Posted by Lyle on the Ultimate Brokeback Forum:
Monday, May 10, gave us a pure blue sky, white wispy clouds and mild temperatures in the hills of Griffith Park where members John (BayCityJohn) and Lyle had been invited as representatives of the forum to attend the first ever reading of the stage script of our very own forum book, Beyond Brokeback.
Greg Hinton is the supervising producer of the Out West series at the Autry Museum and is the one who adapted the script. He mentioned that he initially approached Annie Proulx about the topic of doing this same type of program with the letters and notes she must have received from the people this story and film touched but she expressed concern over matters of privacy.
Subsequently, he came across our book and discovered it contained the exact thing he was looking for.
The script was culled from the pages of the book and was conceived as a production somewhat like the play Love Letters where actors are seated behind small podiums and read the letters and thoughts of the people who wrote them. It was designed to be read by six persons, who were each given a name, although I don’t know if they are actual names from the book or not, and a narrator/announcer.
Greg greeted John and me as we arrived and we were there as his producing partner and the seven people, whom he described as "some friends and Autry employees," gathered at the Wells Fargo Theater. The seven included Tom Gregory, owner of the iconic shirts from the film, and William Handley, an associate professor of English at the University of Southern California, who was a panelist at last December’s Whatever Happened to Ennis del Mar? event and author of "The Brokeback Book," coming out next March.
From my perspective, having often read Beyond Brokeback, knowing many of the authors and as a participant of the forum, I didn’t think the reading was really going to affect me, but there I was listening to the stories, the poetry, the humor--listening to it read by voices of real people, and one couldn’t help but feeling it again; the true power of how the film has affected so many, in all its human variations.
The first reading clocked in at about 50 minutes. Many things were discussed that afternoon, like the possibility of getting some name actors to participate. Graham Beckel was mentioned. William Handley posited why not Jake Gyllenhaal? (Why not indeed!) Questions and suggestions were bandied about as one might expect in the initial stages of a project like this. The possibility of recording it for further airing was mentioned. (Like a PBS program or as a dvd extra.) Greg Hinton asked John & me if we thought a longer version might be warranted. Or both, a longer and shorter version. (Yes, both.)
The 5th Anniversary of Brokeback Mountain is surely going to be celebrated in fine form at the Autry Center this December, not only with a film screening, but with this event that will carry on the legacy of the film far beyond the Anniversary itself, and something of which the entire forum can certainly be proud.
It was a successful afternoon filled with the anticipatory promise of good things to come!
Friday, May 14, 2010
Monday, April 26, 2010
Art review: Dorothy Iannone at Peres Projects
Since the mid-1960s, Dorothy Iannone has depicted female sexuality as a force to be reckoned with. Her frank, colorful explorations of sex, love and desire are painted in a naive, graphic style, often accompanied by decorative patterns and handwritten narratives. Although laced with undercurrents of pain and tension that inevitably accompany such subject matter, they are for the most part ecstatic, delightfully direct celebrations of women’s sexual power.
l
Art review: Dorothy Iannone at Peres Projects
Posted using ShareThis
l
Art review: Dorothy Iannone at Peres Projects
Posted using ShareThis
“Hidden Histories” Discovers Untold Stories of the Western LGBT Community
The Autry
4700 Western Heritage Way , Los Angeles , CA 90027
323.667.2000, www.theAutry.org
“Hidden Histories” Discovers Untold Stories
of the Western LGBT Community
The second program in the Out West series at the Autry
Thursday, May 13, 2010
7:00-9:00 p.m. Free with museum admission
Los Angeles, CA (April 23, 2010)—Discover the untold stories of the Western LGBT community on this progressive gallery tour as scholars and Autry curators tell the hidden stories behind some of the objects on display. The Autry’s second program in its Out West series delves into uncharted territory highlighting accounts of individuals who lived gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender lives from the 1800s to modern times in the American West. With this step, the Autry boldly adds the overlooked stories of the western LGBT community as yet another dimension of multicultural convergence in the scholarship of Western American history.
