Cinedigm nabs SXSW audience award winner “The Lizzie Velasquez Story”April 17, 2015 - 14:18 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Cinedigm announced that it has acquired North American theatrical, digital and home entertainment distribution rights to “A Brave Heart: The Lizzie Velasquez Story”, according to TheWrap. Born with a rare condition that prevents her from gaining weight, Elizabeth “Lizzie” Velasquez was first bullied as a child in school for her appearance. As a teenager, she was bullied even more fiercely online when she discovered a YouTube video labeling her “The World’s Ugliest Woman.” The film chronicles unheard stories and details of Lizzie’s physical and emotional journey leading up to her multi-million-viewed TEDxAustinWomen talk and follows her evolution as motivational speaker and activist, lobbying Congress for the first federal anti-bullying bill: the Safe Schools Improvement Act (SSIA). The documentary premiered last month at SXSW, received multiple standing ovations and won the festival’s Audience Award in its category. YouTube celebrity Justine Ezarik (“iJustine”) and Alexis Jones, founder of I AM THAT GIRL, serve as executive producers alongside Velasquez. The film is targeted to have a traditional theatrical release in October 2015, followed by full distribution in the physical, television and digital home entertainment channels and Cinedigm’s DOCURAMA digital network in early 2016. Abby Davis and Kevin Iwashina of Preferred Content negotiated the deal on behalf of the filmmakers, with Kristin Harris representing Cinedigm. Top stories The creative crew of the Public TV had chosen 13-year-old Malena as a participant of this year's contest. She called on others to also suspend their accounts over the companies’ failure to tackle hate speech. Penderecki was known for his film scores, including for William Friedkin’s “The Exorcist”, Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. The festival made the news public on March 19, saying that “several options are considered in order to preserve its running” Partner news | Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. Aram I supports Karekin II’s “patriotic position” Catholicos of the Great House of Cilicia Aram I has expressed support for the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin. |