"PUNCTURED HOPE" IN HOLLYWOOD REPORTER OSCAR SCREENING GUIDE

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PUNCTURED HOPE - Gala screening (November 10 @ 7:30 PM)
PUNCTURED HOPE - Public screenings (November 13 to 19)

~~ TORONTO PICTURES' BLOG DEDICATED TO "PUNCTURED HOPE" ~~

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PUNCTURED HOPE: From the African Rain Forest to Sunset Boulevard

Toronto, Canada (TransWorldNews) -- Toronto Pictures is hosting a gala screening of PUNCTURED HOPE in Los Angeles.

The screening will take place at the Laemmle’s Sunset 5 theater on Tuesday, November 10 at 7:30 PM (8000 Sunset Blvd., West Hollywood).

Invited to attend are members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association® and members of the Broadcast Film Critics Association.

RSVP (1) 647-296-3459 or (corporate@filmail.com).

The Awards qualifying run of public screenings for PUNCTURED HOPE will take place in Los Angeles at the Encino Laemmle Theater - Town Center 5 between November 13 to 19 (17200 Ventura Blvd., Encino).

The feature film PUNCTURED HOPE - A STORY ABOUT TROKOSI AND YOUNG GIRLS' SLAVERY IN TODAY'S WEST AFRICA is Toronto Pictures’ entry for Awards season nomination consideration. IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0448093

Written, directed and produced by Bruno Pischiutta and produced by Daria Trifu, the film is inspired by the true story of an irrepressible survivor. She was genitally mutilated and sexually abused for years when, as a virgin girl, she was enslaved to became a victim of the Trokosi practice. The story is based on the biggest form of women slavery that exists today in the world.

The film was an official selection at the Montreal World Film Festival where it achieved critical and public success. News: http://www.editurl.com/3jv

About PUNCTURED HOPE:
PUNCTURED HOPE is the first main stream feature film (USD 5.8 M, Hollywood standard, 35 mm, 91 min., English Language, Color, Not Rated) that is based on an African story interpreted by an all African cast of professional actors and shot in Africa under the brilliant direction of internationally acclaimed and visionary Maestro Bruno Pischiutta.

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/TorontoPictures

About Bruno Pischiutta:
Born in Udine, Italy in 1947, Bruno Pischiutta began his film career in the late 1960s as an actor in films by Francesco Rosi, Nanni Loy and Billy Wilder. In 1975 he founded the Centro Iniziative di Azione Culturale in Rome. He made his directorial debut in 1975 with COMPAGNE NUDE, and he moved to Canada in 1983. His other films include ULTIMO INCONTRO A VENEZIA (1977), ISOLA MECCANICA (1978), THE COMOEDIA (1981), LIFE’S CHARADE (1987), MAYBE (2003).

Word Press: http://torontopictures.wordpress.com

About Toronto Pictures (Symbol: TTOPF):
Targeting a global audience, Toronto Pictures explores different cultures and addresses controversial issues of our time in dramatic format. Toronto Pictures produces Hollywood standard, 35 mm feature films that provoke thought not violence.

CONTACT: Daria Trifu
Toronto Pictures, Inc.
Email: corporate@filmail.com
Tel: (1) 647-296-3459

###

MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL
"PUNCTURED HOPE" WORLD PREMIERE

Interview with Director Bruno Pischiutta and Producer Daria Trifu at the Cinema Quartier Latin in Montreal. By Stephane Waffo and Charles Mathon of Touki Montréal.