Objects on the gallery tour include Elizabeth Bacon Custer’s day dress from the 1870s, the Concord mail stagecoach from 1855, a post office letter box, cowboy gear, and other objects bearing stories related to the LGBT experience in the American West.
“With Hidden Histories, the Autry National Center weaves the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community into the rich tapestry of the American West,” said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios. “It is so important for Americans to hear stories that reflect the diversity of the LGBT community and our presence throughout our nation’s great history. GLAAD is proud to endorse Out West.”
The Out West series is under the direction of Stephen Aron , professor of history at UCLA and executive director of the Institute for the Study of the American West at the Autry. Blake Allmendinger, a professor in the English Department at UCLA who specializes in teaching the literature of the American West, will provide the context for the evening in a keynote address. Leading the tour groups will be Jim Wilke, independent scholar and curator; Patricia Nell Warren, renowned Western historian and author of eight books, including The Front Runner; Carolyn Brucken , the Autry’s Associate Curator of Western Women’s History; and Jeffrey Richardson , the Autry’s Assistant Curator of Film and Popular Culture.
“The words ‘homosexuality’ and ‘heterosexuality’ did not commonly exist a hundred years ago, and we must take great care to be judicious as we consider the Autry artifacts from their own historical context. Scholarship on the contributions of the LGBT community to the history and culture of the American West is relatively new. Nevertheless, we were there, and with Out West—here we are. It’s our history, too,” noted Gregory Hinton, creator and producer of the Out West series.
Hidden Histories
Thursday, May 13, 2010
7:00–9:00 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Complimentary refreshments to be served, with dinner available for purchase. Cash bar.
Admission: Free with museum admission. Tickets now available at the Museum’s Visitor Services Desk or by contacting Patty Carmack at 323.667.2000, ext. 389, or pcarmack@theAutry.org.
Upcoming Out West Events
One Man’s Journey: A Conversation With George Takei
September 19, 2010
Beyond Brokeback
December 11, 2010
About the Out West Series
Having marked the first formal public recognition of the contributions of the LGBT community to Western American history by a major American museum with the installation of the iconic Brokeback Mountain shirts in its Imagination Gallery, the Autry delves deeper into the subject matter by hosting Out West, a series of four programs over a 12-month period. Assembled at each event will be Western scholars, authors, artists, politicians, musicians, and friends of Western LGBT people. The first event, a panel discussion titled “What Ever Happened to Ennis del Mar?” took place on December 13, 2009.
Conceived by Gregory Hinton, consulting producer for the series, Out West was inspired not only by the Autry’s recent installation of the iconic shirts worn by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain but also by the permanent inclusion of the International Gay Rodeo Association’s (IGRA) archives into the Autry Library (both facilitated by Hinton). Mrs. Gene Autry presided over a launch event on August 11, 2009, celebrating the loan of the shirts from collector Tom Gregory, who purchased them at a charity auction and shared Hinton’s vision for using them toward a greater good. At the installation of the iconic shirts, the Autry National Center ’s President and CEO John Gray said, “The American West is a place for all of us, and all of us have a place in the West.”
The Out West series at the Autry National Center is made possible through the generous support of Tom Gregory, HBO, the Gill Foundation, and the Small Change Foundation, in association with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and the Courage Campaign.
About the Presenters
Blake Allmendinger
Blake Allmendinger is a full professor in the English Department at UCLA, where he specializes in teaching the literature of the American West. He grew up on a cattle ranch in Colorado and was educated at Harvard, Oxford , and the University of Pennsylvania . He has authored four books, including The Cowboy (1992), Ten Most Wanted: The New Western Literature (1998), Over the Edge: Remapping the American West (1998), and Imagining the African American West (2005). He is currently writing a book that is part childhood memoir and part history of small towns in the American West.
