Shine Nominated for 7 Academy Awards!
It's been a very exciting day here at Fine Line as Shine collected 7 Academy Award nominations this morning: Best Picture, Best Director (Scott Hicks), Best Actor (Geoffrey Rush), Best Supporting Actor (Armin Mueller-Stahl), Best Original Screenplay (Jan Sardi, story by Scott Hicks), Best Editing (Pip Karmel) and Best Score (David Hirschfelder).

Best Actor nominee Geoffrey Rush was with us in our New York office and director Scott Hicks was on the speakerphone from Australia with his entire family as we watched the nominations live on The Today Show. For those of us at Fine Line who have worked on this film for more than a year (to say nothing of the filmmakers who spent nearly a decade creating Shine) it was a very emotional moment. Thanks to all of you who have sent us your kind comments and best wishes about Shine.

Shine opens nationwide this Friday the 14th, so if it hasn't come to your neck of the woods yet please check your local newspaper for theater listings this weekend. We also have a complete list of theaters at <http://www.flf.com/shine/theaters/index.htm>. For all of you trivia buffs, we have the entire list of Academy Award nominations in every category on our site at <http://www.flf.com/oscars97.htm>.

Helfgott Contest Underway
Our online contest to win tickets to see pianist David Helfgott in his upcoming US tour is underway, and ends in less than two weeks. If you haven't entered yet please visit the contest page at <http://www.flf.com/shine/contest.htm>. Just select the concert you'd like to attend, fill out the form, and enter! And if you don't trust your luck, you can find his complete schedule -- along with phone numbers for purchasing tickets -- at <http://www.flf.com/helfgott/index.htm>.

There are still a few cities that will be added to the tour, so check daily to make sure you don't get caught in a situation where his concert sells out in your area.

Fine Line Site to Move to New Server
We are very pleased to announce that due to the increasing amount of traffic that flf.com has been receiving, we are about to move our site to a brand new Sun server. We're testing the machine right now, and it really flies. The site will move by the end of the week, and you should notice a big improvement in the responsiveness of the site. Our address won't change, you'll still find us at <http://www.flf.com>.

Crash Web Site Almost Ready
For an audacious film you've got to create an audacious Web site. Our Crash site will be something unique, and we'll be unveiling it at the end of the month. The site is being created by a wonderful NY firm named Reset, and if you want to check out their work visit <http://www.reset.com/shoebox> and <http://www.hbo.com/IIIam/>. The URL for our Crash site is <http://www.flf.com/crash> and what you'll see there now is just a sneak preview. The real site will open between February 25th and February 28th, and Crash -- the original, uncut version -- opens nationwide on March 21st.

Fine Line to Feature Crash Merchandise
We've gotten lots of requests for Crash merchandise and are happy to report that we are creating Crash T-Shirts. The shirts will be in the store in a few weeks, along with David Cronenberg's screenplay for Crash, the Crash poster (on sale now!), and more. We are also considering selling Crash crew jackets and would like to know if there is interest in these higher-priced items. The crew jackets are high quality leather jackets with the Crash logo and will sell for somewhere between $150 and $200.

We've never sold anything like this in our store and would like to gauge your interest before we decide whether to offer these items for sale, so reply to this newsletter if you might be interested in a Crash crew jacket. For Shine fans, we have the official Shine soundtrack CD, a recording of David Helfgott playing the "Rach 3," and Gillian Helfgott's wonderful book about her life with David titled, "Love You to Bits and Pieces." The Fine Line store is at <http://www.flf.com/store>.

Aspiring Screenwriters -- Take Note
Just about every day we get e-mail from people who would like to send their screenplays to Fine Line. And while we've worked with many first-time screenwriters and directors, we can't accept unsolicited screenplays for legal reasons. In short, here's how it works: you write a screenplay about a guy named John who falls in love with a woman named Jane. Unfortunately, we choose not to produce the script. Three years later we make a movie in which there are 16 characters, two of whom are named John and Jane. And then you sue us! Well not you, but someone who's not as nice as you. Anyway, to help you navigate the maze of successful screenwriting you might want to check out a new book called "The Writer's Guide to Hollywood Producers, Directors, and Screenwriter's Agents," by Skip Press (Prima Publishing). This book should be a big help to those of you who have a screenplay and just don't know how to get the right people to read it. And please, once you get representation for your script, have your agent bring it to us. We just can't accept unsolicited screenplays.