Thousands of Film Goers Seek Gender Equality
PR Web (press release), WA - 50 minutes ago
Liverpool, UK (PRWEB) April 25, 2006 -- In June this year, film goers plan worldwide theatrical screenings of the Universal Pictures flick ‘Serenity’, with proceeds going to Equality Now. 24 screenings are already being organized across 4 countries, with more being added daily. The move is a direct effort to help raise funds for Equality Now, one of writer/director Joss Whedon’s favorite charities.

Equality Now is an international organization which works to end violence and discrimination against women and girls around the world through the mobilization of public pressure. Serenity is a motion picture which deals with individuality and personal responsibility with strong female characters and role models. The film culminates with characters making a stand for what is right, no matter the cost, whilst fighting for a better future.

The chosen date of the screenings — June 23rd — is significant as it mirrors the date of a round of early preview screenings Universal Pictures held of ‘Serenity’ last summer. This time, fans themselves are organizing the screenings with the exhibitors and it is a far grander scale, reaching out of North America into Europe and Australia.

Serenity writer/director Joss Whedon, famous for creating the iconic female character series ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’ and heading WB’s forthcoming ‘Wonder Woman’ movie, is a dedicated supporter of Equality Now. He will be appearing as a Special Honoree at an Equality Now event in New York in May, for his outstanding commitment to gender equality through film and television.

A representative of Equality Now says, “All of us at Equality Now continue to be amazed by and grateful for the fans generous and committed support for our work. We really need it!”

Joss Whedon, the writer/director of Serenity, said of Equality Now, “There are two ways to fight a battle like ours. One is to whisper in the ear of the masses, try subtlely and gradually to change the gender expectations and mythic structures of our culture. That’s me. The other is to step up and confront the thousands of atrocities that are taking place around the world on an immediate, one-by-one basis. That’s a great deal harder, and that’s Equality Now. It’s not about politics; it’s about basic human decency.”

Christopher Frankonis, organizer of the Can’t Stop The Serenity screenings says, “The watchword here really is ‘benefit’. Naturally, existing fans get the benefit of seeing Serenity on the big screen once more, and new fans get the benefit of doing so for the first time. But more significantly, the important work of Equality Now benefits from a truly worldwide fundraiser. And Joss Whedon, of course, gets the benefit of it being a sort of global birthday ‘thank you’ from his fans.”

Kevin Beaumont, owner of the Serenity Movie official ‘Browncoat’ fan site, says, “These worldwide screenings are on an unprecedented scale, and represent a direct response from fans of a motion picture to raise money for an organization which does outstanding work across the globe, working to support grassroots efforts to end violence and discrimination against women and girls. These people fight for the greater good. There is always a tendency to feel that sci-fi genre fans only think of themselves. We feel these screenings prove this is not the case.”

Anybody can get involved by visiting http://www.CantStopTheSerenity.com. Anybody wishing to book to see Joss in New York in May at the Equality Now event should visit http://www.EqualityNow.org.

SerenityMovie.org was established in January this year, has over 6000 members and commands an audience of over half a million visitors since launch. It is one of the largest movie fan base websites to date.

For more information on the actual screenings, please see cantstoptheserenity.com. Press contacts should email requests for email or phone interviews to be conducted with Christopher Frankonis.

hey gossi, great work.

I saw your earlier call for people involved in the press etc and remembered speaking to a 'coat in Chat a while back. I think he was called Firebug, and he works for Empire Magazine. thought that might be of use.

This is great news! Thanks for the update Gossi.

thank you gossi,
it's things like this that make me so proud to be a browncoat

Gossi,

It is wonderful! Very professional. Love the soundbite "Thousands of Film Goers Seek Gender Equality"

Organizers of the screenings can use it to promote their screenings.

Someone posted it on http://whedonesque.com/comments/10172


Printed great! I was NOT able to download the pdf......It kept saying cannot save this document
until it has finished loading. Any suggestions?

edit:

got it to save by using the little diskette icon on the actual
pdf (left top of pdf before printer icon).

The pdf downloaded fine for me.

I tried it again and got it to save by using the little diskette icon on the actual
pdf (left top of pdf before printer icon).

I was trying to use the File Save As and File Save on the Aol Toolbar which did not work and probably shouldn't.

Press releases entertain me, because invariably they get run as news stories. Heh.

Also on Slashfilm

Do you think it actually made it on TV or just the TV stations website? They never even mentioned
the Santa Barbara CA (USA) - Pre-Planning screening.

Browncoats on 3 CONTINENTS arranging Charity Serenity Screenings! 26+ cities! 4 Countries! + UK May
List of cities and info on
http://www.cantstoptheserenity.com

Just the website. Sites in need of news content frequently repackage press releases as if they are news items they generated themselves. Actually, it's not uncommon for some newspapers to do the same thing.

I heard they mentioned it on the station.

Also, it's been Fark'ed: http://forums.fark.com/cgi/fark/comments.pl?IDLink=2034908

From who?

Well, that was kind of like being in a strange city and suddenly realizing you are in the wrong neighborhood.

Bix, any luck getting press for this in the local Portland outlets (WW, Oregonian, Mercury etc.)?

I haven't tried, since there's nothing to report in terms of them being able to tell them "Portland is doing it in this place on this date at this time."