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WFS presents area debut of 'Napoleon Dynamite'

Aug. 26, 2004

KALAMAZOO--Western Film Society presents the Kalamazoo-area debut of "Napoleon Dynamite," Friday through Sunday, Sept.17-19, in the Little Theatre at Western Michigan University.

This U.S. Comedy Arts Festival winner and 2004 Sundance Film Festival favorite marks the directorial debut of 24-year-old Jared Hess, who has created a hilarious, tender and original portrait of a truly eccentric character. Showtimes are 7 and 9:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Sept. 17-18, and 2:30 and 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 19. Admission is $5 and $3 for students.

The film's title character, Napoleon Dynamite, is a high-school outcast in every sense of the word. More interested in playing tetherball by himself and drawing pictures of his favorite animal, the "liger"--a combination of a lion and a tiger--Dynamite is ignored by everyone in his tiny hometown of Preston, Idaho. At home, things aren't much better. His uber-nerd older brother, Kip, and ultra-vain Uncle Rico are too busy with their own obsessions to give Napoleon the time of day. It isn't until a new student arrives that Napoleon finds friendship and performs an act of brave defiance that makes him a true hero.

A critical success, "Napoleon Dynamite" has been called, "One of the most winning movie creations in years," by the Washington Post, and Peter Travers of Rolling Stone says that "You'll laugh till it hurts."

The Little Theatre is located at the corner of Oakland Drive and Oliver Street on Western Michigan University's East Campus. There is free off-street parking behind the theatre. For more information, call the movie line at (269) 387-8221 or visit Western Film Society at <www.rso.wmich.edu/wfs>.

Media contact: Justin Gibson, 269 372-3503, westernfilmsociety@yahoo.com

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