CONTACT:
Dick Delson & Associates
818-763-2363
dick@publicity4u.com

TORONTO PICTURES' "PUNCTURED HOPE" CASTS NEW LIGHT ON CLANDESTINE ENSLAVEMENT OF WOMEN IN WEST AFRICA

Internationally Acclaimed Filmmaker, Bruno Pischiutta, to Direct Film

Toronto, CANADA (BlackNews.com) - Veteran filmmaker, Bruno Pischiutta, President and CEO of Toronto Pictures, Inc., is currently in production in West Africa, where he is directing the Company's newest film, Punctured Hope, a dramatic expose of the enslavement of young girls and women in West Africa. The film, which is slated for release in the U.S. in December, 2005, is being co-produced by Transcontinental Film Financing Company. In addition to serving as the film's Director, Pischiutta is the projects Executive Producer with Toronto Pictures Vice President, Daria Trifu.

Punctured Hope not only reveals the startling ages-old tribal cultural practices that promote the continued enslavement, mutilation and sexual abuse of West Africa's young girls and women, it does so with an all-African cast, whose lead actress is, herself, a survivor of these culturally imbedded religious beliefs which have affected millions of African women over the past 300 years.

In concert with international efforts to re-educate and outlaw these repressive practices predicated on superstition and cultural lore, Toronto Pictures is donating 10% of the films profits to a West African foundation whose priority is the provision of enhanced educational, medical and infrastructural improvements to the village where the movie is being filmed.

Toronto Pictures is committed to developing and marketing films that are financially viable, yet violence-free. Targeting a global audience, Toronto Pictures addresses broad-based topical issues in a dramatic format, often combined with documentary genre influences. Now in partnership with International Film Properties, Inc., the Company is seeking to expand its operations by acquiring equity in selected entertainment industry-based agencies in Eastern Europe.

Dick Delson & Associates, a prominent Los Angeles-based public relations agency has been retained to provide comprehensive PR and marketing services for the film. Delson, who founded the firm in 1984, has been involved in high level policy and project planning and execution for entities such as Walt Disney Productions, Filmways Pictures, MCA, Inc./Universal Pictures and the Executive Branch of the Federal Government. In 2003, he shared honours with George Lucas as a recipient of the prestigious Golden Satellite Award from the International Press Academy for Outstanding Service to the Entertainment Industry.