Forest Whitaker, a wonderful actor ("Bird") and a hard-working director ("Hope Floats"), is the filmmaker in chief.

"Many movie stars dabble in producing and take credit, but Sandy is the real thing," says Ms. Obst, who first worked with Ms. Bullock on the 1998 romantic comedy "Hope Floats."

Ms. Bullock, who received lukewarm reviews this summer for "Hope Floats," was chosen because "she's quite a popular actress here," said Lorraine Jamison, a spokeswoman for the festival.

Sandra Bullock is actually seen cheerleading in a flashback during "Hope Floats," which suits this role and so many others she has played.

Making children feel at ease must be one of the "Hope Floats" star's specialties.

Later in 1998, McCann recorded a song entitled "To Get Me to You" for the soundtrack to the movie Hope Floats.

"What I like about 'Hope Floats,' as well as 'Exhale,' is that they're really about people trying to address the repetitious issues in their lives and learning from that," he said.

In "Hope's Float," Hope reminisces about the night of her first fight with Charley - and learns after more than 20 years that Charley and Faith met that night as well.

Ms. Obst insists she tried "desperately" to find a woman to direct "Hope Floats," but that "none of them was completely right," so she chose Forest Whitaker, who has, she said, "the directing sensibility of a woman."

Rogers wrote the screenplays for a number of romantic comedy films including Hope Floats, P.S. I Love You, and Kate & Leopold.