Author Archive
Celebrating the life of Janet Brine
It is with great sadness that we write of the loss of Janet Mary Brine on June 12, 2015. At first, Janet was known to me as ‘Eva’s mom’, since it was through 65_RedRoses that I first “met” her on film. When I later met her in the flesh, I recognized part of the spark in Eva, and where her warm, smart determination was born.
A celebration of Janet’s life will be held on Friday July 24th, 2015 at 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm at the Anvil Centre in New Westminster (777 Columbia Street). In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Cystic Fibrosis Canada.
After the loss of Eva, Janet was a force to be reckoned with in our efforts to get 65_RedRoses out to the widest possible audiences, and to make sure that legacy of Eva, and Janet’s, story would have a long lasting impact. It’s what we still hope. We want people to sign up to be organ donors, and we know Janet in particular wanted to support CF research in Canada, and find a cure.
It was with Janet’s help that we created the #4Eva campaign, partnered with BC Transplant to get the film free to all high schools in BC, and it was Janet that brought together the team of teachers, including Stacey Brine to write the study guide and develop a workshop to go with it.
I feel honoured to have met her and gotten to know her, and on behalf of my colleague Colette, and our entire outreach team, we wish her family much love, love love.
~ Kat, Colette and the outreach team for 65_RedRoses
And in Janet’s name – please give to CF Canada.
Of course, Janet was defined by so much more than the little window I had into her life so we want to share what her family wrote about her:
April is for Organ Donation! in Canada 65_RedRoses airs on CBC Newsworld April 26
Blog by Bria
As April comes to an end we are reminded of Eva and the transplant campaign that started it all. April is Organ Donation Month and the time of year when we urge you to sign up and become a donor and spread the word to encourage organ and tissue donation awareness.
April 19th to 25th marks National Organ and Tissue Donation Awareness week. In Canada alone there are over 4,400 people currently waiting for a life-saving organ transplant and more than 1,600 are added to the organ wait list every year. One organ donor has the potential to save up to eight lives.
To honour this week LiveOn.ca started the #48in48 campaign to encourage 48,000 Canadians to register their decision to become an organ donor in 48 hours. Although the campaign fell short of its goal, 7,817 individuals signed up and cemented their decision to save lives. With over 90% of Canadians supporting organ donation we have reached an important crossroads.
An overwhelming percentage of the population support organ and tissue donation and agree that it is a crucial contribution to the lives of those relying on transplants there is still a lack of initiative to register and become an organ donor. If you aren’t already a registered organ donor this is the perfect occasion to become one by signing up online. It’s something quick and easy you can do to literally save the life of another human being. As National Organ Tissue and Donation Awareness Week comes to an end it is important to continue encouraging Canadians to register to become organ donors.
“Redefining the traditional scope of documentary film in an electronic age, 65_RedRoses leaves viewers with a new appreciation of life and the digital world. This personal and touching journey takes an unflinching look into the lives of Eva and her two online friends who are all battling cystic fibrosis (CF).” – CBC: The Passionate Eye
We hope you are already a registered organ donor but if not please sign up online. If you are support the movement and encourage your family and friends to spread the word and sign up this month. April is a time to reflect upon and celebrate those who have regained their lives and benefited positively from organ and tissue donation. Let’s support donors past and present and work to encourage and educate new ones!
Coming up in May is Cystic Fibrosis Awareness Month and we want to get the blog back up and active. Contact us if you have a story you would like to share or if you have an initiative or event you’d like us to know about.
Please share the #4Eva campaign! – Bria
Great Turnout for our Montreal Screening of 65_RedRoses
65_RedRoses Premiere in Montreal! Blog by Bria
I was proud to host the first screening of 65_RedRoses in Montreal at the McGill campus on Tuesday, October 21! I’m happy to say the event was a success and well attended. All of the funds from the event will go back into the cost of running the screening and helping to support 65_RedRoses.