Find more photos like this on Toronto Pictures

Montreal World Film Festival 2009
PUNCTURED HOPE
Official Selection - World Premiere

~~~

Toronto Pictures and Adhara Properties are proud to announce that the feature film PUNCTURED HOPE: A STORY ABOUT TROKOSI AND YOUNG GIRLS’ SLAVERY IN TODAY’S WEST AFRICA, directed by internationally acclaimed Film Author, Bruno Pischiutta, has been selected for ‘Focus on World Cinema’ at the Montreal World Film Festival (August 27 - September 7, 2009).

PUNCTURED HOPE (Feature Film, 35 mm, 91 min.) is based on a true story. The story takes place in today’s Ghana. According to the TROKOSI customary practice, if someone commits a crime, traditional leaders order that a young girl from that family be sent to the shrine as a form of atonement. The chief priest and his entourage genitally mutilate and sexually abuse the girls. Against all odds, the protagonist of the story escapes the shrine. As the film follows her life from the age of innocence to premature adulthood, the viewers get to see a beautiful showcase of the real and very animated African life in a typical village.

PUNCTURED HOPE will have its WORLD PREMIERE at the Festival.

VIDEO CLIPS: Few clips from PUNCTURED HOPE on YouTube

The Montreal World Film Festival is considered the largest fully independent film festival in the world and each year over 400,000 international film executives, members of the press and general public are in attendance.

Director Bruno Pischiutta and Executive Producer Daria Trifu will be attending the festival from August 27 to September 7.

International Sales Agents and Press can contact Daria Trifu to schedule a meeting at corporate@filmail.com OR (1) 416-303-0226.

Available territories: ALL (except USA and Canada)

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BRUNO PISCHIUTTA, FILM AUTHOR

DARIA! MAGAZINE

TORONTO PICTURES ON YOUTUBE

TORONTO PICTURES ON TWITTER

BRUNO PISCHIUTTA IMDb

DARIA TRIFU IMDb

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“Nine Meridians – Connections”
Newsletter - Issue August 2009

AN INTRODUCTION NOTE FROM PUBLISHER EVIE WEAVER:

"This month I have a very special guest writer who is hosting this issue of 'Connections'. The 'Tree of Learning' centre will feature again next month. There are also several links below, after the article, for you to visit and see just what these amazing people are producing.

PUNCTURED HOPE, directed by Bruno Pischiutta and Executive Produced by Daria Trifu, has been selected at the prestigious Montreal World Film Festival (August 27 - September 7).

Please enjoy this special issue and feel free to forward it on to your contacts that may be interested in reading it. Very many thanks for your continued support and valued feedback.

Push here to read the Article:
NINE MERIDIANS

Wishing you much love and many blessings."

Evie Weaver
evie@ninemeridians.com.au
www.ninemeridians.com.au

~~~

TORONTO PICTURES ON YOUTUBE:
http://www.youtube.com/TorontoPictures
Name on YouTube: TorontoPictures

TORONTO PICTURES ON TWITTER:
http://twitter.com/TorPix
Name on Twitter: TorPix

Toronto Pictures Inc. develops and produces ethical feature films that provoke thought, not violence. Toronto Pictures is a Brand Name, very well recognised within the Entertainment Industry for its quality product of social influence. The Company uses top Hollywood 35 mm film production standard. Targeting a global audience, Toronto Pictures explores different cultures and addresses controversial issues of our time in dramatic format. With cultural influences from Europe, North America, Asia and Africa, the Company is authentically international in its scope and recognition.

Toronto Pictures Inc. is a public company in the US. The Company's stock is trading on the OTC Pink Sheets under the Symbol 'TTOPF'. The trading commenced on May 11, 2007.

CONTACT TORONTO PICTURES:
E-mail: corporate@filmail.com

Around the World with Toronto Pictures:

Toronto Pictures Inc. Celebrates the Completion of the Feature Film "Punctured Hope" With a Private Screening at the Friars Club in New York

Toronto Pictures held a private screening at the Friars Club in New York City for a few, very select people to celebrate the recent completion of its latest feature film production entitled "Punctured Hope." The screening, preceded by a cocktail reception in the Milton Berle Room, was attended also by the film's director Bruno Pischiutta, executive producer Daria Trifu, as well as Prince and Judith Uche, two of the film's lead Ghanaian actors.

The motion picture was financed by Adhara Properties Inc. and it was produced in collaboration with Toronto Pictures.

The screening, the first ever of "Punctured Hope," was a tremendous success. Inside the screening room, the emotions were high. The film was followed by a long-lasting round of applause and congratulations.

The third issue of Daria!, coffee-table magazine, was handed out to all guests.



Daria! is published by Adhara Properties. The current issue is 132 pages filled with art, entertainment and business articles and related photos from around the world. Amongst its features, there is an exclusive interview with Bill Drayton of Ashoka Organisation as well as a special on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in reference to its programs in Africa.

ON THE SET IN AFRICA: "PUNCTURED HOPE" FILMING



DARIA TRIFU MODELING PHOTOS



Daria! Magazine: www.dariamagazine.com

BILL AND MELINDA GATES FOUNDATION

This year, the Gates Foundation will invest millions more in programs around the world, from African AIDS to American education. And with the added support of Buffett and the hope of thousands behind them, the foundation is moving ahead with its mandate that “every life is of equal value”.



