharon Stone and Timothy Hutton and Numb starring Matthew Perry and Mary Steenburgen.