In light of the recent news of Kina’s death the film becomes more relevant and the message more poignant. Five years after its initial release it is saddening to know that all three girls have passed away. It is a heartbreaking and important reminder about how critical the need for expanded research and funding for both Cystic Fibrosis and organ and tissue donation is, transplant can extend both the quality and length of life for recipients despite not being a permanent solution or cure. Although the ending was not as happy as many would have liked I hope you enjoyed the documentary and the event and were able to extract a positive message. Transplant provides the gift of life to recipients.
Eva’s story is a testament to that and she is just one of the many who have been positively impacted by transplant. Her legacy is one of continuous fortitude, endurance and resilience but transplant made it easier for her to continue doing amazing things and persevere to inspire others.
She was able to live with passion and power thanks to her new lungs and breath a little easier. Despite the saddening outcome, the quality of her live, and of transplant recipients in general, was improved thanks to a selfless act on the part of her donor to register to become and organ and tissue donor.
Here are some photos from the event. Thank you to Alison Gu who came and took photos at the event, all photo credits go to her.
Montreal Screening October 21!
Montreal friends, please spread the word about the screening being organized by our volunteer Bria in Montreal.
Come out to the first screening of the 65_RedRoses documentary at McGill!
EVENT DETAILS
Tuesday, October 21, 2014,8:30-10pm
Location McGill University, The William Shatner University Centre.
Check out the Facebook Event for more details!
Very saddened by the news of Kina’s passing
We are deeply saddened to say that Kina passed away Tuesday afternoon. It is hard to believe how much has changed in the five years since we made the film. The time we spent with Kina’s family in Eerie while filming 65_RedRoses was so special for us. Like Eva and Meg, Kina was a strong person – Eva often referred to her as a CF Warrior. She lived life on her own terms and with an open heart. We were moved by her acceptance of people who were different, her love for animals, and the courage she had to share her story.
When we first arrived to film with Kina she had beautiful, long hair, and one day during the shoot she decided to cut it all off. She had promised a charity she would do it, and she wanted to honour that commitment. She opened up her life to our film because she promised Eva she would. If she believed in something she went for it all the way. While they were taken too soon, we are thinking of all three girls right now. We know they are finally free and breathing easy. Our sincere condolences to Kina’s family and countless friends.
Love, love, love.
~ Nimisha & Philip
Bria our fantastic 65_RedRoses outreach volunteer is back in Montreal!
As summer is ending it’s time to give a quick update on all the amazing things that have been going on with 65_RedRoses and the #4Eva campaign!
I spent my summer in Uganda volunteering with an NGO which is why our 65_RedRoses Blog has not been updated for a while but I am back now and ready to help share more CF stories. If you or someone you know has been affected by CF and wants to share their story please email me at bria@hellocoolworld.com or contact me via the 65_RedRoses #4Eva Fan Page at https://www.facebook.com/
We also have some exciting volunteer opportunities to announce for any supporters in Montreal. If you are interested in volunteering to help plan a screening of the documentary in Montreal please contact me.
NEWS! 65_RedRoses is now available to be streamed online through the National Film Board of Canada’s Campus Subscription service.
It’s also available in video from us for a one-off screening license. If you are interested in hosting a public screening on your campus check out the “Screenings” section of the 65_RedRoses website for our screening guide, promotion tips and materials.
Finally, we want to send our congratulations to Eva’s father Bill Markvoort who raised over $77,000 for Cystic Fibrosis as a part of the GearUp4CF ride in July which is a nine day 1,200 kilometre bike ride from Vancouver to Banff.
If there is something you would like to see us blog about let us know in the comments below!
Follow us on twitter.
Like our FB page.
– Bria
February is Heart Month!
February is heart month! Of course our motif for our #4Eva Campaign is the gorgeous heart that Eva painted on her body! Our campaign is all about heart. But sometimes it’s literally the case. We were thrilled when Mark Wilson reached out to us, sending us a picture of himself, wearing the #4Eva heart shirt, as he celebrated his one-year heart ‘transplantiversary’ last week! Love, love , love to Mark (2.0) in this journey – and thank you for sharing your picture and anniversary with us.