Carolyn Brucken
Carolyn Brucken joined the Autry National Center in 2003 and is Associate Curator of Western Women’s History. Brucken received her PhD in American Civilization from George Washington University and her MA from the University of Delaware , Winterthur Program. She has developed exhibitions for the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles (1999–2003) and the National Archives in Washington DC (1994–1996). Brucken has also taught at Miami University and California State University–Fullerton. Her current and recent exhibition projects include Home Lands: How Women Made the West, the reinterpretation of the Autry’s historical galleries, and California Style: Art and Fashion From the California Historical Society.
Jeffrey Richardson
Jeffrey Richardson came to the Autry National Center as the Autry/UNLV Fellow. He now is the Assistant Curator of Film and Popular Culture. He is currently working on his doctoral studies at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas . Richardson ’s areas of specialization are 20th-century American culture and intellectual history, with a special emphasis on the history of the motion picture industry. Since joining the Autry, he has been working on the exhibitions Cowboys and Presidents and The New West, as well as lobby exhibits on Gene Autry and Monte Hale, and redoing cases in the Autry’s permanent galleries.
Patricia Nell Warren
The author of eight books, including The Front Runner, the most famous gay novel ever written, Patricia Nell Warren is also a renowned Western historian. Born in 1936 on the Grant-Kohrs Ranch in Deer Lodge, Montana , Warren has written and lectured extensively about her Montana roots, including in her novels One Is the Sun and The Fancy Dancer. A publisher of her own imprint, Wildcat Press, she is the recipient of the 1982 Western Heritage Award (magazine writing) from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, as well as the 2003 Barry Goldwater Human Rights Award. Warren is currently preparing an anthology titled My West, a collection of commentaries and essays that reflects half a century of writing about her native region, to be published in October 2010.
Jim Wilke
Independent scholar and curator Jim Wilke is a recognized authority on the American West, with a special emphasis on gay, lesbian, and transgender Western history and culture. He is also an established expert on the history of the American railroad. Born in Santa Monica , California , and a graduate of the University of Southern California , Wilke worked at the Autry National Center from 1989 to 1994 as an assistant curator. Formerly a rodeo competitor, Wilke was also a member of the Los Angeles Gay Rodeo Association from 1987 to 1993.
About Creator and Producer Gregory Hinton
Gregory Hinton is the creator and producer of Out West: LGBT Stories of the American West. The son of a country newspaper editor, Hinton was born in Wolf Point, Montana, on the Fort Peck Reservation and reared in Cody , Wyoming . A graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder , he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a writing and film career. Hinton is currently working on his fifth novel, Night Rodeo He holds a 2009 artist’s residency at Wyoming ’s Ucross Foundation and a 2009 research honorarium from the Cody Institute for Western American Studies at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center . Hinton has published four critically acclaimed novels: Cathedral City (2001), Desperate Hearts (2002), The Way Things Ought to Be (2003), and Santa Monica Canyon (2007). For its diverse social themes, Cathedral City is taught at the university level. All of Hinton’s books are endorsed by the American Library Association’s Booklist and other national reviews. Hinton’s films include It’s My Party (1996), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and the edgy, acclaimed Circuit (2003), which received international theatrical distribution and is a DVD bestseller.
About the Autry National Center
The Autry National Center is an intercultural history center dedicated to exploring and sharing the stories, experiences, and perceptions of the diverse peoples of the American West. Located in Griffith Park , the Autry includes the collections of the Museum of the American West, the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, and the Autry Institute’s two research libraries: the Braun Research Library and the Autry Library. Exhibitions, public programs, K–12 educational services, and publications are designed to examine critical issues of society, offering insights into solutions and the contemporary human condition through the Western historical experience.
Weekday hours of operation for the Autry National Center ’s museum at its Griffith Park location are Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Autry Store’s weekday hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the Golden Spur Cafe is open Tuesday through Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday hours for the museum and the Autry Store are 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The museum, the Autry Store, and the cafe are closed on Mondays. The libraries are open to researchers by appointment.
Museum admission is $9 for adults, $5 for students and seniors 60+, $3 for children 3–12, and free for Autry members, active military personnel, veterans, and children 2 and under. Admission is free on the second Tuesday of every month.
