On Tuesday, February 15, 2000, AtomFilms, a leader in next-generation

entertainment, announced that it has locked the first-ever, exclusive,

on-line distribution deal with the USC School of Cinema-Television to

broadcast student films from the illustrious film school's catalog. As part

of the deal, for the next 18 months, USC will provide AtomFilms with

exclusive on-line distribution rights to 100 student titles which includes

shorts from famed alumnus George Lucas and Robert Zemeckis. On February 15,

AtomFilms plans to launch the "USC Cinema Yearbook" page on their Web site

to showcase the shorts in their entirety. "Affiliating with AtomFilms

enables the school [USC] to achieve a couple of goals," said Larry

Auerbach, Associate Dean of Student-Industry Relations at USC. "First, it

gives our talented students a worldwide public venue for showcasing their

work, which for them and us is very exciting. Secondly, licensing the

rights to AtomFilms allows us to expedite archiving our 75 year-old film

collection. That should make film historians and fans alike very happy."

"The USC Cinema Yearbook" will premiere bi-weekly the career-launching

shorts by influential filmmakers such as Lucas, Zemeckis and others. The

new shorts will also feature profiles on the filmmakers.