Movie poster courtesy of www.weareallprecious.com

Movie poster courtesy of www.weareallprecious.com

By Louis Medina

Lionsgate Films is finally bringing a much-anticipated, Oscar-hopeful film to Bakersfield. “Precious,” which has garnered praise and national attention for its raw portrayal of an urban teenager dealing with physical and sexual abuse from her parents, opens Friday, Dec. 18.

At the Maya Bakersfield Stadium 16 Cinemas downtown, the Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault is holding an outreach program Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 19 and 20, to educate the community about domestic and dating violence and sexual assault, and the services the nonprofit provides.

This collaboration between the theater and the Alliance is a good example of a fruitful, relatively easy and inexpensive event-focused partnership between a nonprofit agency and a for-profit corporation. By writing about the planning for this outreach, I’m hoping readers can get some ideas about how they, too, could plan such an event.

Genesis

The idea came to me while I listened to a review of “Precious” on National Public Radio around late September. Directed by Lee Daniels, the film is based on the novel “Push,” by Sapphire, and affords viewers a gut-wrenching look at the struggles of a 16-year-old New York teenager of color who has been repeatedly sexually abused and impregnated by her father, and physically and emotionally abused by her mother. The film received much praise at this year’s Sundance and Cannes film festivals, and is being heralded as an Oscar favorite, especially because of highly moving performances by Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe, who plays the title role.

The empowering message of the film sounded so poignant and so in line with the mission of the Alliance (to help stop domestic violence and sexual assault locally and help victims reclaim their lives) that I immediately thought it would be the perfect film around which to plan an outreach event.

I pitched the idea to the Alliance’s executive director, Louis Gill. He liked it but I think what really convinced him was when we visited the movie’s website (www.weareallprecious.com) together on his computer and he saw the emotion-packed trailer. Visuals are extremely useful during a pitch. Having his buy-in, as well that of the agency’s clinical and outreach supervisors, I went to work drafting a letter to the theater. It was important to the Alliance, which is located downtown, to choose a cinema that was centrally located, hence our decision to approach the Maya.

Making it Happen

What the Alliance wanted to ask for was simple: permission to have a literature table in the theater lobby and to have our volunteers make brief announcements to theater audiences about the Alliance and its services before screenings of the film on the outreach dates. We also asked about costs for creating and airing an on-screen ad about the Alliance between films.

It only took one phone call to the theater to find out who the letter needed to go to. Laura Silberman, district manager for Maya Cinemas, was supportive of the outreach event from the start, calling it “an important cause.” We had our host venue’s buy-in. Silberman said “Precious” was tentatively scheduled to open locally on Dec. 18.

When early November came, and the film debuted in select theaters around the country to sold-out crowds, the Maya was deluged with inquiries about when Bakersfield audiences would get to see it, Silberman said. On the first weekend of national release, “well over 200” Bakersfield theatergoers anxiously inquired about local debut dates—“Which is a lot for people to come up and ask for a film,” she said.

But Lionsgate had still not locked in a firm local release date.

Knowing that movie distributors sometimes decide at the last minute not to release a film in smaller markets like Bakersfield, where they fear a possible negative return on their investment, Silberman put interested callers – including me – in touch with the Lionsgate offices in Los Angeles, so they would know just how much local interest there was in the film. “We want the film very badly,” she said at the time.

Here again it only took one phone call to find out the e-mail address where I ended up sending an impassioned appeal to bring “Precious” to Bakersfield.

In the meantime, I was working with the advertising agency that creates on-screen ads for the Maya—Silberman had also put me in touch with them—and was able to get a special discounted rate for nonprofits on the ad design and air time. It is always important to ask about nonprofit discounts.

Breakthrough

Finally, the happy e-mail came from Silberman on Dec. 3: “We just received FIRM confirmation that we will be opening ‘Precious’ on 12/18 … We would really love to have you out for the opening weekend.” Silberman said this event is important to the Maya, which is always looking for opportunities to get more involved with the local community.

Last week, we received the final proof of our ad, which will air several times a day on the multiplex cinema’s 16 screens from Dec. 18 through Jan. 1—the year-end holidays, which are some of the most important movie-going dates of the year.

Our investment thus far in these efforts: less than $600.

It is exciting to watch a simple idea blossom into an event that has the potential to reach so many people. Just during the outreach weekend alone, up to 4,200 moviegoers at the Maya might get to see “Precious”—and many more going to see films in the theater’s other 15 screens will get a chance to stop by the Alliance’s outreach table as well.

But what’s been the most fun and rewarding for me has been to watch my colleagues and partners in this event, especially Silberman, get just as excited as I am about reaching out to the community with an important, healing message. Despite such horrors in our society as domestic violence, child abuse and sexual assault, there are many among us wanting to help and empower those who have been victimized, as well as those who have been traumatized by having to witness abuse. And that reality, of the good that will always continue to exist among us and continue to make collaborative partners out of nonprofit and for-profit organizations, is nothing less than “precious.”

For more information about this outreach, which will take place Dec. 19-20, contact:

The Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault
1921 19^th St., Bakersfield, CA 93301
Administration (661) 322-0931
24-Hour Hotline (661) 327-1091
Website: kernalliance.org

“Precious,” which debuts Dec. 18 at the Maya Cinemas, will be shown six times daily on a single screen: 9:45 a.m., 12:15 p.m., 2:45 p.m., 5:15 p.m., 7:45 p.m. and 10:15 p.m. The theater is located at 1000 California Ave., at the corner of P Street. For more details, call 636-0484.

Louis Medina works as a grant writer for the Bakersfield Homeless Center, and also does public relations work for it and its sister organization, the Alliance Against Family Violence and Sexual Assault. He is also on the Bakersfield Express board of directors.