Catholics in Media Associates (CIMA)

16^th  Awards Mass & Brunch honors

Louis Gossett, Jr., “Doubt” and

CBS / Warner Television’s “Without A Trace”

Mark Derwin (“Secret Life of an American Teenager”)

to serve as MC as venue moves to the Beverly Hills Hotel

   Catholics in Media Associates’ (CIMA) Sixteenth Mass and Awards Brunch on Sunday, March 29, 2009 will honor Louis Gossett, Jr. for Lifetime Achievement, the feature film “Doubt“ and the CBS / Warner Bros Television / Jerry Bruckheimer Productions television series “Without A Trace.”  The celebration, which will be held for the very first time in the Crystal Ballroom of the Beverly Hills Hotel, Beverly Hills, CA, will begin with a Mass at 10 AM with a brunch and awards ceremony to follow, announced television producer and CIMA President Marilyn Gill.  Mark Derwin, costar of ABC Family’s “Secret Life of an American Teenager,” will serve as Master of Ceremonies.  

        The CIMA Awards were created in 1992 by former DGA President Jack Shea and other prominent Catholics in the entertainment industry. Their purpose is to promote and applaud individuals, films and TV programs that uplift the spirit and help us better understand what it is to be part of the human family.       

              Oscar-winning actor Louis Gossett, Jr. will receive the CIMA Lifetime Achievement Award for his personal and professional achievements which span a half-century. The recipient of an Academy Award, Golden Globe Award and NAACP Image Award for his role as Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film “An Officer and a Gentleman,” Gossett’s career encompasses motion pictures, television and the Broadway stage, where he made his debut in 1961 in “A Raisin in the Sun.” Memorable television appearances include starring roles in the epic mini-series “Roots” and “Sadat.” Other film roles include the “Iron Eagle” series, “Travels with My Aunt,” “Toy Soldiers” and “The Deep,” among many others.

         In 2006, Gossett founded the non-profit Eracism Foundation” whose mission is  the eradication all forms of racism by providing programs that foster cultural diversity, historical enrichment, education and anti-violence initiatives.  Gossett remarks: “This is a gratifying moment for me and I am humbled by this award.  I believe the gift of acting is from God, my oath to God, and I want to make sure, on a daily basis that it is honed and deeply spiritual. I want to believe that the audience believes my acting comes from this special place.”                                                                                        

      Past CIMA Lifetime Achiement Award recipients include Gregory Peck, Martin Sheen,  Rosemary Clooney, Jane Wyatt, Ricardo Montalban, Dick Van Dyke, Carroll O’Connor and Lew Wasserman, among many others.

The CIMA Film Award will be bestowed on “Doubt,” written and directed by Academy Award and WGA Award-winning screenwriter John Patrick Shanley (“Moonstruck”), adapted from the author’s 2005 Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Broadway play. Nominated for five Academy Awards and Golden Globe Awards, including “Best Screenplay,” “Doubt” is set in 1964 at a Bronx, New York Catholic elementary school and concerns the confrontation between a progressive priest (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and a strong-minded principal (SAG Award-winner Meryl Streep) over the priest’s excessive interest in the school’s first African-American student. “Doubt” also stars Oscar, Golden Globe and SAG nominees Amy Adams and Viola Davis.  Shanley notes:  I have been fortunate in the uniformly positive reactions I have received from the Catholic community to ‘Doubt’ and I am gratified beyond words. American Catholicism has shown itself to be generous and robust in its embrace of new ways of looking at the Catholic experience.”  

             Past CIMA Award feature films include “The Valley of Elah,” “Narnia,” “Hotel Rwanda,” “The Passion of the Christ,” “Seabiscuit,” “Dead Man Walking,” “Schindler’s List” and “Saving Private Ryan,” among many others.

             The 2009 CIMA Television Award will be presented to the CBS / Warner Bros Television / Jerry Bruckheimer Productions dramatic series “Without A Trace.”  Created in 2002 by Hank Gardner and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, “Without A Trace” concerns a fictitious FBI missing persons unit. Each episode focuses on the search for one individual along with an examination of the personal lives of the team members and their insight — and sometime traumatic reactions — to certain cases.

          “Without A Trace,” which stars Anthony LaPaglia, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Poppy Montgomery, Enrique Murciano, Eric Close and Roselyn Sanchez, also displays information about real-life missing persons and public service announcements at the end of many episodes. “Without A Trace” Executive Producers Greg Walker and Jan Nash comment: “If we had been nominated for an Emmy, we wouldn’t have been as proud as receiving this news. We have always operated from the premise of our characters looking to find the spiritual center of each episode.  The series is a terrific vehicle to interject spiritual questions into people’s daily life and work.”

            Past CIMA Television Award recipients include “Ugly Betty,” “Cold Case,” “Medium,” “Joan of Arcadia,” “The West Wing,” Judging Amy,” “Homicide – Life on the Streets,” “The Practice” and “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood,” among many others.

           2009 CIMA Award Master of Ceremonies Mark Derwin stars as “George Nicholson on ABC Family’s “Secret Life of An American Teenager.”  Familiar to primetime, television audiences for his recent roles on “Chuck,” “How I Met Your Mother,” “Boston Legal,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,”  “Without A Trace,” “Navy NCIS” and “CSI,” Derwin also starred on daytime television’s “The Young and The Restless,” “One Life To Live” and “Guiding Light.”    

 Tickets to the 2009 CIMA Awards can be purchase online at  Catholics in Media Awards or by calling 818.907.2734.