###
For press inquiries only, contact:
Yadhira De Leon
Sr. Manager, Public Relations
Autry National Center
323.667.2000, ext. 327
ydeleon@theAutry.org
www.theAutry.org
4700 Western Heritage Way , Los Angeles , CA 90027
323.667.2000, www.theAutry.org
“Hidden Histories” Discovers Untold Stories
of the Western LGBT Community
The second program in the Out West series at the Autry
Thursday, May 13, 2010
7:00-9:00 p.m. Free with museum admission
Los Angeles, CA (April 23, 2010)—Discover the untold stories of the Western LGBT community on this progressive gallery tour as scholars and Autry curators tell the hidden stories behind some of the objects on display. The Autry’s second program in its Out West series delves into uncharted territory highlighting accounts of individuals who lived gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender lives from the 1800s to modern times in the American West. With this step, the Autry boldly adds the overlooked stories of the western LGBT community as yet another dimension of multicultural convergence in the scholarship of Western American history.
Objects on the gallery tour include Elizabeth Bacon Custer’s day dress from the 1870s, the Concord mail stagecoach from 1855, a post office letter box, cowboy gear, and other objects bearing stories related to the LGBT experience in the American West.
“With Hidden Histories, the Autry National Center weaves the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community into the rich tapestry of the American West,” said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios. “It is so important for Americans to hear stories that reflect the diversity of the LGBT community and our presence throughout our nation’s great history. GLAAD is proud to endorse Out West.”
The Out West series is under the direction of Stephen Aron , professor of history at UCLA and executive director of the Institute for the Study of the American West at the Autry. Blake Allmendinger, a professor in the English Department at UCLA who specializes in teaching the literature of the American West, will provide the context for the evening in a keynote address. Leading the tour groups will be Jim Wilke, independent scholar and curator; Patricia Nell Warren, renowned Western historian and author of eight books, including The Front Runner; Carolyn Brucken , the Autry’s Associate Curator of Western Women’s History; and Jeffrey Richardson , the Autry’s Assistant Curator of Film and Popular Culture.
“The words ‘homosexuality’ and ‘heterosexuality’ did not commonly exist a hundred years ago, and we must take great care to be judicious as we consider the Autry artifacts from their own historical context. Scholarship on the contributions of the LGBT community to the history and culture of the American West is relatively new. Nevertheless, we were there, and with Out West—here we are. It’s our history, too,” noted Gregory Hinton, creator and producer of the Out West series.
Hidden Histories
Thursday, May 13, 2010
7:00–9:00 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Complimentary refreshments to be served, with dinner available for purchase. Cash bar.
Admission: Free with museum admission. Tickets now available at the Museum’s Visitor Services Desk or by contacting Patty Carmack at 323.667.2000, ext. 389, or pcarmack@theAutry.org.
Upcoming Out West Events
One Man’s Journey: A Conversation With George Takei
September 19, 2010
Beyond Brokeback
December 11, 2010
About the Out West Series
Having marked the first formal public recognition of the contributions of the LGBT community to Western American history by a major American museum with the installation of the iconic Brokeback Mountain shirts in its Imagination Gallery, the Autry delves deeper into the subject matter by hosting Out West, a series of four programs over a 12-month period. Assembled at each event will be Western scholars, authors, artists, politicians, musicians, and friends of Western LGBT people. The first event, a panel discussion titled “What Ever Happened to Ennis del Mar?” took place on December 13, 2009.
Conceived by Gregory Hinton, consulting producer for the series, Out West was inspired not only by the Autry’s recent installation of the iconic shirts worn by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal in Brokeback Mountain but also by the permanent inclusion of the International Gay Rodeo Association’s (IGRA) archives into the Autry Library (both facilitated by Hinton). Mrs. Gene Autry presided over a launch event on August 11, 2009, celebrating the loan of the shirts from collector Tom Gregory, who purchased them at a charity auction and shared Hinton’s vision for using them toward a greater good. At the installation of the iconic shirts, the Autry National Center ’s President and CEO John Gray said, “The American West is a place for all of us, and all of us have a place in the West.”
