Darius Goes West Premiere
Benjy and I just returned from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, where we attended the world premiere of the documentary film Darius Goes West. Director Logan Smalley, star of the movie Darius Weems, and the rest of the crew all flew out to California for the movie’s debut, thanks to the generosity of our supporters. Delta Airlines, Susan Levine, Randy Reiff and Kathe and Reid Chase all donated flights so Darius and the crew could be there.
The premiere was amazing. At all three showings, audiences cried and laughed throughout the movie. We were thrilled to learn that the documentary won the Audience Award, which means that audiences liked Darius Goes West the best out of all 200+ films shown at the festival!
The crew made an impressive sight: a 300-pound teenager with a megawatt smile zooming around in his “pimped out� wheelchair, surrounded by 11 strapping young guys in Darius Goes West t-shirts passing around Charley’s Fund brochures. Not to mention the fact that they were being shadowed by a TV crew! ABC’s Nightline will air their piece on February 16th, so be sure to stay up late that night.
Delta Airlines has signed on as the official travel sponsor of Darius Goes West. They will fly the crew to screenings around the country so they can promote the movie and our quest for a cure. Visit www.DariusGoesWest.com to learn more about the film and to see the schedule of screenings. If you know any distributors who may be interested in viewing the film, please contact me at (413) 528-5744 or info@charleysfund.org.
In other news, we are happy to report that we have hired George Vella, PhD, as our new Director of Research and Strategic Planning. George comes to Charley’s Fund with a PhD in organic chemistry, plus 20 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. He is following up on every lead to make sure that no stone goes unturned in our quest to stop or dramatically slow DMD in time to help Charley and all children with this murderous disease. We owe a huge thank you to Tom and Angie Wicka, Charley’s Angels who are generously underwriting half the costs associated with our new hire.
In his first month, George has expedited grants to Brown University, University of Minnesota, University of Washington, and Columbus Research Institute. Scientists at these institutions are conducting studies to further validate initial promising results in mice with DMD. For details on our newest research projects, visit the research page of the Charley’s Fund website, which will be updated as soon as we return from California.