|
Two to three weeks prior to your screening of Divided We Fall, we recommend that you send a press release to your local media organizations -- print newspapers, radio stations, and television stations. We have been covered by all three forms of media (print, radio and television), but have been particularly successful with local NPR radio stations.
We recommend sending the press release out through whatever organization will be sponsoring the screening (if you are at a university, ask your university's media relations office to send out the release to their set of contacts, on official university letterhead). We recommend that you send the media advisory somewhere between two weeks to a month prior to your screening, and follow up with phone calls to the media, targeting particular journalists who have covered your events sponsored by your organization or university in the past.
A sample press release is provided below. Please use this press release when contacting local media, replacing the Austin details (in bold) with the specific details about your screening.
If you have any questions or would like assistance with the media outreach, please contact Tracy Wells, communications director (tracy@dwf-film.com), 404-229-0997.
[SAMPLE PRESS RELEASE]
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 20, 2008
Contact:
LOCAL HOST NAME & TITLE
LOCAL HOST PHONE & EMAIL
DOCUMENTARY FILM INSPIRES NATIONAL DIALOGUE ON RACE AND RELIGION DURING 9/11 ANNIVERSARY
Award-winning documentary Divided We Fall will screen in Austin as part of national grassroots film release
AUSTIN, Tex., Aug. 21 – Divided We Fall: Americans in the Aftermath (2008), the first feature-length documentary film on hate violence following Sept. 11, 2001, will screen in 50 cities across the U.S. next month in a grassroots campaign for deep dialogue about racism, religion, and renewal in America. The University of Texas in Austin is hosting a screening on Thursday, Sept. 11.
Divided We Fall follows the journey of 20-year-old college student Valarie Kaur as she documents hate violence against Sikhs and Muslims in the immediate aftermath of Sept. 11, 2001 and examines the larger question of “who counts” as American. On a two-year international tour, the film has won more than a dozen awards and reached 150 campuses and communities in 90 cities across the United States.
Divided We Fall will be released next month when educators and community leaders in 50 U.S. cities will hold dialogues around the film in commemoration of Sept. 11 and Sept. 15 – the anniversary of the murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi, the first person killed in retribution for the terrorist attacks.
The Office of Multicultural Affairs at UT is hosting the local screening on Thursday, Sept. 11 at 5 p.m. in the San Jacinto Multipurpose Room on UT's campus, at 21st and San Jacinto. Admission is free and the public is welcome to attend. The screening will be followed by a community dialogue session facilitated by ________.
“This stunning film could not have arrived at a more significant time in our nation’s history,” Stanford University Emeritus Professor of Psychology Phillip Zimbardo said. “It brilliantly conveys the dynamic tensions we all share over racial and religious differences that can be transformed into new visions for an American mosaic more richly textured than ever before. It is the must see film of this year for all thoughtful people."
Partners of the film campaign include the Discrimination and National Security Initiative, Facing History and Ourselves, Global Family for Love and Peace, The Pluralism Project at Harvard University, National Lawyers Guild, Interfaith Youth Core, Islamic Society of North America, Religions for Peace - USA, South Asian American Leaders of Tomorrow, Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Sikhchic, the Sikh Coalition, Sikh Foundation, SikhNet, Sikh Spectrum, and South Asians for Obama.
For more information on the Austin event, visit the tour page of the official film website at www.dwf-film.com or contact _____ (insert local host's name, title and contact info here)_______. To arrange an interview with the filmmakers, contact communications director Tracy Wells at 404.229.0997 or tracy@dwf-film.com.
Divided We Fall will be released on DVD in October 2008.
###
|
|
