Sedona Film Festival presents free screenings of "Outsourced"

Meet the co-writer and executive producer of the film at May 20 Cinetalk events

Sedona, AZ - May 10, 2008 - The Sedona International Film Festival is proud to present its Free Cinetalk Series featuring the Arizona premiere of “Outsourced,” a modern-day comedy of cross-cultural conflict and romance. There will be two screenings of the film at 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 20 at Harkins Sedona Six Theatres.

All tickets for the Sedona screenings are free thanks to a generous grant from the Sedona Community Foundation and sponsorship from Coffee Pot Restaurant.

The co-writer and executive producer of the film, George Wing, will be in Sedona to host the screenings and conduct a Q&A discussion following each of the shows.

The Sedona Film Festival team discovered this film at the Ashland Film Festival in Oregon. “We instantly knew this delightful, topical comedy with its charming characters and beautiful visuals of India would be a hit with our Sedona audience,” said Debbie Williams, the festival’s operations director.

Todd Anderson (Josh Hamilton) spends his days managing a customer call center for American novelty products in Seattle, until his job, along with those of the entire office, are outsourced to India. Adding insult to injury, Todd must travel to India to train his new replacement.

As he lands in India, Todd is assaulted by the sights and sounds of a completely different culture. Navigating through the chaos of Bombay, Todd must train the most unlikely team in the ways of America and American novelty products.

Between accent and culture training to education on the cheesehead hat and hot dog toaster, Todd frantically tries to increase the effectiveness of the Indian office, so that he can return home to Seattle. However, it is through his team of quirky yet likable Indian call center workers, including his friendly and motivated replacement, Puro, and the charming, opinionated Asha (Ayesha Dharker), that Todd realizes that he too has a lot to learn – not only about India and America, but about himself.

Todd soon discovers that being outsourced may be the best thing that ever happened to him.

The film is based on an original screenplay by George Wing (50 First Dates) and writing partner, John Jeffcoat, who also directs.

Having spent a semester abroad and studying in Nepal in 1993, Jeffcoat returned to South Asia in 2002, when he began shooting a documentary on the Indian film industry. India produces more films than any other country in the world, and with great crew and technicians and a lower cost of production, he quickly realized that there may be an opportunity to produce a low budget independent feature in India.

“I knew the dollar could go a long way in India, and that the possibilities were limitless,”
said Jeffcoat. “Now I just needed to find a story.”

Back home in Seattle, Jeffcoat was hearing more and more about outsourcing. Indians were being flown to the US and Americans were training their own replacements, who were being sent back to India to do their jobs at less than half the cost. And that gave him an idea.

“I thought to myself, what if instead of an Indian coming to the US to take over an American’s job, we send the American overseas to train his own replacement?” said Jeffcoat. “This way, I could play with my experiences in Nepal and India, and tell a very relevant story.”

That is when he enlisted the help of his writing partner, Wing, and the idea came to fruition.

The title sponsors for “Outsourced” are the Sedona Community Foundation and Coffee Pot Restaurant. The lodging host is Sedona Rouge Hotel & Spa.

The film will be shown at Harkins Sedona Six Theatres on Tuesday, May 20 at 4:00 and 7:00 p.m. All tickets are free and will be available starting at 3:00 p.m. in the Harkins lobby. Seats are limited. Film Sedona members can pick up or reserve their free tickets in advance at the Sedona International Film Festival office, 45 Sunset Drive, or by calling 282-1177.

For more information, visit: www.SedonaFilmFestival.com.

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