VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA–Voyageur Film Capital Corp. and Cadence Entertainment Inc. (its wholly-owned subsidiary – July 8th/99 acquisition completion) is pleased to announce that TRIMARK PICTURES, Inc. has acquired all U.S. distribution rights for the feature film “Taillights Fade”.

“Taillights Fade” is a fast-paced journey of self discovery for five twentysomethings. The two couples endure the road and each other in their pristine convertibles, unaware of the troubles awaiting them in the West. “Taillights Fade” is the tale love and betrayal, redemption and temptation. Set against the backdrop of the road, two couples race against time to save another’s life from imprisonment. Starring Jake Busey (Starship Trooper), Tanya Allen (Regeneration), Breckin Meyer (Clueless), Elizabeth Berkeley (Showgirls) and Denise Richards, (Wild Things, The World is Not Enough, as the next Bond Girl).

Guy Stodel, Director of Acquisitions for Trimark Pictures, said of the film, “The film transforms the tired road movie formula into a fresh and vibrant tale of love, betrayal and youth. Two of today’s hottest stars, Denise Richards who stars as the next Bond girl in (The World is Not Enough), and Jake Busey (Starship Troopers), headline the stellar young cast which also includes Elizabeth Berkeley, Tanya Allen and Breckin Meyer.”

Trimark Holdings, Inc. (TMRK-NASDAQ) is a broad-based entertainment company which acquires, produces, and distributes motion pictures domestically (U.S.) and internationally under the Trimark Pictures banner; licenses to the broadcast industry under the Trimark Television moniker; and distributes to the domestic home video market under the Trimark Home Video label. Through each of the Company’s separate entities, Trimark is the owner of nearly 650 titles.

How Kevin Smith traded on his filmmaking for a side-job in the funny papers.

“How did you break into comics?” a voice shouts across a San Francisco convention meeting room. Filmmaker Kevin Smith, presiding over the crowd of comic fanboys, grows a sly grin. Then a bulge protrudes from the side of his mouth as his tongue pushes against the inside of his cheek, he raises his clenched fist up to his mouth, and slides it back and forth in the universally recognized fellatio pantomime. Laughter bursts forth from the crowd.

Of course, Smith was joking about giving head to comic book publishers. In actuality, the screenwriter/director/actor’s road to writing comic books hasn’t been that easy: he had to make three movies (Clerks, Mallrats, Chasing Amy)- filling two of them with plenty of comic book in-jokes (not to mention a cameo by comics legend Stan Lee)- before anyone noticed that he really wanted to write comics.

“I’m one of those guys who goes the long way around to get to a very short goal,” Kevin said in a 1997 interview with this writer. “If there’s one thing that I hope this film career does for me, it is help get my foot in the door of comics so I can write some scripts for comics.”

By late ’97 Smith’s ploy had worked, and in January ’98 a Jay & Silent Bob (the dope-smoking duo from his films) story appeared in the acclaimed comic Oni Double Feature.

Since then, Oni Press has published two Clerks one-shots, a four-issue Jay & Silent Bob mini-series, and a Bluntman & Chronic (characters who first appeared in mock comic book form in Chasing Amy) story. Smith also just wrapped up an eight-month tenure writing Daredevil for Marvel Comics. And, showing his full support for the medium, the filmmaker actually bought his local comic book store in Red Bank, New Jersey rather than see it go out of business. Though he admits he hasn’t juggled the comics with writing, directing, and editing his upcoming film Dogma very well (“I’ve got to answer to the other job”), Smith’s books have found acceptance, selling briskly at shops and conventions across the country. He even earned the 1999 Harvey Award (comic-dom’s version of the Oscar and Golden Globe rolled into one) for Best New Talent. Aside from ultra-brief cameos from artists Mike Allred (Bluntman & Chronic) and Jim Mahfood (Clerks), Dogma doesn’t feature the same litany of comics references as its predecessors. “In this flick there was no room for it,” Smith explains. “I didn’t feel too bad because the movie itself is kind of like a comic book.” Indeed, there are tentative plans to release a comic book called Bartelby & Loki (Ben Affleck and Matt Damon’s Dogma characters) which, according to Smith, will “kind of tell their story from before the movie, from the dawn of creation all the way up to the flick.”- Spence Abbott