The Out West series at the Autry National Center is made possible through the generous support of Tom Gregory, HBO, the Gill Foundation, and the Small Change Foundation, in association with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and the Courage Campaign.
About the Presenters
Blake Allmendinger
Blake Allmendinger is a full professor in the English Department at UCLA, where he specializes in teaching the literature of the American West. He grew up on a cattle ranch in Colorado and was educated at Harvard, Oxford , and the University of Pennsylvania . He has authored four books, including The Cowboy (1992), Ten Most Wanted: The New Western Literature (1998), Over the Edge: Remapping the American West (1998), and Imagining the African American West (2005). He is currently writing a book that is part childhood memoir and part history of small towns in the American West.
Carolyn Brucken
Carolyn Brucken joined the Autry National Center in 2003 and is Associate Curator of Western Women’s History. Brucken received her PhD in American Civilization from George Washington University and her MA from the University of Delaware , Winterthur Program. She has developed exhibitions for the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles (1999–2003) and the National Archives in Washington DC (1994–1996). Brucken has also taught at Miami University and California State University–Fullerton. Her current and recent exhibition projects include Home Lands: How Women Made the West, the reinterpretation of the Autry’s historical galleries, and California Style: Art and Fashion From the California Historical Society.
Jeffrey Richardson
Jeffrey Richardson came to the Autry National Center as the Autry/UNLV Fellow. He now is the Assistant Curator of Film and Popular Culture. He is currently working on his doctoral studies at the University of Nevada–Las Vegas . Richardson ’s areas of specialization are 20th-century American culture and intellectual history, with a special emphasis on the history of the motion picture industry. Since joining the Autry, he has been working on the exhibitions Cowboys and Presidents and The New West, as well as lobby exhibits on Gene Autry and Monte Hale, and redoing cases in the Autry’s permanent galleries.
Patricia Nell Warren
The author of eight books, including The Front Runner, the most famous gay novel ever written, Patricia Nell Warren is also a renowned Western historian. Born in 1936 on the Grant-Kohrs Ranch in Deer Lodge, Montana , Warren has written and lectured extensively about her Montana roots, including in her novels One Is the Sun and The Fancy Dancer. A publisher of her own imprint, Wildcat Press, she is the recipient of the 1982 Western Heritage Award (magazine writing) from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, as well as the 2003 Barry Goldwater Human Rights Award. Warren is currently preparing an anthology titled My West, a collection of commentaries and essays that reflects half a century of writing about her native region, to be published in October 2010.
Jim Wilke
Independent scholar and curator Jim Wilke is a recognized authority on the American West, with a special emphasis on gay, lesbian, and transgender Western history and culture. He is also an established expert on the history of the American railroad. Born in Santa Monica , California , and a graduate of the University of Southern California , Wilke worked at the Autry National Center from 1989 to 1994 as an assistant curator. Formerly a rodeo competitor, Wilke was also a member of the Los Angeles Gay Rodeo Association from 1987 to 1993.
About Creator and Producer Gregory Hinton
Gregory Hinton is the creator and producer of Out West: LGBT Stories of the American West. The son of a country newspaper editor, Hinton was born in Wolf Point, Montana, on the Fort Peck Reservation and reared in Cody , Wyoming . A graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder , he moved to Los Angeles to pursue a writing and film career. Hinton is currently working on his fifth novel, Night Rodeo He holds a 2009 artist’s residency at Wyoming ’s Ucross Foundation and a 2009 research honorarium from the Cody Institute for Western American Studies at the Buffalo Bill Historical Center . Hinton has published four critically acclaimed novels: Cathedral City (2001), Desperate Hearts (2002), The Way Things Ought to Be (2003), and Santa Monica Canyon (2007). For its diverse social themes, Cathedral City is taught at the university level. All of Hinton’s books are endorsed by the American Library Association’s Booklist and other national reviews. Hinton’s films include It’s My Party (1996), which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and the edgy, acclaimed Circuit (2003), which received international theatrical distribution and is a DVD bestseller.
