Giving three strong performances as immigrants in The Visitor are, from left, Danai Gurira, Haaz Sleiman, and Hiam Abbass. See more March 29 photos in the daily 2008 Method Fest Photo Gallery. (Tom Coat photo)

Calabasas, Calif., March 29, 2008 - Honored earlier in the evening by The Method Fest at the Louis B. Mayer Theatre for a career of inspired character-acting roles, Richard Jenkins stepped up to give a compelling performance in a lead role written especially for him in the Centerpiece film, The Visitor.

The performance of Jenkins as a burned-out college professor who finds passion and understanding after befriending three immigrants in New York City, came on the same night when another Method Fest career award winner was turning in a simililarly strong performance at the Viewpoint Theatre. Martin Landau, winner of The Method Fest's career achievement award in 2005, starred in Harrison Montgomery.

The two well-received movies screened on a busy day when three programs of short features and seven movies were shown. In addition to The Visitor and Harrison Montgomery, other films screened were The Cake Eaters, Falling, Choose Connor, La Lachete and Low. The overall quality of the selections reinforced the contention of Method Fest Executive Director Don Franken that this year's lineup is the strongest in the festival's 10 years.

Presented by the City of Calabasas, the 10th annual Method Fest continues today with a packed slate of screenings beginning at noon and lasting into the evening. The Festival's co-Centerpiece film - Then She Found Me - screens at 7:30 p.m. at the Louis B. Mayer Theatre. The film marks the directorial debut of actress Helen Hunt, who also stars in the movie. Also screening at the Louis B. Mayer Theatre are The Blue Hour, The Stone Angel, and Lullaby. At the Viewpoint Theatre, God's Ears and Fix join two programs of short features. Tickets for individual films are available online and at the door. (See the Screening Schedule for more details, trailers, and directions).

The Visitor succeeds because it gives a human face to the issue of immigration in the United States by following the stories of three immigrants, brought to the screen beautifully by Danai Gurira, Haaz Sleiman, and Hiam Abbass. In the movie, they are helped by Jenkins, who in turn finds new passion and a sense of humanity in caring deeply about three people who are facing a serious crisis in their lives.

"I did actually write the lead role with Richard in mind," said writer/director Tom McCarthy in an audience question-and-answer session following the screening. "We had dinner a year earlier and by the end of the dinner, I knew I wanted Richard for this movie."

Following the success of his earlier movie, the award-winning The Station Agent, McCarthy delved more deeply into the immigration issue. He visited the Middle East, spent time in the Arab-American community, and asked his four leading characters to visit an immigration detention center in America and talk with an inmate.

"Tom said it was important for us," said Jenkins. "He said 'I want you to go to a detention center and talk with somebody,' and so we went. And it was important. I talked with this man ... I didn't talk, I listened for about 45 minutes. He hadn't talked to anyone for about three weeks or a month, so he just talked and I just sat there. And it was heartbreaking. He didn't know what was going to happen to him. He didn't have anybody to talk to or call. He was just in limbo."

Writer/director Tom McCarthy shares a laugh with star Hiam Abbass following the screening of The Visitor.

Jenkins' real-life visit would come to mirror the situation he would help bring to the screen in The Visitor. When his new friend Tarek is arrested, he is taken to a windowless detention center in Queens, where uncertainty and anxiety replace other human emotions. And where, after a long struggle that affects all the characters deeply, Jenkins is left to shout at unfeeling immigration guards, asking if they know that people's lives are being turned upside down by the "limbo" in which the detainees found themselves, and their ultimate powerlessness.

Despite the obvious humanity brought to the immigration issue by The Visitor, McCarthy said the film does not answer questions about what to do with immigrants in this country, it just asks the questions and brings a sense of humanity to a "giant issue" in America.

Today, Academy Award winner Helen Hunt makes her feature directing debut with Then She Found Me, a touching story of schoolteacher April Epner (Hunt) and her very unlikely path towards personal fulfillment, adapted from Elinor Lipman's novel of the same name. The film also stars Colin Firth, Academy Award nominee Bette Midler, Matthew Broderick, Lynne Cohen, and Ben Shenkman.

Other marquee selections on this year's Method Fest feature lineup include: The Stone Angel with Ellen Burstyn, Christine Horne, Cole Hauser, Ellen Page, and Sheila McCarthy; Chronic Town, directed by Tom Hines and starring JR Bourne, Emily Wagner, Jeffrey Scott Jensen, Alice Drummond, Dan Butler and Paul Dooley, and Diminished Capacity with Matthew Broderick, Virginia Madsen, Alan Alda and Dylan Baker. Also, The Blue Hour by Eric Nazarian and starring Alyssa Milano, Clarence Williams III, Derrick O'Connor, Yorick van Wageningen and Emily Rios.

World premieres yet to screen include:

• The South African film, Lullaby, directed by renowned director, Darrell Roodt ("Yesterday,"" Sarafina,""Cry the Beloved Country" );
• Chain Link, directed by Dylan Reynolds and starring Mark Irvingsen and Jim Storm;
• True Love, directed by Henry Barrial, a Sundance alum with his first film, Some Body.

There will be a total of 25 features and 48 short films, also from across the U.S. and the globe, screened at this year's The Method Fest.  Access the screening schedule or call (310) 535-9230 for more information.

Festival Package are available for purchase online, and tickets for individual films and shorts also may be purchased online at www.brownpapertickets.com, 800-838-3006.  Ticket prices range from $10 for most individual screenings (excluding opening, centerpiece films, and closing night films), with a festival pass for all screenings, parties, receptions, and tributes only $195.  A limited amount of special industry passes are available at only $125 each.