R.I.P. Heath Ledger

Brokeback Mountain Causes Psychological Distress

A substitute teacher who showed an R-rated movie to 8th graders about two gay cowboys told students, "What happens in Ms. Buford's class stays in Ms. Buford's class," according to a lawsuit filed Friday.
A 12-year-old girl and her family filed the suit against the Chicago Board of Education after the teacher showed "Brokeback Mountain" to students at Ashburn Community Elementary School a year ago.
The student, Jessica Turner, said she suffered psychological distress after watching the movie, according to the suit. The movie, which stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal as two cowboys who fall in love, includes love scenes between the two men and between the men and their wives.
"It is very important to me that my children not be exposed to this," said Turner's grandfather and guardian, Kenneth Richardson, by phone Saturday. "The teacher knew she was not supposed to do this. ... It's like I told the principal, she should have better control over her teachers."
The lawsuit, which seeks $500,000 in damages, was filed in Cook County Circuit Court. The suit also names Ashburn Principal Jewel Diaz and the substitute teacher, known only in the complaint as Ms. Buford.
Chicago Public Schools Spokesman Mike Vaughn declined to comment Saturday because he had not seen the lawsuit. Diaz could not be reached for comment.
According to the lawsuit, Buford was a substitute teacher in Turner's 8th-grade class on May 26, 2006. She told the class, "What happens in Ms. Buford's class stays in Ms. Buford's class" and asked a student to shut the classroom door.
Buford showed the video without permission from parents and guardians, the lawsuit states.
Richardson said his granddaughter was traumatized after watching the movie and told him, "They made me watch this bad movie." Richardson said he went to the school to speak to Buford, but she refused to do so without her union representative.
He said Diaz appeared "upset" when she learned that the teacher had showed the movie.
The grandfather deferred to his attorney when asked about the specifics of the "psychological treatment and counseling" that the lawsuit states Turner underwent as a result of watching the movie.
This isn't the first time Richardson has taken issue with material used in his children's classes. He said that in fall 2005, he complained to Diaz about reading material that included curse words.
"This was the last straw," Richardson said of the "Brokeback Mountain" screening. "I feel the lawsuit was necessary because of the warning I had already given them on the literature they were giving out to children to read. I told them it was against our faith."
from The Chicago Tribune

Beyond Brokeback

From Story to Screen to Sensation
Beyond Brokeback: The Impact of a Film
Can one film affect thousands of viewers from countless cultural, ethnic, religious and generational groups? Can it galvanize men and women across the globe from all walks of life to change their lives in unforeseen ways? The answer is yes-if that film is Brokeback Mountain.
And now, a new book celebrates that phenomenon. Beyond Brokeback: The Impact of a Film has just been released. It's a collection of deeply moving and thought-provoking personal essays from 130 contributors who found themselves inexplicably moved by Annie Proulx's award-winning short story and the film that followed.
It all started in late 2005, when early buzz for the film caught the attention of journalist Dave Cullen. He started making posts on his website, davecullen.com, and soon discovered throngs of people were logging on, passionately interested in the film. Cullen called it "a heartbreaking yet oddly universal story of two gay cowboys in love," but it proved to be even more than that. After the movie lost the best picture award at the 2006 Oscars, members of the forum created and paid for an ad in "Variety" thanking everyone involved in making the movie. From the website came the idea to produce a book that would showcase a sample of personal stories posted by Forum members.
Beyond Brokeback contains 178 personal essays, stories, and quotes from people who had little in common, other than a sense of personal upheaval after seeing the film. Some of the essays include:
* Mejack, whose viewing of Brokeback Mountain triggered his memory of a long-lost love and set him on a quest to find out his love's fate;
* Carol and Heidi, two women who found an unexpected love and had to deal with the repercussions in their lives; and
* Maggie, a research scientist, who was inspired by the film to write her first poetry.
Volunteer editors read thousands of posts before selecting the pieces to include. Artists volunteered their time to design the book. The book will be produced initially in limited quantities and proceeds from sales will support the Forum's campaigns of donating free copies of the original film DVD and the new book to public libraries that may not have the resources to buy them.
from Dave Cullen

