Dear Friends:

The WWII documentary film, Rendezvous with Freedom (now re-titled: "Last Best Hope: A True Story of Escape, Evasion, and Remembrance"), which my team and I were privileged to screen for the MOAA, the Daedalians, and the American Legion (post 76), is complete!!! PBS national has assigned our broadcast slot as October 30, 9:00 p.m.-10:30 p.m. Central.

Next Sunday, August 13, at 1:30 p.m., the film will screen at the Dallas Theater Center as part of the Dallas Video Festival. Our P-47 pilot from Abilene, Bill Grosvenor, and our entire film crew will attend the screening. The theater seats 500, and I hope to fill it, which is my reason for contacting you now.

If you have military, professional, or personal contacts in the DFW area who might be interested in seeing this amazing film before it airs on PBS this fall, I would be very grateful if you would help spread the word about the screening.

Tickets are $5 and can be purchased at the door at the Dallas Theater Center. I suggest that patrons arrive early to ensure a good seat and convenient parking. Here's the link to the Dallas Video Festival Web site, with details including directions to the theater (in the Turtle Creek area): http://www.videofest.org/2006/

Also, I've attached a related press release that you can share with your contacts, and here is a link to our Web site: http://www.alpheusmedia.com/lastbesthope

We have many other screenings coming up in the next two months, including a screening on October 27 in D.C., hosted by the Belgian Embassy and Air Force Association. If you have military contacts in the D.C. area whom you would like me to invite to that screening, by all means, send me their names and addresses. Likewise, if you would like an invitation to the D.C. screening, just let me know. I'd love to look out and see familiar faces in the theater.

Thank you all for your encouragement and support during the past six years!

Ramona Kelly Executive Producer Last Best Hope (512) 825-5632

LAST BEST HOPE Sixty-one years after the end of WWII, a gripping, poignant, and little known war story has emerged in a new documentary film that will be screened during the 2006 Dallas Video Festival and will air nationwide on PBS this fall, thanks to the resolve of an independent Austin-based filmmaking team. The film, "Last Best Hope: A True Story of Escape, Evasion, and Remembrance," which was shot on location in Belgium and France, has been six years in the making.

SYNOPSIS "Last Best Hope" examines the transcendent power of the human spirit, expressed by ordinary Belgian citizens disenfranchised by Hitler's brutal fascist regime, who come together in extraordinary ways to aid one downed American fighter pilot.

At the heart of the story is 85-year old American Bill Grosvenor, a P-47 Thunderbolt pilot who fell from the skies over Belgium and into the hands of the Resistance in 1943. In the summer of 2001, nearly sixty years later, Grosvenor is reunited with his helpers in Belgium who fought against tyranny and oppression in their homes, in their neighborhoods, and in the streets of Brussels. Resistance fighters share for the first time their daring and heartrending stories, allowing "Last Best Hope" to explore the myriad motivations that propel one stranger to help another, despite the risk to his or her own life and everything dear. As unexpectedly as the Gestapo snared Grosvenor in an early morning safehouse raid, "Last Best Hope" transports the viewer to another place and time with a universal message about faith, hope, and the undefeatable power of the human spirit.

Stunning and cathartic, "Last Best Hope" takes even the most jaded WWII film buff by surprise.

THE FILMMAKERS The film was produced by Bill Grosvenor's son, David, who resides in Dripping Springs, Texas, just outside of Austin, and filmmaker Ramona Kelly, of Austin. Mat Hames, co-owner of the Austin-based production company, Alpheus Media, is the director, writer, and editor. Wilson Waggoner, also a co-owner of Alpehus Media, is the director of photography. Other members of the film crew include associate executive producer Walter Verstraeten of Antwerp, Belgium. An original score by internationally acclaimed composer and Abilene native Stephen Barber accompanies the film.

THE SIX-YEAR ODYESSY OF LAST BEST HOPE "Ramona Kelly and I started working on the film about my dad in June of 2000. We thought that the story of his experiences during the war would make for an interesting documentary," commented David Grosvenor. "After we got into our research, though, we realized that this story was much bigger than we originally thought. It's really the story of the brave men and women in Belgium who risked everything to save downed Allied pilots like my dad."

Through painstaking research, the producers were able to locate dozens of individuals in Belgium who helped Bill Grosvenor during his period of evasion. Much of the film was produced on location in Belgium and includes interviews with Grosvenor's helpers in the Resistance. During a July, 2001 production in Belgium, Bill Grosvenor's P-47 was excavated from the field where he crashed in 1943, and the filmmakers were there to capture this amazing event on camera.

The producers returned to Belgium in the spring of 2004 after they discovered additional Resistance fighters whose families had harbored Bill Grosvenor during his evasion in Brussels. In the fall of 2005, the Belgian Royal family invited the film team to screen an early version of the film in Brussels during a reunion of Belgium's famed "Comete" escape line. Members of the audience included Belgian Prince Philip and Resistance fighters who were interviewed for the film, as well as their families.

FILM FESTIVAL SUCCESS "Last Best Hope" recently won a gold award at Houston's Worldfest International Film Festival. The film's October 30 broadcast on PBS. The film will be screened at the Naval Heritage Center in Washington D.C. on October 27.

LEARN MORE ABOUT LAST BEST HOPE A trailer, photo gallery, clips from the film, and information about the Belgian Resistance is available at http://www.alpheusmedia.com/lastbesthope. Tickets to the August 13 screening are available at www.videofest.org. --