About the Autry National Center
The Autry National Center is an intercultural history center dedicated to exploring and sharing the stories, experiences, and perceptions of the diverse peoples of the American West. Located in Griffith Park , the Autry includes the collections of the Museum of the American West, the Southwest Museum of the American Indian, and the Autry Institute’s two research libraries: the Braun Research Library and the Autry Library. Exhibitions, public programs, K–12 educational services, and publications are designed to examine critical issues of society, offering insights into solutions and the contemporary human condition through the Western historical experience.
Weekday hours of operation for the Autry National Center ’s museum at its Griffith Park location are Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. The Autry Store’s weekday hours are Tuesday through Friday, 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and the Golden Spur Cafe is open Tuesday through Sunday, 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Sunday hours for the museum and the Autry Store are 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. The museum, the Autry Store, and the cafe are closed on Mondays. The libraries are open to researchers by appointment.
Museum admission is $9 for adults, $5 for students and seniors 60+, $3 for children 3–12, and free for Autry members, active military personnel, veterans, and children 2 and under. Admission is free on the second Tuesday of every month.
###
For press inquiries only, contact:
Yadhira De Leon
Sr. Manager, Public Relations
Autry National Center
323.667.2000, ext. 327
ydeleon@theAutry.org
www.theAutry.org
Saturday, April 24, 2010
Brokeback Mountain - Fifth Anniversary Screening
Brokeback Mountain
Fifth Anniversary Screening
Fifth Anniversary Screening
December 11, 2010
Followed by a staged reading of selections from our book
"Beyond Brokeback: The Impact of a Film"
"Beyond Brokeback: The Impact of a Film"
THIS PROGRAM IS SPONSORED BY:
The Out West series at the Autry National Center is made possible through the generous support of Tom Gregory, HBO, the Gill Foundation, and The Small Change Foundation, in association with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and the Courage Campaign.
The Out West series at the Autry National Center is made possible through the generous support of Tom Gregory, HBO, the Gill Foundation, and The Small Change Foundation, in association with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and the Courage Campaign.
Focus Features is providing the film, and according to Gregory Hinton " they are very pleased about the Autry program. Brokeback Mountain remains their top grossing film and they are very proud of their relationship with Ang Lee."
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Sunday, March 22, 2009
The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus Support Site and Forums
A consortium of websites, fans and film lovers of the upcoming Terry Gilliam movie, "The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus" have banded together to start a website and forum to support the film.
The mission statement on their website home page is, "The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus Support Site and Forums is a website for fans and film lovers by fans and film lovers whose mission is to increase public awareness of the upcoming Terry Gilliam movie, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, and to help build a solid fanbase for the film, with the ultimate goal of seeing its wide release in theaters around the globe.
The group has over gained over 120 members from around the globe and boasts over 1,400 posts on their FORUM within the first two weeks of its existence (before even gaining notice of search engines). It is their goal to make the global public aware of the much anticipated Terry Gilliam film and carry the latest news, festival updates, release dates, photos, articles and more from around the world. The forum also carries both multilingual capabilities for users and a translator with a section for every country represented and a specific section for each of the main actors attached to the film as well as Gilliam.
Tired of being fed a steady diet of the same types of movies in theaters, not being listened to by the entertainment industry and being denied the right to see most great independent films anywhere except in large, metropolitan cities (if at all), the group made the decision to band together several weeks ago.
Says site administrator, Theresa, “not all of us are from New York, Los Angeles or London. Many of us are from small towns and cities. But, that does not make us any less deserving of seeing great films. We, the paying audience, should not be penalized or denied the right to see an amazing film because of any behind the scenes or arguments. Nor should we be denied the right to see a great film, because a film doesn’t have huge car chase scenes, superheroes, vampires or a $200 million budget.
It is beyond ridiculous to say a film will not win a healthy audience when the global audience, as a rule, doesn’t even know the movie exists. We’re not deluded, of course we understand the business end of the situation, however, we’d love to know just how long the entertainment industry thinks the public is going to keep taking this steady diet of the same old stories just with different titles.
