R. Kelly's 12-Chapter 'Urban Opera' Trapped In The Closet Lets Loose On Deluxe DVD November 1, 2005

LOS ANGELES, (Fuzzy Bunny Films) - The wait is finally over! What began as a simple music video has become a cultural, cliff-hanging phenomenon. From the first airing of the four-minute video for "Chapter 1" of R&B superstar R. Kelly's song cycle, "Trapped in the Closet," the broadcast of each successive new "episode" went on to become a nationally-awaited event. The two people responsible for turning an unprecedented labor-of-love "urban opera" from one of pop music's biggest names into a cinematic mini-epic are independent producer Ann Carli and maverick director Jim Swaffield. Their complete, uncut 12-chapter version of Trapped in the Closet will finally reveal the saga's newest series of twists and turns, through Jive's deluxe DVD release, out November 1, 2005.

The first five chapters were given a groundbreaking release on MTV, VH-1, and BET, culminating in their addition on a special bonus DVD, which fueled R. Kelly's TP3: Reloaded CD's to a debut atop the Billboard charts. The success of the first five showed Ann Carli (the project's producer) and Jim Swaffield (its co-director, along with R. Kelly) had set the stage for an entirely new take on soap opera, told entirely through song and awash with serialized pulp genre trappings. Suggesting to Kelly that the song was too grand to be given a simple music video wash, Ann and Jim convinced the R&B star to treat the project as an actual independent film. They also proved to him beyond any doubt that they were the only team who could make this monumental project work. Judging from the resultant public excitement, as well as the media's endless fascination and widespread critical acclaim (including a 2005 Vibe Awards nomination for "Reelest Video"), the peerless creative team had clearly succeeded.

Both genuinely resourceful innovators in their fields, Ann Carli (head of indie production house, Fuzzy Bunny Films) and Jim Swaffield (founder of innovative filmmaking unit, Relevant) joined forces to bring a fresh approach to Britney Spears' My Prerogative: Greatest Hits video compilation. When their DVD's revolutionary design spurred sales that surpassed greater than five times Jive's initial worldwide expectations, it was confirmed: Jim and Ann were the hot new cutting-edge team.

What makes the union of Ann and Jim work so beautifully is their shared devotion to creative, character-driven storytelling - by every means imaginable. Their different experiences make them stronger still as a team - Ann's industry insider savvy and Jim's passion to inventively shape content for today's ever-evolving media technology - make this duo stronger than the sum of their parts. Together, Ann and Jim are a powerful marriage of showbiz ingenuity and conceptual vision, resulting in unconventional tools used to continually offer audiences new and exciting experiences.

With each new project they create, this team achieves increasingly innovative, cutting-edge ways of communicating their visions. When Trapped in the Closet hits shelves, the next set of secrets in R. Kelly's ever-expanding opus will be revealed ... Yet the creative and dynamic magic that sparks between Ann Carli and Jim Swaffield - like all of their works - leaves us eagerly awaiting their next chapter...