January 22, 2010, Los Angeles, CA —The Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), the nation’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) media advocacy and anti-defamation organization has announced its panels, events and programs for cineGLAAD, a program presented by Abreva and Bud Light, which will take place during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. GLAAD also announced that the organization will be an official Sundance Institute Associate.

All cineGLAAD panels will occur at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival Filmmaker Lodge (550 Main Street) on the second floor of the Elks Building in Park City. Through these panels, cineGLAAD will raise awareness about films with LGBT content and elevate the voices of filmmakers, all towards the goal of bringing these important LGBT stories to wider audiences.

cineGLAAD has released a comprehensive listing of the more than 25 films with LGBT content or created by an LGBT filmmaker that will be screened during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival and Slamdance Film Festival. The list is available at: www.glaad.org/cineGLAAD.

“Our presence at this major industry event will help amplify the stories of LGBT people that spark dialogue and raise awareness, support and understanding of our lives,” said GLAAD President Jarrett Barrios. “With networking opportunities and educational panels, we hope that these filmmakers and their stories will bring their works from Park City to the world - and give film audiences a window into the common ground we all share."
Panel Discussions for cineGLAAD are free and open to the public. Guests must RSVP. Priority entry will be given to 2010 Sundance Film Festival pass holders. RSVPs should be done at www.glaad.org/cineGLAAD. Topics include:

• OUT LOUD: THE ROLE OF A PUBLICIST & CREATING BUZZ FOR YOUR LGBT FESTIVAL FILM

  Saturday, January 23, 2010, 4pm to 6pm (followed by a networking mixer until 6pm)
  Guests: John Murphy/Murphy PR (A Serious Man), Mark Pogachefsky/mPRm (Brokeback Mountain), Annie Jeeves/Fifteen Minutes Public Relations (William S. Burroughs: A Man Within), Yony Leyser (Director, William S. Burroughs: A Man Within), Javier Fuentes Leon (Director, Contracorriente/Undertow), Taj Paxton/ GLAAD (Director of Entertainment Media)
  Moderator: Orly Ravid, Co-Founder, New American Vision

  Many filmmakers do not understand the role of publicity in festival strategies, creating buzz, and the role PR plays in self-distribution or the sale of a film to a distributor. Then add to that process the issue of LGBT content. Some publicists and producer’s reps have recommended the “quiet discovery” of the LGBT content. Yet with audiences exposed to more LGBT content on television and in film than in past decades, are there still issues of stigma around this content? Current Sundance filmmakers and publicists who have represented LGBT-inclusive films discuss media strategies at the Festival as well as best practices for taking advantage of social media. GLAAD’s Entertainment Team will also join the panel to guide filmmakers on unique ways to leverage their visibility and offer advice on how to speak to the media about LGBT content.

• LGBT CIVIL RIGHTS AND THE POWER OF FILM: 8: THE MORMON PROPOSITION

  Sunday, January 24, 2010, 4pm to 6pm (preceded by a short networking mixer at 4pm)
  Guests: Darrin Reed Cowan (Director); Dustin Lance Black (Narrator); Dennis Herrera/San Francisco City Attorney; Joe Solmonese/President, Human Rights Campaign; Bruce Bastian (Executive Producer)
  Moderator: Kate Kendall, Executive Director, National Center for Lesbian Rights
  Introduction by Jarrett Barrios, President, GLAAD

  The filmmakers behind 8: The Mormon Proposition (showing at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival) have documented the Mormon Church’s decades-long strategy to defeat LGBT civil rights through front organizations and the systematic use of its resources to defeat legislators who support marriage equality. The film also uses personal stories to show how institutionalized religious discrimination against LGBT people destroys lives. Panelists will discuss the power of film and its role in the LGBT movement today. They will also examine how the film looks to move the nation to question the role of religion in politics – particularly around the passage of anti-gay Proposition 8 in California, which removed the right to marry from gay and lesbian couples.

• QUEER CINEMA’S NEXT WAVE: A CONVERSATION WITH AUTEURS ROB EPSTEIN & JEFFREY FRIEDMAN AND CHRISTINE WALKER

  Tuesday, January 26, 2010, 4pm to 6pm (followed by a networking mixer until 6pm)
  Guests: Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman (Directors/Producers/Co-Writers, Howl), Christine Walker (Producer, Howl), Additional filmmakers to be announced

  Epstein and Friedman specialized in bringing LGBT issues to the fore, winning the highest of mainstream acknowledgment with Academy Awards for their documentary works, The Times of Harvey Milk and Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt, and an Emmy-nomination for The Celluloid Closet. Their latest film, Howl, a narrative about gay Beat Generation poet Allen Ginsberg, boasts an all-star cast including James Franco, Mary Louise Parker and Jeff Daniels. Gay auteurs, Rob Epstein & Jeffrey Friedman, along with Christine Walker, discuss the direction of the next wave of queer cinema in the context of their body of work and their current entries at the Festival.

• COCKTAILS WITH CINEGLAAD

  Monday, January 25, 2010, 4pm to 7pm

  GLAAD will also host a cocktail reception to support LGBT filmmakers and allies featuring Associated Film partners including cast and filmmakers of OneZero Productions’ and 6140 Productions’ The Four-Faced Liar. “Cocktails with cineGLAAD” will be held at Downstairs (625 Main Street). Attendees will receive a one-year membership to GLAAD and hosted cocktails, courtesy of Bud Light and ABSOLUT® Vodka.

Sponsors of cineGLAAD: Presenting Sponsors, Abreva, Bud Light; General Sponsors, ABSOLUT® Vodka, Izze; Media Sponsors, LA Weekly and Q Salt Lake.