Mark Wahlberg 'Creeped Out' By Brokeback Role

Mark Wahlberg is glad filmmaker Ang Lee passed over him when he cast Brokeback Mountain, because the Oscar nominee was "a little creeped out" at the prospect of having to play a gay cowboy.
The Departed star reveals he and pal Joaquin Phoenix were originally considered for the roles of Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist in the 2005 film - but both felt uncomfortable about sex act scenes in a tent.
Wahlberg explains, "I met with Ang Lee on that movie, I read 15 pages of the script and got a little creeped out. It was very graphic, descriptive - the spitting on the hand, getting ready to do the thing.
"I told Ang Lee, 'I like you, you're a talented guy, if you want to talk about it more...' Thankfully, he didn't." The parts eventually went to Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger and, though Wahlberg feels it's a film he must see, he has yet to watch Brokeback Mountain.
He adds, "I didn't rush to see Brokeback, it's just not my deal... Obviously, it was done in taste - look how it was received."
from Press Relaese

Larry Miller Says 'Brokeback' Ban Was Wrong

Jazz owner Larry H. Miller has changed his views of the gay and lesbian community enough to acknowledge he was wrong to ban the movie "Brokeback Mountain" from his theaters.
Have his feelings evolved enough to accept an openly gay player on his basketball team? He doesn't know.
Wednesday, when word spread that former Jazz player John Amaechi is releasing a book in which he reveals he is gay, Miller said he probably would allow "Brokeback Mountain" to be shown if the movie was released now, calling his ban a bad decision.
"Not because I got beaten up over it, but because it was a knee-jerk reaction," he said. "You have to choose your spots to draw your lines and I didn't choose a very good one."
Miller's ban of the blockbuster movie made national news and made him the center of a national debate. He said he has developed a more open view after meeting with members of the gay and lesbian community at the University of Utah in April.
"It was good for me in a couple of ways," he said. "I learned a lot about them with some open and honest dialogue. It didn't change my way of thinking or theirs, but we all realized after talking with each other we have a better understanding of each other.
"I'm still outspoken on issues, but I know I have to look at people's feelings and lives. I'd like to say I'm more understanding now. To say I'm tolerant would be less accurate, but I am more understanding."
Miller's softened views were welcomed by some in the gay community.
"Unless you didn't have a heart, I don't know how you can go through that experience and not have a change of heart," said Valerie Larabee, executive director of the Utah Pride Center. "We all know Larry Miller has a huge heart. Just look at what he has done for this state and his philanthropy. He is showing some growth."
Kim Hall, acting director of the University of Utah's Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Resource Center, said she hopes Miller's new open-mindedness will make him a "bellwether for LDS culture."
Miller, Hall said, "was willing to participate in the educational conversation, and you have to respect him for that."
The meeting changed minds on the other side of the issue, too. Bonnie Owens, co-president of the University of Utah Lesbian and Gay Student Union, was one of several gay students who met with Miller in April to discuss his views. She says everyone expected a tense conversation, but Miller defused it by listening attentively to students' stories about feeling ostracized because of their sexuality.
"He was so much more receptive than we thought he'd be," Owens said. "He really did want to find out why people were upset about that."
Owens hopes other prominent Utah leaders will follow Miller's example: "If he can come out and say, 'I was wrong to discriminate against a group of people,' then who knows who's next? Maybe Orrin Hatch?"
Miller admitted he was unsure how he'd handle the situation if a current Jazz player came out as gay.
"I have to think from the standpoint that everyone has the same rights as anybody else has, I believe that," he said. "Here, in this market, we do have a responsibility to uphold certain standards, although I know these guys aren't angels. I'd have to consider it and think about it some more. I don't know if I can answer that right now."
from The Salt Lake Tribune

Author Sues For Copyright Infringement Over 'Brokeback Mountain'

Author, Janice Scott-Blanton, filed a $250M copyright infringement lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. The complaint alleges that similarities between her novel My Husband is on the Down Low and I Know About It and the Academy Award winning motion picture film Brokeback Mountain 2005, are more than coincidence.
To support her allegations, Scott-Blanton has cataloged over 50 substantial similarities between the two bodies of work; these similarities range from subtle to the stark. During an early bar scene in the movie, Scott-Blanton saw an occurrence that reminded her of a scene from her novel but she gave it the benefit of the doubt. While continuing to view the movie, Scott-Blanton recognized during the first sexual encounter between Jack and Ennis another similarity; the scene reminded her of a sex scene from her novel; this was not a coincidence. She placed the movie on pause and retrieved her novel. After reviewing the scene from her novel, she realized the scenes were eerily similar. A coincidence at this point but this caused Scott-Blanton to view the remainder of the movie with a more critical eye.
A more stark similarity is exhibited after James' and Annette's ninth wedding anniversary, when Annette from Scott-Blanton's novel confronted James regarding his homosexual activity. James told her that he had purposely written a confession in his journal because he knew she had been secretly reading it; he did not know of any other way to tell her about his secret. This scene transpires in a kitchen setting. After Thanksgiving dinner, in the movie Brokeback Mountain, Alma confronts Ennis (her husband) regarding his homosexual activity. Alma told Ennis she had purposely written a note and put it on the end of his fishing line for him to find. This scene also transpires in a kitchen setting.
Scott-Blanton intends to prove in court that there are substantial similarities in the domestic life, characters, plot, thematic expressions, sequence of events and the total look and feel of Brokeback Mountain as compared to her novel My Husband is on the Down Low and I Know About It.
from BlackNews.com

