Press Release

The debut of the Seattle-produced digital film short MACHINES is slated for August 4th, 2002, at the 2002 Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival in San Diego. Originally conceived as a short comic book, MACHINES quickly evolved into a digital film explains writer-director F. Chong Rutherford.

"Machines started life as a comic book script, but I rewrote it as a

short film when I realized that I couldn't draw the story I was seeing. I also didn't know any comic artists at the time, so a short movie made sense."

Featuring digital effects by award-winning Seattle graphic designer

Jason Forbes (creator of http://www.Delicious62.com), and an all-Seattle cast and crew, MACHINES is described as, "a creepy blend of science-fiction, action and black comedy about a job interview gone terribly wrong." A thirty- second teaser trailer is available online at

http://www.mightyhank.com/machines (broadband connection and QuickTime 5 recommended). Forbes and Rutherford will both be attending Comic-Con International to promote the movie. Rutherford was surprised by the opportunity.

"I was blown away when (Comic-Con Director of Programming) Gary Sassaman asked if Comic-Con could screen MACHINES. It's the perfect place for the short to debut. Started as a comic book, turned into a movie, ends up at the best comic convention in the world. It's like I'm dreaming."

MACHINES debuts August 4th, 2002, at Comic-Con International at the San Diego Convention Center. Visit http://www.comic-con.org/pages/2002CDArc6.html for more details on the 2002 Comic-Con International Independent Film Festival.

ABOUT F. CHONG RUTHERFORD

F. Chong Rutherford was a finalist in the 2002 IFP "Perfect Pitch"

contest for screenwriters (http://www.ifp.org) His most recent projects include the mini-comic ULTIMATE FIGHT COMIC#0 created with the mysterious dr. blank and artist Chris Kohler, and the digital shorts ?1950: THE DAY OF DOOM IS COMING (recently screened at the 2002 Stockstock film festival in Seattle, WA.) and the digital short WITH A LOT, A LOT THE DOTY (currently in post-production). His next projects include the digital film short ULTIMATE FIGHT MOVIE, some screenplays and, "several loads of laundry."