We are gearing up for our annual #4Eva Campaign for organ donation and cystic fibrosis awareness – which we annually celebrate in April and May. If you give a valentine from our #4Eva collection (art cards, DVDs and of course the heart tees!) our profits will go to this outreach effort in April and May.
Stay tuned for news about what we are planning as well! Share the love! #4Eva! (more…)
Please support our distributor Hello Cool World for their IdeaBOOST proposal!
“As a distributor of 65_RedRoses, Hello Cool World has ensured that the campaign for organ donation and CF research continues to reach Canadians through classrooms and theatres. Their goal, to create positive social change through film and media, makes them a worthy recipient of IdeaBOOST!”
– Nimisha Mukerji, co-director of 65_REDROSES
Hello Cool World is the force behind this website, the Canadian distributor for the film, and directs the entire #4Eva Campaign so please support this project which has the potential to help the 65_RedRoses campaign get even bigger! It’s fast and free – so BOOST them now! Hello Cool World also puts all their profits into this campaign, which is volunteer run. Voting – AKA ‘Boosting’ only lasts one more week, so lets get them boosted into the lead!
Hello Cool World’s plan is to build a platform to help the creators of social change films and projects to get their work out there, that will help audiences (like you!) more easily support the causes they care about. Each campaign will be part of a larger network that can share content and audiences, amplifying the efforts for all. (more…)
April & May – campaigning #4Eva!
If you’ve been following our blog you’ll know that April is Organ Donation Month (they call it National Donate Life Month in the U.S) and May is CF Awareness Month. Last May 65_RedRoses aired on the Oprah Winfrey Network, and they played our PSA!
Now we are an entirely volunteer-run campaign, trying to get the film and the message out to as many people as we can to support these two important causes.
We are honoured that Hot Docs (which is where 65_RedRoses launched, with Eva in attendance) has chosen our film to be part of their 20th Anniversary celebration screening series comprised of the 20 award-winning films representing the past 20 years. It screens Tuesday April 9, in Toronto at The Bloor Cinema, 6:30 pm. If you are in Toronto and can go to the screening you’ll see our amazing team of volunteers selling DVDs & tees and hopefully signing you up to our campaign. If you are not in TO, never fear, we’ll be tweeting for the cause and posting pics from the screening on Twitter and Facebook.
DO YOU WANT TO HELP US?
It’s as easy as sharing our posts and re-tweeting out tweets! If you are more ambitious you can host a screening as a fundraiser to the organ donation & CF organizations you want to support. You could organize a local #4Eva team, to table, poster and spread the word! Read on for ways you can get involved. (more…)
Oprah “Effect” a game-changer for 65_RedRoses Filmmakers!
It’s seems like yesterday since our launch on OWN back in May… And it was actually only yesterday that the Vancouver Sun featured 65_ RedRoses as a story again!
Congratulations Nimisha and Philip (featured left with Oprah) for headlining yesterday’s article by Zoe McKnight on the “Oprah Effect”.
A warm Winfrey endorsement has opened doors for local entrepreneurs
“Filmmaker Nimisha Mukerji is one of the lucky few who have not only had their work endorsed by Oprah Winfrey, but have been in her presence. She met the former talk show host, publisher and all-around lifestyle mogul – who will be appearing in Vancouver Jan. 24, 2013 at Rogers Arena – at a party during the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, where Mukerji and co-producer Philip Lyall were shopping around their documentary 65_RedRoses, about a young Vancouver woman battling cystic fibrosis. The film had been selected as one of the first five to premiere on Documentary Club on the Oprah Winfrey Network, where it aired this May.”
Read the rest at Vancouver Sun’s website…
For those of you in Vancouver, Canada who want to buy the film or any of our designed-by-eva #4Eva heart tee shirts, art cards and pendants, we are having a PopUpShop this Sunday in Chinatown, Sunday December 2, noon -6 pm, 525 Carrall Street in Chinatown. Or order online and use promo code #4EvaHeart for 20% off! (more…)
