Best-Selling Author Paulo Coelho and MySpace Announce Worldwide Movie Exclusive
Global Project Seeks Filmmakers and Musicians to create Coelho’s First Feature Film, The Experimental Witch
WELLINGTON—June 11, 2008—Paulo Coelho, the worldwide best-selling author is teaming up with MySpace, the leading global lifestyle portal, to
create his first feature film, The Experimental Witch. Using the ‘mash-up’ video concept, Coelho will transform his most recent book, The Witch of Portobello, into a feature film using original videos and music created and submitted by users in the global MySpace community.
Coelho will personally select up to 15 videos and 16 songs to be included in the final film.
This ground breaking global competition invites filmmakers to select one of the 15 main characters from The Witch of Portobello and create a short film based on one of the book’s narratives – including all of the film’s elements, from the script to
the actors and director – and then post their submission on MySpaceTV and on Paulo Coelho’s MySpace profile (http:www.mypsace.com/paulocoelho). For the film’s soundtrack, musicians can submit entries by uploading their song onto their own MySpace page and onto
Coelho’s profile. Material may be submitted in any language, though any film not in English, Portuguese, Spanish or
French should include subtitles.
When asked about his decision to collaborate with MySpace Paulo Coelho commented, "I'm an avid MySpace user and have
been connecting with my fans there for the past 3 years. When I decided to create my first movie together with my
readers, MySpace quickly came to mind as the ideal partner. The site’s ability to connect people – artists, musicians
and filmmakers – around the world is unmatched. I am excited to see how this truly unique and innovative project
develops."
“Paulo’s decision to reach out to the global MySpace community is a powerful reflection on both the power of
collaboration and the creativity of our users,” said Chris DeWolfe, CEO of MySpace. “We hope that through amazing
opportunities like this we can continue to inspire thousands of people and make the art of making movies even more
accessible.”
Submissions for this competition will begin on June 16th and close on July 25th – the winners will be announced on
Coelho’s birthday, Aug, 24th 2008. Throughout the project, The Experimental Witch team will select some of the videos and songs submitted to be featured on Coelho’s profile and on MySpace sites around
the world. Winners will not only enjoy significant publicity from their involvement with the novelist, but their work
will also be featured across MySpace worldwide including the homepage, MySpaceTV and an extensive banner campaign.
Worldwide users of MySpace are invited to participate, with the project promoted by the local offices of MySpace in
Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Canada, the United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway,
Holland, Spain, Italy, the UK, Ireland, India, Korea and Poland.
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About MySpace
MySpace, a unit of Fox Interactive Media Inc., is the premier lifestyle portal for connecting with friends, discovering
popular culture, and making a positive impact on the world. By integrating web profiles, blogs, instant messaging,
e-mail, music streaming, music videos, photo galleries, classified listings, events, groups, college communities, and
member forums, MySpace has created a connected community. As the first ranked web domain in terms of page views(c),
MySpace is the most widely-used and highly regarded site of its kind and is committed to providing the highest quality
member experience. MySpace will continue to innovate with new features that allow its members to express their
creativity and share their lives, both online and off. MySpace's international network includes localized community
sites in the United States, France, Germany, Australia, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Switzerland, Austria, Canada,
Netherlands, New Zealand, Japan, Sweden, Latin America and the United Kingdom. Fox Interactive Media is a division of
News Corp. (NYSE:NWS - News, NWS.A - News; ASX:NWS - News, NWSLV - News).
About Paulo Coelho
Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in August 1947.
In 1986, at the age of 38, Paulo Coelho walked the Road to Santiago. He would later describe this experience in his
first book, The Pilgrimage, published in 1987. The following year, his second book, The Alchemist, established his worldwide reputation. The novel has already achieved the status of a universally admired modern
classic. This story, considered to be timeless by many, is set to enchant and inspire whole generations of future
readers.
Subsequent books were Brida (1990), O Dom Supremo: The Gift (1991), The Valkyries (1992), Maktub (1994), By The River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept (1994), The Fifth Mountain (1996), Love Letters from a Prophet (1997), The Manual of the Warrior of Light (1997), Veronika Decides to Die (1998) and The Devil and Miss Prym (2000). Among his recent novels are Eleven Minutes – bestselling fiction title worldwide in 2003 –, The Zahir (2005), Like the Flowing River (2006) and The Witch of Portobello (2006).
He has received numerous prestigious international awards. The critics have praised his poetic, realistic and philosophical style, and the symbolic language that does not speak
to our minds, but to our hearts. He has been a member of the prestigious Brazilian Academy of Letters since 2002.
His followers value and esteem him for his awareness of the problems in the world, his spirituality, his probity of
character, his wisdom, but most of all, for his ability to speak to everybody. Paulo Coelho is an advocate of
multiculturalism through his work with UNESCO as a Special Counsellor for Intercultural Dialogues and Spiritual
Convergences. The author was appointed a United Nations Messenger of Peace in September 2007 and this will allow him to
continue to promote intercultural dialogue and to focus on the needs of children.
Paulo Coelho has recently received the 2009 Guinness World Record for the Most Translated Living Author. Moreover, he
holds the Guinness World Record for the Most Translations (53) of a Single Title (The Alchemist) Signed in One Sitting (45 minutes). The record was achieved as a result of an international book-signing held at the
Frankfurt Book Fair in 2003.
The man behind the author loves reading, travelling, computers, the Internet, music, football, walking, and practicing
Kyudo – a kind of meditative archery.
ENDS