Jack Twist's Hat From Brokeback Mountain For Sale On e-Bay

'Brokeback Mountain' Parody Tops iFILM Awards

A video parody of the U.S. film "Brokeback Mountain" has been named the best viral video of the year through the annual iFILM awards.
An iFILM news release said that the fake film trailer, that combines the 2005 Academy Award-winning film with 1985's "Back to the Future," was recognized by the popular Internet video source as the year's best video clip shared on the Internet.
The film parody beat out a humorous video clip of a BBC interview featuring an information technology expert mistakenly identified as an Internet music expert.
The annual "best of" awards ceremony also recognized the music video for Muse's "Knights Of Cydonia" as the best of its type in 2006, while honoring the preview of "The Departed" as the year's best film trailer.
The Internet video site's awards event also found that "Folgers: Happy Mornings" was the year's best online commercial for its unique take on the coffee brand as a daily source for hallucinogens.
from UPI

Shirtless Bush Seen in 'Brokeback' Spoof

MONTREAL - A "Brokeback Mountain" parody airing on Canadian television depicts an unusual type of summit between President Bush and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
In the sketch based on the acclaimed film about a love affair between two cowboys, Harper and Bush are portrayed naked from the waist up in a tent. Images of their faces are pasted over actors' bodies.
At one point, Bush throws cherries at Harper's nipples, which are covered with whipped cream. After the cherries land, separatist politician Andre Boisclair, who cooperated with filming of the spot, is seen opening the tent flap and stiffly saying that Quebec won't get involved "in something like that."
The sketch was filmed for the MusiMax music and entertainment channel but has leaked out to French-language TV stations, upsetting members of the provincial Liberal government of Premier Jean Charest.
"I leave it to Mr. Boisclair to defend his judgment," said Quebec's education minister, Jean-Marc Fournier.
Boisclair, who is gay and the leader of Parti Quebecois, later said he regretted the entire episode: "It's quite obvious I wouldn't do it again."
from The Associated Press

Judge Dismisses Hazing Charges Against UVM Students

BURLINGTON, VERMONT - A judge has dismissed hazing charges against four University of Vermont fraternity members accused of making prospective members wear cowboy outfits while they were taunted with homophobic language.
Vermont Judicial Bureau Judge Charon True ruled police hadn't proved the allegations. The Judicial Bureau handles traffic violations and other civil complaints, including hazing violations.
"To accuse someone or an organization of hazing, you first have to prove that the conduct occurred in the context of some sort of initiation or membership or qualification procedure. The university failed to prove that," said the students' attorney, David Sleigh. "Second, you have to prove that the activity was directed at a specific student or students and was done so with intent of causing mental or physical harm. The university didn't have a single declaration that any person was harmed."
UVM officials are considering an appeal.
"I'm confident that we understood the law and the context of the case. We have until January 7 to appeal," said UVM Police Chief Gary Margolis. "It's a new law and this was the first time it's been tested, so I think it requires full judicial scrutiny to make sure it's applied correctly."
The four students -- Scott Curley of Bridgewater, Mass.; Eric Freedman of West Simsbury, Conn.; Bill Holohan of Branford, Conn.; and Geoffrey Robinson of Middletown Springs -- were given civil tickets in May after a police investigation into a March 2 party at the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity in Burlington. Witnesses told police the theme of the party was the film "Brokeback Mountain," which has a gay theme.
The fraternity has been placed on interim suspension pending the university's review of the case, said UVM spokesman Jeffrey Wakefield.
The Vermont Legislature passed its anti-hazing law in 2000, a year after UVM upper-class hockey players forced freshman to drink warm beer until they vomited and hold each other's genitals.
from The Boston Globe

