GOD OF LOVE Wins 2011 Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film-Toy Closet Films' Ryan Silbert Among Producers

HOLLYWOOD, CA, March 01, 2011 (Press-News.org) GOD OF LOVE is produced by Gigi Dement, Stefanie Walmsley and Ryan Silbert. It stars Matheny, Marian Brock and Christopher Hirsh. Director of Photography is Bobby Webster and original music is by Sasha Gordon. For a complete list of winners visit: http://www.oscars.org.

Upon receiving the award, Matheny thanked all the appropriate people including The Academy, his colleagues, cast and crew, fellow nominees, parents, friends and family. "When I made the film, I really just had my fingers crossed for winning the screenwriting prize at NYU's First Run [Film] Festival," Matheny said, "so the film's success, culminating with an actual Oscar , feels just too good to be true." The Oscar caps a season of success for the film, which won recognition from the National Board of Review, the Telluride Film Festival, the Angelus Student Film Festival and the Student Academy Awards.

"As producers, we couldn't be more grateful for this award," noted producer Ryan Silbert of Toy Closet Films. "This film and the Academy Award show a triumph of the collaborative process—working with close friends and colleagues—those people whom you trust and who in turn can be honest and up-front with you. With GOD OF LOVE, we got to see this formula work perfectly."

Shot in Manhattan and Brooklyn, Matheny made GOD OF LOVE to satisfy his graduate thesis requirement as an MFA candidate at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Matheny conceived the film because he was eager to tell a story that probed the mysteries of love and friendship in a fun and entertaining way. Produced with his NYU collaborators, Matheny's film opened theatrically February 4 as part of a nationwide program of screenings for Academy Award-nominated shorts. GOD OF LOVE is attached to the March 1st Blu-Ray DVD release of 127 HOURS; is also available NOW for purchase from iTunes; and will be released on DVD later in March.

GOD OF LOVE chronicles the romantic misadventures of Raymond Goodfellow (Matheny), a lounge-singing darts champion who finds his prayers are answered - literally - when he receives a mysterious package of passion-inducing darts. The catch is that the one woman he loves - Kelly (Marian Brock), a drummer in his band - is already in love with Ray's best friend Fozzie (Christopher Hirsh), the guitarist in the band.

Using the dramatic, simple triangle - boy likes girl, girl likes boy's best friend, boy's
best friend doesn't like girl - the film captures the essence of the magic of love in a funny,
heartwarming story of destiny controlled -- or not? - by the GOD OF LOVE.

KEY CREDITS
Writer/Director/Actor: Luke Matheny
Produced by: Gigi Dement, Stefanie Walmsley, and Ryan Silbert
Director of Photography: Bobby Webster
Original Music by: Sasha Gordon