FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Oliver Button is a STAR! Sneak Preview Benefit Screening at the Castro Theater, San Francisco Sunday Morning, January 27, 2002,10AM
Sponsored by the San Francisco Foundation Benefiting: Frameline and Gay and Straight Alliance And The Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus $10 General Admission at door; $5 for students $15 includes reception following film Tickets available at door, Film PG, appropriate for children age 9 and older All children must be accompanied by an adult, Children under 12 free
Castro Screening Contact: Gregg DeChirico, SF Foundation (415) 733-8535
Oliver Button is a STAR a PBS special about bullying, homophobia and gender variances in children.
Oliver Button is A Star, a 'docu-performance' for all families, is an hour-long PBS special that explores bullying, tolerance and positive alternatives for expressing children's gender differences. Scheduled for PBS this Spring (check local listings), filmmaker's 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 classic children's book, Oliver Button Is A Sissy, as their narrative structure, interweaving a mix of animation, archival film, news stories, home movies, classroom activities and personal interviews with such well known figures as arctic explorer Ann Bancroft, dancer 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 through out this production is documentary footage of 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 of bullying 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.
Major funding for Oliver Button is a STAR was provided by the A. Spencer Andrew Foundation, Steven Fox, the Jay & Rose Phillips Foundation, Mary Ann P. Cofrin, Gamma Mu Foundation, Arcus Foundation and the Terry K. Watanabe Charitable Trust.
Praise for Oliver Button
"Thank you for your wonderful program Oliver Button. I've just screened the program and found it to be heartwarming, sincere and well, delightful." Steven Gray, VP Programming, PBS
"ALL of my teachers must see this program." Gwen Agna, Principal, Jackson Elementary School
"I want to pass along my admiration for what you are providing with this resource. The messages about handling differences fill a gap that exists in educational materials. Thank you." Joanne McDaniel, Director, Center for the Prevention of School Violence
"Loved it!" Scott Chaffin, Program Director KUED
"This program will touch many and hopefully influence how people think." Ron Santora, Program Director WNED
"the movie has the potential to reach a bigger-and younger-audience by making the case in favor of understanding and against intolerance." Bruce Shenitz, Editor for Out Magazine
"The makers of Oliver Button is a STAR are to be commended. In today's world of school shootings and hate crimes, Oliver's lesson is not one we can afford to ignore." Jake Lilien, Daily Collegian, University of Massachussetts
Statistics
A number of recent studies point to the fact that bullying (both verbal and physical) is nearing epidemic proportions in schools across the United States. While this behavior is irrational and can be triggered by a number of factors, bigoted stereotypes surrounding sexual orientation tops the list. As early as five or six years old, children use the terms "gay" and "faggot" when they want to lob an insult at another young person; and by the sixth, seventh and eighth grades, the words become standard vocabulary. Indeed, the majority of boys in grades eight to eleven have reported that "faggot" is the most humiliating of insults, according to a 1993 survey conducted by the American Association of University Women.
In a study titled 83,000 Youth (May, 1999), the Safe Schools Coalition of Washington reported a number of chilling conclusions:
If a school district has 5,000 students 1. at least 78% report, by the time they are in high school, that they have been harassed because someone thought they were gay, 2. sexual minority youth in general, as well as heterosexual youth who are harassed for being perceived to be gay, ¨ are disproportionately likely to be fearful for their safety at school, to the point of skipping whole days because of it, ¨ are at increased risk for also being threatened and assaulted, and ¨ are significantly more likely than their non-harassed peers to engage in self-endangering behavior (including 45.1% who admit to considering suicide and 20.3% who have actually attempted suicide).
In response to these findings, the study concluded that educational efforts and support systems need to be developed to reduce the level of malicious (including orientation-based) harassment and violence. Additionally, the study pointed to the woeful lack of educational tools that provide accurate information about sexual minority people, self-protection skills, and health and safety risk-reduction.
"In the old days," says Colorado state Representative Don Lee, "if one kid was bullying another, they would just duke it out in the schoolyard." But "the culture's changed," which is why Lee co-sponsored a new state law making schools outlaw bullying. California, Georgia and New Jersey have drafted similar bills to address what the National Association of School Psychologists and a new NIH study now ranks as one of the hottest topics in schools."
Newsweek, May 7, 2001
Quote from the author
"I wrote it because I didn't want any child - boy or girl - to be called a negative name. And I wanted to let other children who might call names know how hurtful it can be. I guess in my naïveté I thought this book wouldn't be needed in the future, but here it is over twenty years later, and its still needed desperately." Tomie dePaola, author, Oliver Button is a Sissy.
For more info, contact: Dan Hunt, Producer 413-267-9684 or huntvideo at aol.com
John Scagliotti Film/Television/Before & After Stonewall Oliver Button is Star! Kopkind Colony 158 Kopkind Road Guilford, VT 05301 tel/fax 802.254.4859 Visit our website for information and press materials: < http://www.afterstonewall.com > ****************************************