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FUNimation Entertainment and The Bigger Picture announces The Foreign Exchange Program:

Three films. Three weeks. One experience.

New York City, NY ? December 7th, 2007 ? FUNimation® Entertainment and The Bigger Picture announce The Foreign Exchange Program. Coming in February 2008, the program will present three Japanese films over a three week period in more than 100 theatres across the country.

The Foreign Exchange Program is an exclusive run showcase featuring three diverse films from Japan: an unnerving sci-fi glimpse into the future crafted with cutting edge CGI technology, an intense live action journey into the legend of a conqueror, and an animated fantasy adventure set upon the high seas of imagination.

About The Films

Vexille -- Director Fumihiko Sori and the team behind the 2004 big-screen version of ?Appleseed? have reunited to create Vexille. In addition, Paul Oakenfold of The Matrix Reloaded has created the score for the film written by Haruka Handa. A dark, futuristic CGI anime about illegal robotics research and set in 2067 Japan, the story follows Japan's isolation after the United Nations bans further research on robotic technology out of concerns of a threat to mankind. The U.S. has intelligence that Japan is developing the banned technology and dispatches a team led by a female commander named Vexille on a secret mission to determine Japan's ambitions.

One Piece Movie: The Desert Princess and The Pirates Adventures in Alabasta ? From the popular manga and the series currently airing on Cartoon Network comes the eighth movie from the One Piece tale. Six pirates may be all that stands between salvation and total destruction. The island kingdom of Alabasta is about to erupt in civil war ? a war engineered by Crocodile, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and his criminal organization Baroque Works. Monkey D. Luffy, his Straw Hat pirates and Princess Vivi race to the island, where the strongest warriors of Baroque Works wait to stop them.

Genghis Khan ? To the Ends of the Earth and Sea (released as Aoki Ookami, 2007) -- This full-scale Japanese epic follows the life of Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongolian Empire who took the throne in 1206. The film, adapted from a novel by Seiichi Morimura, covers Genghis? life, his battles and his relationships with women. The infamous historical figure was brought to life by director by Shinichiro Sawai and stars Takashi Sorimachi, Rei Kikukawa, Mayumi Wakamura, Yoshihiko Hakamada and Kenichi Matsuyama.

FUNimation Entertainment is bringing all three films to DVD in 2008.