Brokeback Mountain Collector's Edition DVD

On January 23, 2007, Universal Studios Home Entertainment will release Brokeback Mountain (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) on DVD. The movie revolves around a couple of cowboys that fall in love, yet hide their affection from society, and will feature tons of bonus materials and extra features.
The Brokeback Mountain (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) DVD will feature the following bonus materials:
* Various never-before-seen footage pieces
* Collectible postcards and more
from Press Release

Longoria Slams Rumors Of Lesbian Flick With Beyonce

'Desperate Housewives' star Eva Longoria has slammed rumors that she and singer Beyonce Knowles will play a lesbian couple in a 'female Brokeback Mountain' to be directed by 'Lost In Translation' director Sofia Coppola.
“Stop the madness,” Longoria bellowed and then added, “Believe me, I would love to work with Beyonce one day. She's so talented. But this is definitely not something we are doing together. It's completely and absolutely not true.” Rumor mills went into overdrive with assertions that Longoria and Knowles were going to star in the screen adaptation of Tipping the Velvet, a Sarah Waters story of a British girl who falls in love with a female stage performer.
According to 31-year-old Longoria, the rumors began even before she and Knowles had crossed paths. “Beyonce and I just did the L'Oreal event a couple of days ago and we were like: 'What is the deal?' What makes me crazy is that there are quotes out there, quotes from me saying it's true,” said the actress, who plays the catty Gabrielle Solis in the Emmy-winning soap. She continued: “But in fact it's not true. And quotes of Beyonce saying it's about time we had a female Brokeback Mountain. And we're like: 'We never said that'.” Not one to take the rumors lying down, Longoria has put her lawyers on the job to find the source.
Meanwhile, Knowles' camp has also denied the claims. “We've had Brokeback Mountain. So the time is right for this divine novel to get the same treatment,” the singer was quoted as saying. But her publicist said the 25-year-old Crazy in Love crooner has no such plans and hadn't said anything to that effect. “This is not happening. We've never heard of this film,” the spokesperson said. Knowles is busy working on her new film Dreamgirls, which releases in December.
from Earth Times

Canada No. 1 In Hard-Core Sex Video Gaming

MONTREAL - When it comes to hard-core sex video games, it seems Canada leads the way.
Brenda Brathwaite, a game designer and professor at Georgia's Savannah College of Art & Design, says "Virtually Jenna: The Official Video Game of Jenna Jameson" is the "state of the art" in sex games. The game is the brainchild of Vancouver entrepreneur Brad Abram, president of XStream3D Multimedia Inc.
"Probably the most hard-core title comes out of Canada," Brathwaite told a seminar Thursday at the Montreal International Game Summit.
For "Virtually Jenna," Abram essentially took the same personalization software that allows programmers to put star athletes into sports games and used it to bring porn stars to life on the PC. His cyber-sex world is graphic, with almost nothing left to the imagination.
"That's where it (the genre) is going, made by your fellow Canadians," Brathwaite said after screening samples of the game.
Brathwaite, a 24-year veteran of the gaming industry and author of the book "Sex in Video Games," is no prude.
"I probably have more porn than all the guys in this room added together," she told her audience. "You write a book on sex, you collect this crap."
Her argument is that sex is part of movies, literature and art, so why not video games.
"In any other medium, if they said 'you can't have sex,' artists would be outraged. They would stand up and say 'To hell with you ... don't tell me what I can do. This is my creative freedom.' "
Brathwaite joked that if "Brokeback Mountain" went through video gaming's rating system, "it would be two guys sitting on a bench talking about how they possibly liked each other and it would still be rated M (for Mature)."
"The M rating in video games is so much lower than the R rating in movies," she added. "What's acceptable in an R-rated movie is not acceptable in an M-rated game."
M games are rated for 17 and older. AO is Adults Only, for 18 and above, but only one per cent of video games are AO-rated.
The sex in mainstream titles, where it exists, is pretty tame, Brathwaite indicated.
"The stuff that you see in 'GTA 3' ('Grand Theft Auto 3') as far as sex goes, you see in (TV's) 'Happy Days,' " she said. "Truly. There have been 'Happy Days' episodes when somebody's in a car and the car moves a little. That's what people see in 'GTA 3' when you get into a car with a woman."
But sex has often found its way into games unofficially, she said, noting that hackers have managed to inject adult material into almost all PC games. And entrepreneurs have even designed vibrators that attach to game controllers.
The next avenue for sex in games is massively multiplayer online (MMO) PC games, Brathwaite said.
"There's lot of stuff going on in virtual worlds, lots and lots. If you've ever played an MMO and you see two people lying down side by side, they're not just tired" - they're having cyber-sex.
Brathwaite calls "Second Life," an online community set in a 3-D world, "the absolute granddaddy of emergent sex."
"When you give people tools to create whatever they want, they create penises and sex, that's what they do."
MMO games that build in the potential for eroticism are coming, she said, with virtual worlds allowing people who have met online to talk safely.
"It's sure as hell safer than going to a (real world) coffee shop with the dude," Brathwaite said.
In other MMO games, players have protested over inequity in their make-believe world.
In "World of Warcraft," gamers launched their own Pride march and even a gay cruise when game administrators objected to someone who wanted to form a gay and lesbian guild. The administrators eventually changed their position.
During her presentation, Brathwaite listed off reams of games with degrees of sex in them, from "God of War" to the family-friendly "Zoo Tycoon" (the goal is to make zoo animals happy so they reproduce).
And while there are some games for gays, Brathwaite says she constantly hears from women "Where's the sex game for me?"
from CTV

