Advocate Update: Help Support Canvas!

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Advocate Update: Help Support Canvas!

This week and next, a very special movie, Canvas,will be premiering in Chicago, New York, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Whether it succeeds will depend on how well it plays at the box office - in terms of tickets sold. If it does well in these five cities, especially during the first weekend in Chicago and New York, the release will expand to 200 cities nationwide. Starring -winner Marcia Gay Harden and Emmy-winner Joe Pantoliano, Canvas is a heartwarming family film inspired by writer/director ph Greco's personal experience as a young boy whose mother battled the grips of schizophrenia. The focus of Canvas is on major mental illness (schizophrenia), but more broadly it addresses chronic disease and its impact on patients, caregivers and family members. It's a powerful film and has great potential to really touch a nerve in this country. Director ph Greco, who was an assistant to Cameron during the making of Titanic, has said he wanted to make a film that was about mental illness, but was also universal. The film explores very human experiences, making it easy for audiences to truly relate to the characters and their struggles. s Travers, longtime film critic and senior editor for film at Rolling Stone, has given it a rave review, calling it "a triumphant, beautifully acted film" and “one of the most touching and vital works I have seen in a good long time.” It has also won numerous awards from various film festivals. For more information about the film and to view the trailer, visit http://www.canvasthefilm.com/. You can help with the grassroots effort initiated to help sell tickets for the premiere of this event. By helping to promote this movie, together we can deepen Americans' understanding of mental illness/chronic disease and increase awareness about how important it is to better manage chronic diseases. Here's what you can do to help make Canvas a success:

Buy a ticket for the film no matter where you live. The more tickets sold, the more likely Canvas will reach other cities. Links and phone numbers are included below to purchase tickets.

Promote the film. Tell everyone you know about Canvas. It's especially important to reach people living in the Chicago, New York, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles and Phoenix metropolitan areas. Feel free to distribute this information to your network of friends and colleagues or send it out on listservs. Send an e-card to friends with the trailer by going to: http://www.screenmediafilms.net/canvas/ecard/index.html

Go see the movie. If you are in one of the cities where it is premiering, take friends and family or coordinate a group to go. Hopefully the premiere will go so well that people throughout the country will soon be able to see it. GSK’s 2007 Patient Advocacy Leaders Summit (PALS) Advisory Board took part in a private screening of the film during their October 3rd Strategic Planning meeting in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Director ph Greco was on hand to introduce the film and dialogue with the Board following the screening. The Board and other staff from GSK’s State Government Affairs (SGA) department are actively involved in the grassroots effort to help make Canvas a success. To purchase tickets or view show times, call or visit the theater links below. In New York City - starting Friday, October 12th Regal Union Square Stadium 14850 BroadwayNew York, NY 10003(212) 253-6266 In Chicago - starting Friday, October 12th AMC Loews 600 North Michigan 9600 N. Michigan Ave.Chicago, IL60611(312) 255-9347 In Los Angeles - starting Friday, October 19th Laemmle Sunset 58000 Sunset Blvd.Los Angeles, CA90046(323) 848-3505 In Phoenix - starting Friday, October 19th Harkins Shea 147354 E. Shea Blvdsdale, AZ 85260 In Fort Lauderdale - starting Friday, October 19th Theater TBD