Tuesday, April 17, 2007

Press Release and Screening

Just wanted to keep everybody up on what's going on. There will be a double screening of "An Unreasonable Man" and "This Divided State" on Friday night at midnight as a fundraiser for the students putting together the alternative commencement ceremony.

Here is the press release we sent out this morning with all the pertinent info:
PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Bryan Young and Steven Greenstreet

'DIVIDED STATE' AND 'UNREASONABLE MAN' TO SCREEN AT BYU ALTERNATIVE COMMENCEMENT FUNDRAISER

Provo, Utah – ShineBox Media Productions announced today a special screening of their film "This Divided State", which will play alongside the documentary "An Unreasonable Man" on Friday, April 20 at midnight.
The screening, to be held at the University Mall Cinemas in Orem, is part of a fundraiser for the Brigham Young University Students for Alternative Commencement. BYU Students for Alternative Commencement is a grassroots effort comprised of BYU students, faculty, alumni, and friends from the community who are protesting Vice President Dick Cheney's commencement speech at BYU. Directly after the official university commencement on April 26th, students and community members will march from Provo's Memorial Park to a yet-to-be-determined location. Once there, the audience will hear speeches from former Presidential candidate and renowned consumer advocate Ralph Nader, former U.S. Senate candidate Pete Ashdown, and human rights activist Jack Healey. The event is not a convocation exercise, but a speaking event for the entire Utah community.
The screenings will be free, but donations are being accepted to defray the costs of the speakers, their travel, lodging and other associative costs.
"An Unreasonable Man", directed by Henriette Mantel and Steve Skrovan, takes a
look at the career of Ralph Nader from his multiple bids for president to his status as a public pariah. It screened at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival.
"This Divided State", the critically-acclaimed, award-winning documentary directed by Steven Greenstreet, chronicles the firestorm in Utah County after students at Utah Valley State College invited liberal filmmaker Michael Moore to speak on campus just two weeks before the incredibly divisive 2004 presidential election. Many are comparing the events surrounding Cheney's visit with those that transpired in the same community three years earlier. "The protests and the debates seem to be a little more civil this time around. There aren't any lawsuits or death threats flying around like when Michael Moore came, so that's good," said Greenstreet, "It's amazing that Utah has become such a hub for political discourse. It kind of erases the stigma that it's simply a homogeneous, 'red' state. It's changing and evolving. Progressing, as it were."
Producer Bryan Young added that "it's interesting to see this sea-change of political support. Three years ago this was the most conservative community in the country and even here, although Cheney's support hasn't eroded even below the 50% mark, people are fed up enough with both the administration and the war to lead protests as significant as these being planned."
Greenstreet, Young and others involved with the film will be on hand to answer questions after the screening. University Mall Cinemas is located at 959 South 700 East in Orem, to the North of University Mall. The doors will open at 11:30 pm.

More information can be found at www.thisdividedstate.com and www.byualternativecommencement.com .

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I've already been contacted by a couple of news outlets about this, leading me to believe it's going to be pretty big. So, you should probably most definitely come.

Donate some money, too.

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