FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: DownSouth Filmworks, Inc.

Phone: (912) 638-1780

Fax: (912) 638-2572

Email: tinjon@aol.com

"Baby of the Family"

DOWNSOUTH FILMWORKS, INC. ANNOUNCES PRODUCTION START OF FIRST FILM "BABY OF THE FAMILY"

Director/Director of Photography Jonee'Ansa, AFI 2nd Year Fellow

St. Simons Island, Ga. - April 8, 2000. Novelist Tina McElroy Ansa and her husband Director/Director of Photography Jonee' Ansa ( AFI/DGA ) will begin production of their first feature film "Baby of the Family," the movie adaptation of Ms. Ansa's best-selling novel "Baby of the Family" (Harcourt Brace) in May 2000. DownSouth Filmworks, Inc., the couple's company, is producing the film.

Jonee' Ansa is director; Ms. Ansa is the executive producer. The African-American husband-wife team is collaborating on the script. Their daughter Afrika J.P. Ansa is producing the soundtrack and score.

"Baby of the Family," set in mythical Mulberry, Ga., is the supernatural comic/dramatic story of an extraordinary child born with a caul or "veil" over her face, enabling her to see ancestral spirits and predict the future. Pre-production begins May 2000 in Macon, Ga., Ms. Ansa's hometown. "Baby of the Family" will star Emmy Award-winning actress Alfre Woodard ("Miss Ever's Boys," "Down in the Delta," "Crooklyn," "Hill Street Blues," "LA Law"); Sheryl Lee Ralph (Tony Award-winning musical "Dream Girls," hit TV show "Moesha," "To Sleep With Anger," "The Flintstones"); Loretta Devine ("Dream Girls," "The Preacher's Wife," "Waiting to Exhale"); Vanessa Williams ("ER," "Chicago Hope," "The Cosby Show," "Melrose Place"); Ofemo Omilami ("In the Heat of the Night,""Drop Squad"); Elizabeth Omilami ("In the Heat of the Night"), and Tonea Stewart ("A Time to Kill," "In the Heat of the Night," "ER"). Author William Diehl ("Sharky's Machine and "Primal Fear") serves as script consultant. Casting is ongoing.

Jonee' Ansa is an award-winning filmmaker and Director/Director of Photography who broke new ground as a Director of Photography 2nd Year Fellow at the American Film Institute (AFI). He has also worked with the Women's Directors Program at AFI and with such legendary cinematographers Vilmos Zsigmond and Theo Van de Sande.

Tina McElroy Ansa is also the author of the best-selling novels "Ugly Ways" (Harcourt Brace), which was named best fiction by the African-American Blackboard List, and "The Hand I Fan With" (Doubleday), which received the Georgia Authors Series Award. She received the same award for "Baby of the Family," which was named a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times Book Review. Her fourth novel "You Know Better," which addresses the issues facing our children in the 21st Century will be published by William Morrow. Ms. Ansa also contributes the essays "Postcards from Georgia" to CBS News Sunday Morning.

Afrika J.P. Ansa is a musician and independent music producer who has opened for Chaka Kahn, Parliament and Montell Jordan. She has collaborated with and engineered for Tupac Shakur, Too Short and Organized Noize. Currently, she is touring with Speech. She is also producing her debut solo album.