NEWS RELEASE
ALGOMA HEALTH UNIT
********************* Sault kicks off Canadian theatrical release of Looking for Angelina
TORONTO – January 11th 2006 - Platinum Image Film is proud to announce that the Canadian theatrical release of Looking for Angelina kicks off at Sault Ste Marie's Galaxy Cinema on January 20.
The film's director, Sergio Navarretta, says he is pleased to bring the film back home: "Sault Ste. Marie is where it all began. Not just the story and the production, but the social action campaign that followed as well."
Almost one year ago, Sault audiences got a "sneak peek" when Looking for Angelina was launched alongside the Algoma Health Unit's Report on Domestic Violence in partnership with the Algoma Council on Domestic Violence at the Shadows of the Mind Film Festival.
By linking the film to this publication, the Health Unit reported much interest and attention to the issue of domestic violence, including an increase in the number of abused women seeking professional care as indicated by Algoma Family Services intake statistics in the months that followed.
Currently, Platinum Image Film is working on duplicating this model by launching the film as part of a social action campaign in other cities as well.
Looking for Angelina is based on the true story of Angelina Napolitano, whose murder conviction in Sault Ste. Marie caused uproar around the globe in the early 1900s.
It was one of the greatest stories of the 20th century.
In 1911, Angelina Napolitano, a 28-year-old Italian immigrant and mother of four, killed her abusive husband Pietro Napolitano (Alvaro D’Antonio) in Sault Ste. Marie's "Little Italy."
After a three-hour trial, Napolitano was sentenced to hang.
The story was picked up by an American reporter (Norma Dell'Agnese) and soon the signatures of hundreds of thousands of petitioners from around the world arrived at the office of Canada's justice minister, demanding her release.
The global media frenzy surrounding the events of Napolitano's trial and the discrimination that it highlighted in Canada's legal system are the subjects of the film.
This period piece film is in half English and half Italian (authentic Neapolitan dialect) with English subtitles and marks the first time the story is being told on screen.
Platinum Image Film produces entertaining and socially conscious projects for wide audiences.
With Looking for Angelina they are partnering with all forms of domestic violence groups to widen the awareness of this problem that still exists today.
Looking for Angelina was made possible with a number of in-kind sponsorships and with 100 percent funding from the OMNI/Rogers Media Independent Producers Initiative.
This is the industry's first, and only, major source of funding for the independent production of non-official language programming.
Free SooToday.com download: official movie poster
***********************