FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Linnea Goderstad
linnea@firstrunfeatures.com
212-243-0600 x27
  Hi all,

As we head into 2013, First Run Features is gearing up for a year that will be busier than ever! Our theatrical slate is packed with great titles which you will eventually enjoy when they are released on DVD. Due to the increase in volume, we are happy to announce that Linnea Goderstad will be stepping up to take over the day to day communications for our DVD releases.

Many of you have already been in contact with Linnea for awhile, so you already know her. If not, I encourage you to email her and say hello. Of course I am still here to answer any questions you have, and I do love seeing your reviews, so you can keep sending them to me as well as Linnea. Let us know if you have any questions!

Stay in touch! :)
Kelly

kelly.hargraves@firstrunfeatures.com

Linnea Goderstad
linnea@firstrunfeatures.com | 212-243-0600 x27

 
     
  Press Releases below:  Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy  |  After Kony: Staging Hope  |  YERT - Your Environmental Road Trip  

REHEARSAL FOR A SICILIAN TRAGEDY
76 minutes, documentary, color, 2009

A film by Roman Paska

Featuring John Turturro (O Brother Where Art Thou?, Barton Fink, Do the Right Thing)

In Rehearsal for a Sicilian Tragedy, actor John Turturro takes audiences on a haunting, intimate journey to his maternal homeland of Sicily. There, while exploring the island's vanishing traditions, he is taken under the wing of one of the puppet theater's few remaining practitioners, Mimmo Cuticchio, who instructs him in the distinctively Sicilian art of puppetry.

Filmed during preparations for the Sicilian Day of the Dead, this evocative, magical-realist documentary was directed by Turturro's longtime collaborator, Roman Paska, himself a world-renowned puppeteer. Both an homage to the art of storytelling and a portrait of a Sicily little known to the outside world, Paska's film brings viewers to an otherworldly place, lost in time.

“Simple, unpretentious…poignant and sincere.” - Hollywood Reporter

“A rare and enchanting chance to catch an insider's glimpse of Sicily.” - About.com

“Enticing!” - Variety

“Fills the eye and stirs the heart.” - Newcity

“A beautiful documentary.” - La Repubblica (Italy)

UPC: 7-20229-91485-7 | Catalog #: FRF 914857D | SRP: $24.95 | Street Date: December 11

 

AFTER KONY: Staging Hope
99 minutes, documentary, color, English & Luo w/ English subtitles, 2011

Directed by Bil Yoelin

After Kony: Staging Hope follows a team of actors, playwrights, and activists who use theater to help Ugandan teens share their story of resilience through a childhood filled with terror caused by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army. Many of the teens were former child soldiers or sex slaves that escaped from their Lord's Resistance Army abductors. By dramatizing their stories, the teens are able to explore their traumatic past, as well as share their voices with the community and the world. The result is an epic play that reveals the vulnerable moments and powerful bonds that connect all of us as humans, no matter where we live or what we have gone through.

• Winner! Audience Award, Phildelphia Film Festival
• Winner! People's Choice Award, Starz Denver Film Festival

“The power of theater to connect human beings from different worlds is vividly revealed.” - Women & Film

“Unique and compelling.” - Examiner.com

UPC: 7-20229-91531-1 | Catalog #: FRF 915311D | SRP: $24.95 | Street Date: December 11

 
 

YERT - Your Environmental Road Trip
113 minutes, documentary, color, 2011

A film by Ben Evans & Mark Dixon

Special Features Deleted Scenes • YERT Shorts • Filmmaker Commentary • Outtakes

50 States. 1 Year. Zero Garbage? Called to action by a planet in peril, three friends hit the road, traveling with hope, humor - and all of their garbage - to find out what Americans can do to save the planet.

From outrageous green personalities like Missouri's Eco-Elvis and Florida's Earth Man, to a cave community in the mountains of Idaho, to incredible new ventures that transform garbage into almost anything, they scour the country bathing in America's unique approach to environmental sustainability - the good, the bad, and the weird.


• Winner! Audience Award, EFFY (Environmental Film Festival at Yale)
• Winner! Best Documentary Feature, Costa Rica Film Festival
• Winner! Best Environmental Documentary, DocuFest Atlanta
• Winner! Best Environmental Film, Southern Appalachian International Film Festival


“Stunningly refreshing, unaffected and informed… If you had to select one film to show your climate change-denying brother-in-law or equivocating religious or community group or indifferent college student or distracted kid, YERT should go to the head of your queue.” - Huffington Post

“Here's a trip you'll wish you'd taken, and you'll be glad you get to watch!” - Bill McKibben, bestselling author/350.org founder

“Light-hearted but serious-minded.” - Pittsburgh City Paper

“YERT has taken its adventure and turned it into a feature film celebrating the American spirit in the face of adversity.”
- The Rider News

“A big ‘YES!’ to Mark, Ben, and Julie, who have given us the road trip for our century — a roaring tour of some of the best solutions for a warming planet, spiked with funky humor and charming humility.” - YES! Magazine

“An outstanding piece of environmental filmmaking. YERT serves up a banquet of comedy, education, and inspiration as they travel to all 50 states under self-imposed 'rules' that crank up the entertainment factor. Along the way they meet with environmental shakers and movers like Bill MCKibben, and other lesser known but equally inspiring folks, with a few sprinkles of the outrageous and quirky to add spice to the mix. Highly recommended!”
- Mat Stein, Author of When Technology Fails

UPC: 7-20229-91532-8 | Catalog #: FRF 915328D | SRP: $24.95 | Street Date: December 11

 
  Please visit our website for trailers, reviews, and box art, photos and press materials  
     
  Please send review links to linnea@firstrunfeatures.com or mail tear sheets to:

First Run Features
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