Look at the films that have recently won the Oscars or made movie history, “Brokeback Mountain”, “Little Miss Sunshine”, “Capote”, “Milk”, Slumdog Millionaire. This says so much about what we are about. Most of the global general public never even got to see these movies until AFTER they won the awards because they didn’t show in theaters near them or there was no word of mouth about them for the general public until they were in award contention or the award was already won. That’s inexcusable.
Look at the cast of this film. These are some of the finest actors of our time. I, personally, have never seen a “bad” Johnny Depp performance, Heath Ledger was one of the greatest actors of his time, for heaven’s sake, the man just won an Oscar. And, Christopher Plummer…Well, the man is an icon. He is one of the greatest of the greats. There is simply nothing that man cannot do. He’s amazing. When you blend this with the other fine actors in this film, there is a great deal of good to be expected. And, in these difficult times around the world, we could all do with some amazement and fantasy. No one does that better than Terry Gilliam.
For these reasons, we felt the public should know about this film and that the industry should know we are out there. We are your audience. We are the people who buy your movie tickets. And, we are telling you what we want. And, we want to see this movie!”
posted by Theresa at http://www.imaginariumofdrparnassus.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&p=1510#p1510
The mission statement on their website home page is, "The Imaginarium Of Dr. Parnassus Support Site and Forums is a website for fans and film lovers by fans and film lovers whose mission is to increase public awareness of the upcoming Terry Gilliam movie, The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus, and to help build a solid fanbase for the film, with the ultimate goal of seeing its wide release in theaters around the globe.
The group has over gained over 120 members from around the globe and boasts over 1,400 posts on their FORUM within the first two weeks of its existence (before even gaining notice of search engines). It is their goal to make the global public aware of the much anticipated Terry Gilliam film and carry the latest news, festival updates, release dates, photos, articles and more from around the world. The forum also carries both multilingual capabilities for users and a translator with a section for every country represented and a specific section for each of the main actors attached to the film as well as Gilliam.
Tired of being fed a steady diet of the same types of movies in theaters, not being listened to by the entertainment industry and being denied the right to see most great independent films anywhere except in large, metropolitan cities (if at all), the group made the decision to band together several weeks ago.
Says site administrator, Theresa, “not all of us are from New York, Los Angeles or London. Many of us are from small towns and cities. But, that does not make us any less deserving of seeing great films. We, the paying audience, should not be penalized or denied the right to see an amazing film because of any behind the scenes or arguments. Nor should we be denied the right to see a great film, because a film doesn’t have huge car chase scenes, superheroes, vampires or a $200 million budget.
It is beyond ridiculous to say a film will not win a healthy audience when the global audience, as a rule, doesn’t even know the movie exists. We’re not deluded, of course we understand the business end of the situation, however, we’d love to know just how long the entertainment industry thinks the public is going to keep taking this steady diet of the same old stories just with different titles.
Look at the films that have recently won the Oscars or made movie history, “Brokeback Mountain”, “Little Miss Sunshine”, “Capote”, “Milk”, Slumdog Millionaire. This says so much about what we are about. Most of the global general public never even got to see these movies until AFTER they won the awards because they didn’t show in theaters near them or there was no word of mouth about them for the general public until they were in award contention or the award was already won. That’s inexcusable.
Look at the cast of this film. These are some of the finest actors of our time. I, personally, have never seen a “bad” Johnny Depp performance, Heath Ledger was one of the greatest actors of his time, for heaven’s sake, the man just won an Oscar. And, Christopher Plummer…Well, the man is an icon. He is one of the greatest of the greats. There is simply nothing that man cannot do. He’s amazing. When you blend this with the other fine actors in this film, there is a great deal of good to be expected. And, in these difficult times around the world, we could all do with some amazement and fantasy. No one does that better than Terry Gilliam.
For these reasons, we felt the public should know about this film and that the industry should know we are out there. We are your audience. We are the people who buy your movie tickets. And, we are telling you what we want. And, we want to see this movie!”
posted by Theresa at http://www.imaginariumofdrparnassus.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=76&p=1510#p1510
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