To All Our Friends, Family, Caregivers & Fighters!
We wanted to share the news about an extremely important event to kick-off the 5th Annual Sisters Crush Breast Cancer Fundraiser on Thursday, October 16th from 6:30pm to 9:00pm at Jessup Cellars in Yountville, California. The evening premieres filmmaker and stage 3a breast cancer fighter Allison W. Gryphon’s The What? Series, a webisode series and expansion of her documentary film What the F@#- Is Cancer and Why Does Everybody Have It? screening at the Napa Valley Film Festival this November. Following an initial ticketing offering to series supporters, tickets to the general public go live Friday, September 19th. Click here to get on the invite list!
Napa Valley Film Festival Screening Dates
Wednesday, November 12th @ 8:00pm: The Cameo Cinema, St. Helena
Friday, November 14th @10:00am: Yountville Community Center Theater, Yountville
Saturday, November 15th @ 9:30am: City Winery Historic Napa Valley Opera House, Napa
Sunday, November 16th @ 10:00am: The Gliderport Theater, Calistoga
Sisters Crush Breast Cancer Schedule
Saturday October 18, 2014
8:30am: Sisters 5K Walk/Run to Crush Breast Cancer – Yountville Loop
10:00am to 6:00pm: Silent Auction & Trunk Shows
The What? Series also premiers on YouTube on November 20th, making information on what it’s like to take on the fight available 24/7 worldwide for fighters and caregivers alike. We said this was important. We hope you’ll share the news of the premiere far and wide!
News release follows with complete premiere and event details…
Cheers to the Fight!
Joel Quigley | 707.495.0831 | joel@jessupcellars.com
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NEWS RELEASE: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JESSUP CELLARS, HUMANITAS WINES & SISTERS CRUSH BREAST CANCER HOST THE WHAT? SERIES PREMIERE & FUNDRAISER
“The What? Series” is an expansion of Allison W. Gryphon’s documentary film “What the F@#- Is Cancer and Why Does Everybody Have It?” screening at the Napa Valley Film Festival this November 2014
(Yountville, CA, September 10th 2014) — Jessup Cellars and Humanitas Wines will host the kick-off of Napa Valley’s 5th Annual Sisters Crush Breast Cancer fundraiser in Yountville with the premiere of The What? Series, directed by filmmaker and stage 3a breast cancer fighter Allison W. Gryphon. Marcus and Tova Osborne of the Straight Male Friend radio show will broadcast the evening’s interview with Allison exclusively on Breathe Radio. The fundraiser happens Thursday, October 16th from 6:30pm to 9:00pm at Jessup Cellars in Yountville and begins with a “meet the fighter and filmmaker” wine reception. Information, tickets and sponsor levels will be released September 19th at screening partner CellarPass.com. Ticket sales and a portion of the evening’s wine sales will benefit Allison W. Gryphon’s The Why? Foundation and the Napa County Firefighters’ Pink Heals Napa Valley.
On April 10th, 2011, Allison W. Gryphon found a lump in her breast. On April 13th, she was diagnosed with stage 3a breast cancer. Allison’s immediate instinct was to pick up a camera and start asking questions. Not only for herself, but for all of us. The result of her actions is the recently released feature documentary What the F@#- Is Cancer and Why Does Everybody Have It?, screening at this year’s Napa Valley Film Festival, and her non-profit program The What? Series, premiering on YouTube November 20th. Click here to view the trailer.
“Within three days of being diagnosed I had 11 books and binders to absorb and I was totally overwhelmed. I went to Netflix looking for the overview of everything that I was facing. I couldn’t find the movie and I couldn’t believe it. I was so scared. No one should have to be that scared and I knew sitting in the middle of Hollywood I could do something. I sent out a mass email to everyone I knew. We had to make the movie. The response was overwhelming and beautiful. I couldn’t be more proud to be a part of the Hollywood Community. We made the movie, the web series and fought my cancer together. With insight from medical professionals, caregivers and people fighting various forms of the disease, we’ve created what I was looking for when I was diagnosed with cancer.”
Over the course of 11 months Allison and the crew filmed over 70 people and 200 hours of footage. “There was so much value in what each person had to say, it became clear very quickly that we were not just making a movie, but also a series so that we could support a great number of cancer fighters and address their diverse issues, questions and experiences. I like to think of the movie as Cancer 101 and the web series as the master classes. We also created a non-profit called The Why? Foundation to house all of this wonderful information, create room for expansion and support people in any way that we can.”
The What? Series features support and appearances by acting icon Tippi Hedren, Kristin Chenoweth, legendary producer Don Hahn (The Lion King), Academy Award-winner Gary Rizzo (Inception), Northern California’s Skywalker Sound, Co3 and CBS Studio Center, as well as a host of leading medical professionals, caregivers and some of the most candid cancer fighters you will ever meet.
Additional sponsors and contributors include CellarPass, Chef MikeC, EO Products, Hint Water, Kind Bars, Lululemon, More magazine, Napa Valley Tours & Transportation, Ocean’s Halo Seaweed Chips and the Somersault Snack Company.
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