LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 09/12/12 -- Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. (NASDAQ: CIDM) -- "Million Eyes on the Issue," a new and unique social action campaign, launches with the Facebook premiere of Oscar® and Emmy®-nominated filmmaker Kirby Dick's award-winning documentary THE INVISIBLE WAR, a scathing and policy-changing investigation into the epidemic of rape in the U.S. military.
Cinedigm Digital Cinema Corp. and social entertainment leader Milyoni will launch the social media initiative on Monday, September 17th at 9pm ET/6pm PT when THE INVISIBLE WAR is made available to Facebook's massive audience. This first-of-its-kind social media premiere of a major documentary will inform Facebook's community on the crucial subject of sexual assault in the military. Using Milyoni's Celebrity Cinema video-on-demand platform, viewers can ask questions, share clips and quotes, and chat and interact with director Kirby Dick and fellow viewers live during the film in an effort to encourage social conversation and local advocacy on the issue. The director will also engage in a Q&A following the screening. Go to https://apps.facebook.com/theinvisiblewarmovie to access Celebrity Cinema. The documentary will then be available on-demand exclusively to fans on Facebook through September 23.
"THE INVISIBLE WAR has been a game changer in so many ways," said Chris McGurk, Chairman and CEO of Cinedigm Digital Cinema. "This marriage of a groundbreaking film with the largest social media gathering place on the planet creates an enormous opportunity to inform and encourage action among viewers."
According to filmmaker Kirby Dick (Outrage, This Films Is Not Yet Rated, Twist of Faith), "I'm so excited by the potential that this innovative social media campaign has to actually make things happen at the grassroots, and eventually, policy levels. The visceral reaction to this movie surpasses anything I've ever experienced before as a filmmaker and I'm thrilled that Cinedigm and Milyoni have made our film the centerpiece of such an audacious and significant social media project."
"Facebook offers a perfect platform for the type of advocacy that THE INVISIBLE WAR evokes," said John Corpus, CEO of Milyoni. "We're honored to be working with Cinedigm to bring this important issue front and center with fans and pleased that Milyoni's technology can facilitate this type of social conversation."
About THE INVISIBLE WAR:
THE INVISIBLE WAR debuted at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival and began its limited U.S. theatrical release in June, garnering some of the best reviews of the year and scoring an unprecedented 100% "Fresh" status on Rotten Tomatoes for a documentary. The film will make its iTunes debut on September 25 for sale or rent in HD, and debuts on VOD and DVD on October 23. Throughout its run, the film has generated an outpouring of support and civic engagement on the issue of military assault. The New York Times said "This is not a movie that can be ignored... the candor and bravery displayed in the telling is admirable." TIME Magazine called it "a poignant, powerful documentary that just might change the system."
Both a rallying cry for the hundreds of thousands of men and women who've been assaulted and a hopeful road map for change, THE INVISIBLE WAR is one of those rare films so powerful it has already helped change military policy. After screening the film in August, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta changed the way accusations of military assault are handled by the U.S. military, taking decision-making away from unit commanders and assigning it to higher ranking officers.
THE INVISIBLE WAR (www.invisiblewarmovie.com) paints a startling picture: today, a female soldier in combat zones is more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire. The Department of Defense estimates there were a staggering 19,300 service members sexually assaulted in 2010 alone. Focusing on the powerfully emotional stories of rape victims, the film is a moving indictment of the systemic cover-up of military sex crimes, chronicling the women's struggles to rebuild their lives and fight for justice. It also features hard-hitting interviews with high-ranking military officials and members of Congress that reveal the perfect storm of conditions that exist for rape in the military, its long-hidden history, and what can be done to bring about much-needed change.
At the core of the film are often heart-rending interviews with the rape survivors themselves -- people like Kori Cioca, who was beaten and raped by her supervisor in the U.S. Coast Guard; Ariana Klay, a former Marine who served in Iraq before being raped by a senior officer and his friend, then threatened with death; and Trina McDonald, who was drugged and raped repeatedly by military policemen on her remote Naval station in Adak, Alaska. And it isn't just women; according to one study's estimate, one percent of men in the military -- nearly 20,000 men -- were reportedly sexually assaulted in 2009.
The film is the recipient of the 2012 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award for U.S. Documentary; the 2012 Human Rights Watch Festival's Nestor Almendros Award for Courage in Filmmaking; the HBO Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature from the 2012 Provincetown Film Festival; the Silver Heart Award from the Dallas International Film Festival, and was an official entry at Full Frame Film Festival and HotDocs.
THE INVISIBLE WAR is a film by Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering; written and directed by Kirby Dick; produced by Amy Ziering and Tanner King Barklow; executive producers: Regina Kulik Scully, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Abigail Disney, Maria Cuomo Cole, Sarah Johnson Redlich, Women Donors Network, Teddy Leifer, Sally Jo Fifer, and Nicole Boxer-Keegan.
About Milyoni
Milyoni, Inc. (pronounced "million-eye") is the leader in social entertainment. Whether it's watching a movie, television program, concert or sporting event, Milyoni lets content providers connect, engage and monetize audiences through a unique level of engagement and a shared social experience. Over the past year Milyoni has powered multiple social entertainment industry firsts, including the first PPV movie on Facebook, the first live PPV concert on Facebook, the first socially interactive movie on Facebook, the first day-and-date movie release on Facebook, and most recently the first 3D movie on Facebook. Milyoni's Social Cinema platform has powered several theatrical releases, video-on-demand streams and more for leaders in the industry including Universal Pictures, Lionsgate, Paramount Studios, Big Air Studios, Shangri-La, Ovation Network and Austin City Limits Live. For more information, visit www.milyoni.com.
About Docurama Films:
In 1999, Docurama Films® launched with the first feature documentary available on DVD: D.A. Pennebaker's iconic film on Bob Dylan, "Don't Look Back." Twelve years and 300 award-winning, highly-acclaimed documentary titles later, Docurama continues to discover and release the greatest non-fiction films of our time while spreading the word about filmmakers who are taking the form to new heights. Docurama's catalog features an array of topics including the performing and visual arts, history, politics, the environment, ethnic and gender interests, and all-time favorites including "The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill," "Andy Goldsworthy: Rivers and Tides" and "King Corn." Recent titles include the Oscar®-nominated films "Gasland," "Hell and Back Again" and "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory." www.docurama.com
About Cinedigm Entertainment Group:
www.cinedigm.com CIDM-G
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Contacts:
Cinedigm:
Maggie Begley
MBC
O) 310.301.1785
M) 310.749.3055
Maggie@mbcprinc.com
Milyoni:
Sylvie Tongco
Atomic PR
415.593.1400
Milyoni@atomicpr.com