Beyonce And Eva To Play Lesbian Lovers

Hot, scandalous and spicy, just the way they like it. Many men will be sure not to miss this movie when it comes out in the near future.
Beyoncé and Eva Longoria recently revealed they will soon be playing lesbian lovers in a new sexy flick and be the subject of many men's wet dreams.
The gorgeous stars have revealed they are set to star in the sexy Victorian drama "Tipping The Velvet."
Eva, 31, said, "Yes it's true. We are talking about doing the movie together. It's such a wonderful novel, a beautiful love story."
Director Sofia Coppola is hoping to bring Sarah Water's novel about sexual repression to the big screen and is anxious for Beyoncé and Eva to take the roles of 1890s music hall star Kitty Butler, and her lesbian lover Nan Astley.
Beyoncé, 25, thinks it is time the world was treated to a classic lesbian love story.
The singer, who was speaking at a New York benefit for ovarian cancer, said, "We've had 'Brokeback Mountain' so the time is right for this divine novel to get the same treatment."
Beyoncé and Eva are said to be incredibly excited about the steamy love scenes and can't wait for filming to begin.
A source revealed, "They weren't at all coy about the sex scenes. In fact they both seemed to think it would be more fun than doing the same work with a man. It's going to be very hot."
The BBC's TV adaptation of "Tipping The Velvet" caused outrage four years ago with its graphic sex scenes, which included cross-dressing and the use of sex toys.
from All Headline News

Fans In The Dark On Batman Details

HOLLYWOOD - The joke's on anyone trying to pry clues about the next Batman flick from its brain trust.
Christian Bale, Michael Caine, director Christopher Nolan and co-writer Jonathan Nolan all collaborated on 2005's Batman Begins, teamed again for this Friday's magic-themed mystery The Prestige and will return to Gotham City for the Batman sequel, The Dark Knight.
Yet while promoting The Prestige, none of them revealed much about the follow-up, which shoots early next year for a June 2008 release.
Heath Ledger will portray a more depraved incarnation The Joker. Rumours about other villains popping up (Philip Seymour Hoffman as The Penguin? Guy Pearce as Two-Face?) remain fanboy speculation for now, as does the storyline itself.
Even Batman himself remains, appropriately enough, in the dark. "I have no clue what we're going to be doing and I haven't paid a lot of thought to it," Bale said. "When I sit in the safety vault and read the script being monitored on all sides then I'll know more and I'll move forward with it from there. Before then, I'm truly not thinking about it ... I trust (Nolan) completely. I'm sure he's been coming up with something which improves upon our first one."
Jonathan, Christopher's brother, puts it this way: "There's actually a Warner Brothers team of ninjas that will execute me if I say anything about the script ... I wish I could tell you all about it because it's (going to be) awesome."
As for the surprise casting of Ledger, who received an Oscar nomination for Brokeback Mountain, Christopher Nolan explains it was "just a fortunate series of events. He expressed an interest. I hadn't thought he would be interested in doing it, but I thought it would be worth a try. It was a very early conversation. Then, you know, we realized we were seeing the same character."
Ledger has publicly compared Nolan's take on The Joker to Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.
from The Ottawa Sun