By Emily Bowers:

On a busy street in the Ghanaian capital Accra, a woman collapses, falling dangerously close to the fast-moving traffic. People flock around her, lifting her up and placing her on a blanket at the side of the road. But she doesn’t wake. There are no doctors, no blood tests or diagnoses here, but her puffed face bathed in sweat – despite the thick layers of clothing she’s wrapped herself in to ward off her continuous shivering – tell the obvious tale of malaria, and probably cerebral malaria, the most deadly and the most common kind here in Ghana, West Africa.

Malaria here is so mundanely regular. It’s not much of an exaggeration to say every Ghanaian will probably suffer from the disease at some point in their lives.

It’s also an especially mean disease: children under the age of five, with the young immune systems, and pregnant women, their bodies weakened with the burden of new life are malaria’s easiest and usual targets.

It’s been estimated that one million African children die of malaria each year. Millions more will fall seriously ill.

So when the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation added malaria to the list of deadly diseases they are fighting with their philanthropy, it gave a boost to researchers and brought new attention to this prolific killer.

The Gates Foundation was formed in 2000, using money made by the Microsoft founder. Since then, the Foundation has sponsored programs both at home in the United States and across the world in developing countries, with a bulk of that work happening in Africa.

Driven by the belief that all life has equal value, the Gates Foundation is one of the largest philanthropic organisation in the world, a fitting title given Bill Gates’ own position as the world’s richest man.

In the U.S., the Gates Foundation has been funding literacy and education programs, especially in America’s schools, an offshoot of work that started through Microsoft’s Online Libraries initiative in the 1990s.



In 2005, Bill and Melinda Gates were named, along with rock star Bono, as Time Magazine’s Persons of the Year for their charitable work and in June 2006, Gates announced his plans to move away from day-to-day work with Microsoft to focus more on his philanthropy.

The foundation’s global programs have focused on areas of health and development. Malaria, along with immunisations, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and child and maternal health are among the components of the Gates Foundation’s Global Health Program, which has received some $6 billion in funds, according to the foundation.

Along with the search for a vaccine, the foundation funds malaria prevention and treatment programs.

Carried by mosquitoes, malaria is a parasite that was eradicated in North America in the 1950s. But it thrives in sub-Saharan Africa’s tropical climate, fuelled by poverty in countries like Ghana where some 40 percent of the population still live on less than $2 a day.

For the researchers looking for an effective vaccine, the influx of money from the Gates Foundation, along with support from pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline, has meant a world of difference.

“The (Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) has revolutionised work on malaria vaccines as well as work on all other malaria interventions,” said Dr. Carolyn Petersen, director of clinical and regulatory affairs at the PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative. “A widely used vaccine that prevents half of severe malaria, the type that causes death, would be expected to have a marked effect on the death rate of children,” Petersen said. “In addition, a decrease in overall malaria cases will relieve pressure on the health care system for outpatient and inpatient visits.”

Right now, there are 12 vaccine candidates being tested, with one in late stage development in Africa, Petersen said.

“We are working in seven centres in five countries now and plan to add additional sites so that we will be working in 10 research centres by the end of 2007,” Petersen said. “An additional three vaccine candidates are in early human trials.”

In malaria endemic countries, children are given three immunisations one month apart, then are closely monitored.

Petersen said the Gates Foundation funding has helped them expand their portfolio of vaccine candidates.

“(The funding) means that it is possible to do these trials which are expensive as they involve large numbers of children and a very exacting collection of data for regulatory agency scrutiny before licensure,” she said. “It means that we have been able to develop a robust pipeline of new candidate vaccines for evaluation. “

Among urgent issues in Africa, malaria is certainly high up on the list. But it’s not the only problem on the continent that’s gotten the attention of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

While Africa is increasingly becoming urbanised, a vast majority of the population live in rural communities where farming of staple crops is the means to survival. Any bad crop, drought or dry season can mean the difference between life and death for the scores of subsistence farmers on the continent. Lower crop yields come from exhausted, unfertilised soil.

Like malaria, the plight of farmers didn’t get a whole lot of international attention, outside of a handful of non-government organisations and a few international development wings of Western governments.

But recently, a boost of attention from the Gates Foundation and its partners has given new impetus to the growing call for a so-called Green Revolution for Africa.

In the 1940s, the Rockefeller Foundation began a movement to use science and technology combined with government policy to increase crop yields of small-scale farmers in Mexico.



The program expanded to Colombia, India and The Philippines and further into Latin America and Asia. But, according to the Rockefeller Foundation, Africa missed the Green Revolution.

The Gates Foundation is now jumping on board the plan by the Rockefeller Foundation to revive the revolution and bring it to Africa.

Despite that the continent has received millions in public and private aid over more than a generation, the Gates’ money isn’t being viewed as just another donation to poor Africans.

