NEW YORK, March 3rd, 2011 – Abel Ferrara, acclaimed director of Bad Lieutenant, King of New York, and The Driller Killer, will be the director of production at the New York Open Judo Championship on March 6th and the athlete weigh-ins on March 5th, 2010. The filmed competition and interviews with athletes will be used to create a docufiction under the supervision of Ferrara. The director of photography for the project is Ken Kelsch, ASC a long time collaborator of Ferrara who has worked with him on many movies, including The Driller Killer, Bad Lieutenant, and Dangerous Game. The project will be a Film Annex production, an online film production/distribution company and an official sponsor of the championship. Abel Ferrara has been directing many docufictions for the past several years. Some of his latest projects include Chelsea on the Rocks, a film about New York City's famous Chelsea Hotel, which combines documentary footage with fictionalized reenactments, and Napoli Napoli Napoli, a docufiction shot in the city of Naples. A director who has worked with actors like Harvey Keitel, Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe, Forest Whitaker, Juliet Binoche, and Academy Award Winner Marion Cotillard, Ferrara is excited to be collaborating with the best judokas in the world.

Ken Kelsch, ASC has over thirty years of experience as a cinematographer and has worked on many different productions, including feature films, television, and commercials. He was nominated for an independent spirit for his work in Ferrara's The Funeral. One of his latest films, Desert Flower is to premier in the States on March 18th, 2011. Ferrara's films are known for their immediacy and vitality and have been praised by audiences and critics alike. His movies have been described as “cinema as psychic energy, a fundamentally emotional and spiritual force that uses story, actors, and plot as elemental forces to throw into tumult, not to make into a staid, “plausible” drama.” Together, Kelsch and Ferrara will be bringing their unique vision and years of filmmaking experience into the project, making this year's championship a milestone in the history of judo.

About Abel Ferrara

Abel Ferrara is a New York-based American screenwriter and film director best known for his movies, The Driller Killer (1979), Ms. 45 (1981), King of New York (1990), Bad Lieutenant (1992), and The Funeral (1996), which was awarded at the Venice Film Festival the same year. Ferrara also won a Best Filmmaker award from the Gotham Awards for his film The Addiction in 1995. His more recent film, Mary, starring Juliette Binoche, Matthew Modine, and Forrest Whitaker premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2005 and swept the awards ceremony, garnering the Grand Jury Prize, SIGNIS Award, and two others. Ferrara is currently working on a new adaptation of Jekyll & Hyde, starring Forrest Whitaker and 50 Cent and a play on Broadway called Short Eyes.

About Ken Kelsch

Ken Kelsch, ASC finished his MFA at NYU in 1977 and immediately began his long career of collaboration
with Abel Ferrara. Since then he shot 30+ features, numerous TV events and MOWs, and over 100 hours of
Network Television. He has worked on location all over the world; from across the US and Canada, to Europe,
to the Middle East and Africa. One of his most recent films, Desert Flower, was nominated for the German
Academy Award for Best Picture and had over a million viewers there. Best known for his work on 1992's Bad
Lieutenant , Ken has also achieved notoriety for The Funeral and Big Night. His work on the first two seasons of Medium helped bring about the show's popularity.

About Film Annex

Film Annex is an online film distribution platform and Web Television Network with 220,000 registered users
and over 1.5 million viewers a day. The company creates free Web TV channels for content providers and
supports them financially through an ad-revenue sharing model. A meeting point for filmmakers, film festivals, film enthusiasts, companies, and organizations, Film Annex educates and entertains audiences by making meaningful, diverse, and high- quality films available to a global audience. For more information, visit www.filmannex.com.

About Judo

Judo debuted as an official Olympic sport in 1964 and is practiced by millions of people throughout the world
today. The discipline of Judo is a Japanese martial art and combat sport that originated in Japan in the late
nineteenth century. Best known for stunning throws, Judo also involves much grappling on the ground like
wrestling, using controlled holds, pins and arm locks. Judo, translated as "gentle way," teaches balance, leverage and flexibility in performing throws and other skills, and helps to develop complete body control and fast reflexive action. Skill, technique and timing, rather than brute strength, are the essential ingredients for success in this sport. Worldwide, over 20 million people practice judo, with all age groups, both sexes and disabled persons all able to participate in learning and practicing in the sport.