A TRIBUTE TO LIFE THAT EMERGES DESPITE WAR, FAMINE AND MAN�S INHUMANITY TO MAN, THE HALLMARK CHANNEL AND LEGENDARY FILMMAKER, ROBERT HALMI, SR. PROUDLY PRESENT A HALLMARK CHANNEL ORIGINAL MOVIE, �THE COLT�

Adapted from the Short Story of Russian Nobel Prize Winner Mikhail Sholokhov; Directed by Yelena Lanskaya; Starring Ryan Merriman

In 1864, during one of the bloodiest pitched battles of the Civil War, the men of the First Michigan Cavalry are trapped, injured and outnumbered in a Virginia forest when one of the soldier�s mares unexpectedly gives birth to a beautiful, chestnut colt. Defying a directive from his commander to destroy the colt at once before it endangers their survival, the trooper is suddenly separated from his unit by a freak, but violent, rear ambush. Now the young trooper is at the heart of two battles � keeping himself, his mare and her majestic foal alive in �The Colt,� a Hallmark Channel Original movie premiering Saturday, July 9 (9/8 c).

Ryan Merriman stars as �Jim Rabb,� caretaker of the foal that takes the trooper and his unit on a journey of self-discovery, courage, and a breathless, heartfelt tribute to life that emerges in the midst of chaos and destruction.

Legendary filmmaker Robert Halmi, Sr. is Executive Producer. Yelena Lanskaya directs �The Colt� from New York Times best-selling author, Stephen Harrigan�s original screenplay adaptation of Mikhail Aleksandrozich Sholokov�s short story.

�The Colt� is a Hallmark Entertainment presentation of a Colt Production Inc., in association with Comweb Film Capital Corporation.

Hallmark Channel is a 24-hour basic cable channel that provides a diverse slate of high-quality entertainment programming to a national audience of 68.5 million subscribers. The program service is distributed through 4,800 cable systems and communities as well as direct-to-home satellite services across the country. Crown Media Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ: CRWN) owns and operates Hallmark Channel. In 2004, Crown launched its second 24-hour linear channel, Hallmark Movie Channel. Through its subsidiary, Crown Media Distribution, LLC, Crown also distributes titles from its award-winning collection of movies, miniseries and films for exhibition in a variety of television media including broadcast, cable, Video-on-Demand and High Definition Television.

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