NAHF To Host Event Featuring Oscar-Winner Cliff Robertson

The National Aviation Hall of Fame (NAHF) will host the First Annual "Reel Stuff Film Festival of Aviation" on April 24-26, 2008 in Dayton, OH. Reel Stuff screenings held at various theatre venues throughout the three-day festival will celebrate the diverse and colorful world of aviation as depicted through invited Hollywood studio productions and independent documentaries.

Projects to be screened are documentary, classic and contemporary theatrical releases in which aviation history or the passion for flight is the subject or instrumental to the storyline. Each movie will be introduced by an actor, producer, aerial coordinator or cinematographer associated with its production, and an audience question-and-answer session will follow each screening.

This event is open to the public, with all Reel Stuff ticket and merchandise proceeds benefiting the Dayton-based NAHF Learning Center.

Among the seven presenters and eight films to be screened at the inaugural three-day Reel Stuff Film Festival of Aviation are Cliff Robertson/"633 Squadron," Clay Lacy/"Top Gun" and the IMAX "Fighter Pilot: Operation Red Flag," Brian J. Terwilliger/"One Six Right," and Wilson "Connie" Edwards/"Battle of Britain."

"What better place to host the Reel Stuff Film Festival than the Birthplace of Aviation?" asked the festival’s founding director, Ron Kaplan. Kaplan also serves as the executive director of the NAHF, which was established in Dayton almost 50 years ago.

"Each Reel Stuff screening was selected for its ability to take us to fascinating times and places we otherwise might not see, and for sharing the lives and stories of characters we might otherwise never know," Kaplan continued. "Whether you are a movie enthusiast, a student of the creative process, or simply love airplanes,” Kaplan points out, “the Reel Stuff festival offers a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet some very talented people that enable us to more richly experience the cultural, historical and emotional impact of powered flight.

"Thanks to a seed-funding grant for Reel Stuff from the Gates Frontiers Fund, the Hall of Fame is privileged to bring aviation and cinema fans together with the skilled pilots and artists that work behind and in front of the camera, and all to benefit a great cause," he concluded.

FMI: www.reelstufffilmfest.com, www.nationalaviation.org