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The Day We Met Oprah
After losing his iPhone on an Air Canada flight, Philip arrived at his destination only to discover his bags weren’t there. Jet lagged from getting back to Vancouver from Mumbai five days earlier, Nimisha boarded the cheapest flight she could find to Sundance, which meant long delays and over eight hours of travel (a direct flight to Utah takes only two hours but is double the price!). So after a very crazy day of traveling and major costs we reached our hotel room (only $400/night) and began our incredible Sundance Film Festival experience in Park City, Utah. And man, was it worth it!!!
Phil, Nimisha and OPRAH at the Rocco/OWN party at Sundance Film Festival.
We found out last year that 65_RedRoses was going to have its US television debut on the Oprah Winfrey Network(OWN). Rocco Films, the company that acquisitioned our documentary, threw an intimate party to celebrate the first installment of films to play as part of Oprah’s Documentary Club. While we were excited to be invited to the launch event, it didn’t register just how big of a celebration this would be for the filmmakers and their documentaries, until about an hour into the evening.
Firstly, we chatted with Rosie O’Donnell, who is as friendly and engaging as she is hilarious! She is incredible and totally obsessed with documentaries! When we introduced ourselves, she knew who we were because she had already screened “65_RedRoses”. She has a special connection with the film because her nephew has Cystic Fibrosis. On top of her own show, “The Rosie O’Donnell Show” which will be launching on OWN, she’ll also be hosting a post-show special after each documentary. She loved “65_RedRoses” and was really supportive of the film’s message.
Nimisha, ROSIE, and Phil at Sundance.
The night rolled on and familiar faces like Geena Davis and Forest Whitaker strolled about the room. Suddenly an announcement was made for us to gather around the small stage, where a reserved table for “65_RedRoses” was waiting for us. Before we even realized what was happening, “Mama O” entered the room and the party shifted from excitement to full on hysteria! Now we don’t normally get star-struck, but this was one of those moments where we felt like every filmmaker in the room totally let loose! We couldn’t believe that OPRAH (the queen of television) was standing just a few feet away from us. After watching her on TV for over twenty years, OPRAH was telling US how excited she was to have our film on her network. INSANE!!! We both immediately thought of Eva, how she would’ve felt to know that our little Canadian documentary had come this far. As Oprah spoke, behind her a huge big television screen displayed our poster, and the beautiful and determined face of Eva appeared, bright red hair glowing. Eva had always dared to dream big, and now everything we had worked so hard for, was actually becoming a reality. In that moment, as we stood there and celebrated the film’s success, we knew our friend Eva was with us.
When it actually came time to meet Oprah, it was a complete blur to us. We thanked her for inviting us to be involved in this exciting milestone for doc programming.
So there it is! Our photo with Oprah! We did it Eva…we did it.
We also met an amazing young man named Joey Borgogna, who works with the Creative Visions Foundation and has a project with OWN. Joey was a living donor for a girl named Brandy who had Cystic Fibrosis, and donated a lung to her.
Meeting Joey was a reminder to us of why we made this film in the first place. The film is dedicated to all the all the incredible donors out there who have given the gift of life, and the many people who are still waiting on the transplant list for a chance to live out their dreams.
Love, love, love,
Phil and Nimisha
SHARE THE BEAT!
Hi Everyone! It’s Phil Lyall here, co-director of 65_RedRoses, writing you from Toronto!
2011 is already shaping up to be a very exciting year for 65_RedRoses. On top of the Oprah announcement, I wanted to share some developing news regarding the films outreach in the fundraising community.
I recently spoke with Jamie Redford (son of Robert Redford) who is Founder and President of The James Redford Institute for Transplant Awareness (JRI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating the public about the need for organ and tissue donation through film, educational outreach and the web. Jamie founded the organization in 1995, two years after receiving a liver transplant. He recently watched 65_RedRoses with his wife and was deeply moved by Eva and her story. It obviously brought him back to his own experiences waiting for transplant. One powerful moment that stuck out to him was the scene where Eva is about to go under for surgery and she whispers “I love everyone so much”. He remembers being in that exact moment and thinking this may be his last breath. He might never wake up again and that shook Mr. Redford to the core.
Jamie and Eva share an obvious link because they are organ recipients but they also encountered organ failure . A week after Jamie received a new liver, it began to fail and the doctors put him back on the list for a second transplant. Like Eva, he went back to the organ donation waiting game, getting sicker every day and feeling like “the clock was really ticking”. Miraculously, another donor was found and, this time, the transplant was a complete success. Inspired by his life-saving transplant, he produced an award-winning HBO documentary, The Kindness of Strangers (1998), that integrated the stories of transplant recipients and the families of the organ donors who lost their loved ones. Even though Eva never received her second transplant, she always said that the two years she was given to live “fully” with her new lungs was the greatest gift she had ever received. Now that Eva is gone, her legacy and her message of organ donation awareness lives on and Jamie is eager to spread her voice and influence to further audiences.
Jamie has invited 65_RedRoses to be part of an event called “Share the Beat”. It benefits the American Society of Transplantation (AST) – www.a-s-t.org and the Redford Animaction Project: It’s a RAP! www.redfordanimactionproject.com. It is an evening that celebrates the hope in transplantation by using the power of music and storytelling to raise awareness and funds for the transplant community. Clips from 65_RedRoses will be screened at the event (along with a few other films) as well as a speaker close to Eva’s story will be in attendance.
The event is in early 2011 in San Francisco. Tickets and scheduled date will be announced in the next few months. If you are interested in attending the event and supporting transplant awareness please bookmark this site and check in regularly for updates:
As well, we’ll be sure to keep you up to date on any further developments regarding “Share the Beat”.
Thank you Jamie for your incredible on-going efforts in spreading transplantation awareness and thank you for including 65_RedRoses to help further the cause in the US!
All the best everyone!
Phil 😉
