New York, January 12, 2009 – The Cinema Society held its first screening of 2009 on Monday, and from the stellar crowd, it seems everybody was ready to hit the New York party scene after the holiday doldrums.  Martha Stewart, Tony Bennett, Ellen Barkin, Marc Jacobs, Ivanka Trump, Russell Simmons and Duncan Sheik were just a few of the high-profile folks who came out to see Defiance.

Part of the draw was undoubtedly the presence of the film’s star, Daniel Craig, who fluttered his sparkling blue eyes at the bash.  Co-star Liev Schreiber had his squeeze, Naomi Watts on his arm – the two were bubbling with happiness just a month after the birth of their second child, a son named Samuel.  The talented Watts looked impossibly svelte so soon after giving birth. 

Craig, Schreiber and Jamie Bell play the Bielski brothers, whose amazing World War II survival story keeps you on the edge of your seat in Defiance.  Schreiber told us that despite the cold and wet on the set in Lithuania, the shoot was “surprisingly easy, given the subject matter.  We all got along really well,” he said. “There was a real sense of camaraderie on the set, and I made two friends.”

After the screening, everyone partied late into the night at the new dining spot Shang, at the Thompson LES Hotel.