Ledger Grew Tired Of Promoting Brokeback Mountain

Heath Ledger quickly tired of the extensive promotion required for Oscar-winning movie Brokeback Mountain, and was relieved when he no longer had to make appearances.
Ledger, who was nominated for an Academy Award for his performance in the gay cowboy film, had to endure endless homosexual jokes at various awards ceremonies.
He says: "I don't think I was p**sed off at the jokes as much as the fact that I was there in the first place. It was such an exhausting process. The whole thing.
"The second the Oscars were over, everyone was just so sick of it."
from Ireland On-Line

Ang Lee To Help Create Beijing Ceremonies

BEIJING - Taiwan-born film maker Ang Lee has been appointed as an art and culture consultant for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, organisers said.
The 51-year-old Oscar winner will advise a creative team headed by Chinese film director Zhang Yimou and boasting American Steven Spielberg, the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) said on its website.
Born in southern Taiwan, Lee went to the United States in 1978 to study film and became a household name after his martial arts movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" won several Academy Awards in 2001.
Beijing regards Taiwan as sovereign territory and censors any reference to the self-ruled island which suggests it is not part of "one China".
When Lee was named Best Director at the Academy Awards this year for the gay cowboy romance "Brokeback Mountain", part of his acceptance speech was censored by Chinese state media.
Lee used Chinese to thank "everyone" in Taiwan, China and Hong Kong -- and thanked the two gay cowboys at the heart of the film -- but state television cut the references out.
Homosexuality is also a highly sensitive subject and was considered a mental disorder in China as recently as 2001.
In lauding Lee's "Brokeback Mountain" achievement, state media also failed to report that the film would not be screened in mainland China and would only be viewable on pirated DVD.
Lee was one of several consultants appointed to assist in preparing the ceremonies, including International Olympic Committee (IOC) member He Zhenliang and Wu Zuqiang, a Chinese composer.
The opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics will take place on Aug. 8, 2008.
from Reuters

Gyllenhaal Will Not Reunite With Ledger In 'Batman Begins'

Audiences will not be seeing Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger on the silver screen again anytime soon, for Gyllenhaal has rubbished rumours that he will reunite with his 'Brokeback Mountain' co-star in the forthcoming 'Batman Begins' sequel.
"No, the other guy from Brokeback Mountain is in it if you haven't heard," Contactmusic quoted Gyllenhaal's agent, as saying.
Gyllenhaal was reportedly in talks to play Harvey Two-Face Dent - the role played by Tommy Lee Jones in 1995 film 'Batman Forever.
Ledger has already been cast to play The Joker in 'The Dark Knight, which features Christian Bale taking on the Caped Crusader for a second time after his successful debut in 2005.
from Daily India

'Brokeback Mountain' Memorabilia To Be Auctioned

The Human Rights Campaign, in conjunction with Delivery Agent Inc., the leader in shopping enabled programming for television shows, motion pictures, sports, and music videos, announced today a one-of-a-kind auction to benefit the programs of the nation's largest gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender rights organization. The auction will feature the wardrobe worn by the stars of 2005's hit movie "Brokeback Mountain" -- the unforgettable Focus Features film directed by Academy Award winner Ang Lee.
The first outfit from the film will be offered in a live auction on Saturday, October 7th at the Human Rights Campaign's 10th Annual National Dinner held in Washington, D.C. The remainder of the wardrobe seen on the actors in the film will be available for bidding in an online auction October 13-20 on the new entertainment and e-commerce site http://www.seenon.com/. To learn more about the online auction please visit http://www.seenon.com/auction/
Focus Features and James Schamus, producer of "Brokeback Mountain," have donated wardrobe from the film to be auctioned off; all proceeds benefit the Human Rights Campaign.
"'Brokeback Mountain' was a truly epic film that inspired thousands of conversations about the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Americans," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese. "For the Human Rights Campaign to be the beneficiary of an auction featuring part of Hollywood history is remarkable. We are excited to be a part of this one-of- a-kind auction and thrilled that the money raised will continue to go towards promoting and securing equality for all Americans."
"To be able to offer such a groundbreaking entertainment property to a broader audience is truly a great opportunity. Today's expanded technologies and e-commerce platforms have opened the doors not only to enhance a consumer's experience to connect with the entertainment world, but also to raise money for worthy causes such as HRC," said Mike Fitzsimmons, CEO of Delivery Agent.
A letter of authenticity will be offered with each sale.
from Press Release