Film Press Release:

Downsouth Filmworks
P.O. Box 2069
Macon, Georgia 31203
(478) 751-7359

BABY OF THE FAMILY

DownSouth Filmworks Inc. to Start Production of Feature Film Summer 2001

St. Simons Island, GA -- May 21, 2001. Novelist Tina McElroy Ansa and her husband director/director of photography Jonée Ansa (AFI) will begin production in July of their first feature film "Baby of the Family" in Macon, Ga. with a stellar cast that includes Alfre Woodard, Cylk Cozart, Loretta Devine, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Salli Richardson, Vanessa Williams and Pam Grier. The supernatural dramatic-comedy is the film adaptation of Ms. Ansa's best-selling novel "Baby of the Family (Harcourt Brace). DownSouth Filmworks, Inc., the couple's company, is producing the film.

Jonée Ansa is the director/ Ms. Ansa is the executive producer. The African-American husband-wife team is collaborating on the script. Patrice Rushen is the composer and with the couple's daughter, Afrika J. P. Ansa, is producing the soundtrack for the film.

The film also stars Todd Bridges, Vanessa Williams, Tonea Stewart, Ofemo Omilami and Elizabeth Omilami.

"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 June 2001 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"); Cylk Cozart, Salli Richardson, Pam Grier, Todd Bridges, 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.

JonJe 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 as 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.