Look To The Stars News: John Hurt

BBC Interviews LookToTheStars.org Founder

Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:45:00 -0000

LookToTheStars.org founder Myrlia Purcell was invited by the BBC’s World Today show to take part in a radio interview on the subject of celebrity philanthropy.

Myrlia explains what the site is trying to accomplish, and responds to the suggestion that celebrities undertake charity work mainly for publicity.

The segment includes soundbites from George Clooney, Angelina Jolie, Mia Farrow, and other celebrities mentioned include Paris Hilton, Forest Whitaker, John Hurt, Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson, Lucy Liu, and Run DMC frontman Darryl McDaniels and his Felix Organization.

Audio: BBC World Today interview (approx. 4 mins).

Stars Heal Patients With A Kiss

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 12:00:00 -0000

Written by Marie Gorrettie

Medicinema is a registered charity that has partnered with the Health Sector and the Film Industry, installing state-of-the-art cinemas on site in hospitals around the United Kingdom.

By creating purpose built cinemas in hospitals, Medicinema provides a much needed escape for the patients – it’s a welcome break from the hospital ward. Each cinema is specially designed to cater for beds and wheel chairs and nursing staff on duty throughout every Medicinema screening.

With nurses instead of usherettes, Medicinema harnesses the magic of the Silver Screen to help enrich the quality of life for patients. By screening the latest releases for patients young and old – including those in beds and on wheelchairs – patients and their families are able to escape the reality of hospital life.

As the lights dim and the film starts, with the big screen filled and Dolby Surround sound bursting into life, patients can be forgiven for thinking they are spending a night in the West End – apart from the occasional bleep of a patient’s monitor, you could be in a cinema!

Everyone needs a little escapism in their lives, especially if they’re in hospital. There is often not very much to look forward to so a visit to the cinema can give a much-needed boost to the spirits, providing the sort of family outing that is otherwise difficult in hospital. With the help and active support of the leading film distributors, Medicinema screens a wide variety of feature films from action and adventure to romantic comedies. Some films are even screened to Medicinema audiences before they go on general release.

As part of a new initiative, stars of the Silver Screen have donated kisses to celebrate ten years of Medicinema to help enhance therapeutic care for patients in hospitals around UK. To mark their 10th Anniversary, MediCinema is auctioning the HEALED WITH A KISS COLLECTION. The collection contains over 50 original signed lip prints from some of the biggest names in the Film Industry. The following are the stars who have donated Healed With A Kiss Lip Prints to help bring magic of the Silver Screen to hospital patients across UK: Madonna, Catherine Zeta Jones, Dame Helen Mirren, Sigourney Weaver, Ewan McGregor, Kate Winslet, John Hurt, Liam Neeson, Keira Knightley, Helena Bonham Carter, Dame Judi Dench, Joan Collins, Glenn Close, Shirley MacLaine, Dame Diana Rigg, Kate Beckinsale, Thandie Newton, Nickolas Grace, Tim Roth, Jeremy Irons, Ben Stiller, Jeff Goldblum, Jim Broadbent, Honor Blackman, John Travolta, Claire Bloom, Martine McCutcheon, Greta Scacchi, Saffron Burrows, Geraldine Chaplin, Mariella Frostrup, Juliet Stevenson, Robbie Coltrane, Zoë Wanamaker, Cathy Tyson, Jason Isaacs, Anthony Andrews, Tommy Steele, Mark Addy, Kenneth Branagh, Alice Eve, and Dwayne Johnson.

The Auction party will be held in April 2009 and the complete Healed With A Kiss collection will be auctioned at the Medicinema Private Auction Party at The Movieunm, London’s biggest Film Memorabilia Museum.

The Healed With A Kiss Auction party will offer you the opportunity to own these highly collectable pieces of film memorabilia and the chance to rub shoulders with Movers and Shakers of the film industry. Hugh Edmeades, Christie’s International Auctioneer, will chair the auction in support of MediCinema. An exclusive drinks reception, live entertainment and a private tour will be followed by the auction of the healed with a kiss collection in support of MediCinema.

Here are some of the quotes from patients and their families whom MediCinema has touched:

“Really happy at the thought that I was not going to have to spend an evening on the ward, staring at a blank wall with no neighbours and chewing my lips to avoid being in pain”. Niamh.

“I completely forgot that I was in hospital, and that I had loads of needles in my arm, and when the film ended I thought “right, time to go home; and it was only when the lights came back on and I saw all the other beds and steelchairs that I remembered that I was in hospital”. Jesica, St Thomas patient.

If you would like to Bid for Original Signed Lip prints from the Stars of the Silver Screen and attend the Auction Party and bid in person please contact MediCinema: Tel:+44(0) 20 7188 3697 or email medicinema@gstt.nhs.uk.

If a celebrity lip print has caught your eye, you can make an advance bid before attending the Auction event in writing, on line or by telephone.

If you are unable to attend the Auction Party in person, you can secure an original signed lip print by placing “ABSENTEE” Bid, in writing, on line or by telephone. Please register your bid/s in the Healed with a Kiss Auction by contacting medicinema@gsst.nhs.uk or telephoning +44 (0) 20 7188 3697.

Once you have registered interest in placing an “Absentee” or advance bid, you will be contacted to confirm your bid and contact details.

For more information about the Auction Party please contact MediCinema on +44 (0) 20 7188 3697 or email medicinema@gstt.nhs.uk.

Celebrity Art Auction For WAVE

Tue, 07 Mar 2006 11:52:17 -0000

Written by Myrlia Purcell

Artists and celebrities, such as Jude Law and Robbie Williams, have joined James Nesbitt to raise money for WAVE Trauma Centre.

Nesbitt is a leading organizer of WAVE’s celebrity art auction, in which professional and amateur artists are given a canvas and the opportunity to create a masterpiece.

John Hurt spent two weeks on a self-portrait that has been valued at £20,000 by the art curator at London’s Groucho Club.

There will be a public exhibition of up 300 pieces of the art at Belfast’s City Hall from the 24th-28th of April. The open auction will take place on April 28th at 7:30pm, and the event finishes with a gala ball on April 29th.

WAVE is a charity that supports people who are bereaved or traumatized by violence in Northern Ireland. To view the art online, or for more information on the fundraising event, visit the Art WAVE website.

Look To The Stars News: John Hurt

BBC Interviews LookToTheStars.org Founder

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Stars Heal Patients With A Kiss

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