I'd love to see all our alumnae and friends in the Bay Area for this. The number is growing over the years. We need to fill the Castro and it's a mighty big theater so please email any friends you have in the Bay Area and ask them to bring their friends. It should be a very diverse and interesting crowd and it's a fun place to see a movie. A special thanks to Gregg DeChirico, who is on the Board of Directors of the Kopkind Colony and is spearheading this screening in SF. And come say hi to Gregg, Dan Hunt, our producer, and me of course at the reception after the screening. Thanks for you help and Happy Holidays.
Below is info about the Castro Screening of Oliver Button.
Bay Area Premiere "OLIVER BUTTON IS A STAR"
Sunday January 27, 2002 Castro Theater, San Francisco 10AM to Noon
A benefit for Frameline, Gay-Straight Alliance Network, and the Twin Cities Gay Men's Choir Sponsored by The San Francisco Foundation For more information, contact (415) 733-8535
Admission: $5 for students, $10 general admission, $15 includes reception following the film. Tickets available at the door. This film is rated PG, and is appropriate for children age 9 and older. All children must be accompanied by an adult. Children under 12 free.
Summary of the PBS program (scheduled for national broadcast in early Spring):
OLIVER BUTTON IS A STAR, a 'docu-performance' for all families, is an hour-long video program that explores bullying, tolerance and positive alternatives for expressing children's gender differences.
Filmmakers John Scagliotti (Before & After Stonewall, In the Life) and Dan Hunt (After Stonewall) use the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus Production of Tomie dePaola's children's classic book, OLIVER BUTTON IS A SISSY as their narrative structure, interweaving a mix of animation, archival film, news stories, home movies and personal interviews with such well known figures as arctic explorer Ann Bancroft, dancer/choreographer Bill T. Jones, makeup artist Kevyn Aucoin and Tomie dePaola, who offer moving accounts of the defining moment in their childhood when they were forced to confront conventional constructions of "masculine" and "feminine" (Tomie dePaola "acting like Shirley Temple or Mae West", Ann Bancroft playing Tarzan, Kevyn Aucoin being subjected to endless beatings in school because of his "effeminate" behavior, Bill T. Jones "sitting-like-a-girl").
Also sprinkled throughout this production is documentary footage of Northampton elementary school teacher, Mary Cowhey, reading dePaola's book to her first grade class as well as conducting engaging "tolerance" exercises.
OLIVER BUTTON IS A STAR is being released at an important time in America as its theme strikes a deep chord that is currently resonating throughout our society. The almost daily headlines about young boys, alienated and neglected, causing violence, hate crimes and needless suffering confront us with the question - What does it take to pass into manhood? In its whimsically powerful way Oliver Button's story presents a positively transforming answer.
Oliver Button is A Star Outreach Campaign for Sneak Preview Screening San Francisco, January 27, 2002 Sponsored by The San Francisco Foundation For more information, contact (415) 733-8535
Film Production information contact: John Scagliotti Film/Television/Before & After Stonewall Oliver Button is Star! Kopkind Colony 158 Kopkind Road Guilford, VT 05301 tel/fax 802.254.4859