To people like Monty Jones, this might be Africa’s last best hope.

“I believe that what they are planning is going to work for Africa, and Africa needs to be business unusual, it’s not usual,” said Jones.

In his spacious, air-conditioned office in a quiet suburb of Ghana’s capital city Accra, Jones heads up the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA).

With a mandate from the African Union and the New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD), FARA brings together government agencies, NGOs and agricultural research groups both inside and outside Africa.

The goal of the five-year-old body is to increase agricultural growth in Africa by 6 percent annually by 2015. That’s a long way to go from the current 2 percent, Jones says.

“We want food to be available and affordable,” he says. “So if you do not produce what you eat you can buy it.”

Jones is a member of the board of the Gates and Rockefeller Foundation’s Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa. In the area of crop science, Jones is already a recognised authority. The Sierra Leone native developing a hybrid rice, a combination of Asian and African rice called NERICA, or New Rice for Africa.

The crop has spread slowly but steadily around some parts of Africa, as farmers see the benefits of user a higher-yielding, more resistant crop. Jones sees the potential for NERICA’s success to be replicated with scores of other African staple crops like maize and cassava.

In developing NERICA, one of the key challenges Jones sought to address was “how do we disseminate it so that every farmer in every corner that wants those technologies will get them,” he said.

That kind of mentality can be spread to all areas of technological development that the Gates Foundation is now promoting, Jones said.

African farmers can be innovative on their own, but they work in isolation, with little communication between villages. Ideas don’t spread beyond their communities. “The problem that we face is that we haven’t been able to help these farmers in the past,” he said. “Farmers must have a voice in the development of technology from the onset. We are saying they should be involved at the implementation.”

“The Bill (and Melinda) Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation… will use this approach of disseminating technology to as many farmers as possible.”

Using what’s already working on the ground in Africa is what has helped give Jones encouragement that the Gates funding may finally make a difference in widespread agricultural development.

“It’s not Bill Gates sitting in Seattle telling us what we should do,” he said. “It’s us telling Bill Gates this is what works.”

“I think it’s a God send to Africa that somebody like Bill and Melinda Gates would be interested in our agricultural development. It’s a God send and it means a lot for Africa.”

In September 2006, the Gates and Rockefeller Foundations issued a joint press release announcing their partnership on the Green Revolution. The investment started with $100 million from Gates and $50 million from Rockefeller for the Program for Africa’s Seed Systems, or PASS.

That comprises development of improved crop varieties, training for African crop scientists and ensuring that those improved seeds get to more farmers who need them.

While the Gates Foundation’s funding has provided a boost to African development issues, the Foundation itself has gotten some notable help recently.

In June 2006, Warren Buffett pledged ten million shares annually of his Berkshire Hathaway stock – amounting to over $30 billion – to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

At a press conference to announce the donation, Melinda Gates said she was “absolutely honoured and humbled”.

“It's really unprecedented in terms of what we can do to do good in the world, and it's something that we take very seriously,” she said at the press conference. “I think when you give away your own wealth it's one thing, but to give away the body of somebody else's life work is really quite something.”

It’s an apt partnership: Buffet is the world’s second-richest man, behind Gates, thanks to a career of astute investing. The amount he pledged to the Gates Foundation has become the largest philanthropic donation in United States history.

Buffett said he wanted to support the work being done by the Gates Foundation with his money and while he pledged a smaller portion of funds to the charitable organisations of his children, the move was consistent with his long-stated pledge regarding inheritance:

"I want to give my kids enough so that they could feel that they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing.”

While the Gates Foundation rode something of a public relations high in 2006, early in 2007 a series of reports in the Los Angeles Times showed the other side of philanthropy.

An investigation by the newspaper showed that several corporations where the Gates Foundation invests is money – in hopes of making profitable returns to keep the foundation running – have corporate social responsibility records that conflict with the good works of the foundation.

While originally deciding to review all its investments after the Los Angeles Times articles, the Gates Foundation subsequently defended its investing decisions, saying in a statement that criteria used for judging companies’ corporate social responsibility is open to interpretation.

“Bill and Melinda oversee the investment of the foundation’s endowment. In giving guidance to the investment managers, they have chosen not to get involved in ranking companies based upon factors such as their lending policies or environmental record,” foundation chief operating officer Cheryl Scott said in a statement posted on their website. “There are dozens of factors that could be considered, almost all of which are outside the foundation’s areas of expertise.” D

Source: Daria! Magazine - www.dariamagazine.com