The Foundation for a Smokefree America
March 5, 2009
– FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –
“Grandson of R.J. Reynolds Will Denounce Big Tobacco
to 450 Students at Carson High School on Monday”
Contact:
Keith Donahue, Cell (310)991-8075
Carson High School (310)847-6000
Patrick Reynolds’ Office (310)471-0303
WHO: Patrick Reynolds, the grandson of tobacco company founder R.J. Reynolds who criticized Big Tobacco in Congress after his father died from smoking.
Mr. Reynolds is a well known tobacco prevention speaker and Executive Director of the Foundation for a Smokefree America, based in Los Angeles.
Reynolds’ school program follows CDC guidelines.
WHAT: Patrick Reynolds will speak to 450 students in the Carson High School auditorium. Mr. Reynolds will talk about his own father’s death from smoking, and emphasize the addictiveness of nicotine. He’ll discuss how tobacco advertising intentionally deceives the young. He’ll tell the dramatic and moving story of high school track star Sean Marsee, who died at 19 from chewing tobacco. In a time when many of the young are worried about the future, Reynolds will close with his inspirational message of hope for the years to come, telling the students, “Hold on to your health – you’ll need it in the incredible, amazing years ahead.” Mr. Reynolds will close his talk with a vision and promise of the coming smokefree society. Reynolds gives assembly programs nationally at middle and high schools, and is devoting his life to keeping youth tobacco free.
WHERE and WHEN:
March 9, 2009, 10:30am
Carson High School
Auditorium
22328 South Main St
Carson, CA 90745
Main: (310)847-6000
LINKS:
Bio: www.anti-smoking.org/bio/
Basic info on Patrick Reynolds’ talks: www.tobaccofree.org/patrick.htm
Video clips: www.tobaccofree.org/clips/truth.htm
Feedback from past clients: www.tobaccofree.org/clients.htm
Tobacco Report Card on CA from the American Lung Association: www.StateofTobaccoControl.org/
If you have any questions, please free to call Mr. Reynolds directly, Cellular phone (310) 880-1111.
Patrick Reynolds, Executive Director
Foundation for a Smokefree America www.anti-smoking.org
Tobaccofree.org www.tobaccofree.org
email: patrick@anti-smoking.org
Office Tel (310) 471-0303
Cellular (310) 880-1111
Fax (310) 471-0335
PO Box 492028
Los Angeles, CA 90049-8028
USA
The Foundation for a Smokefree America
The Foundation for a Smokefree America’s mission is to motivate youth to stay tobaccofree, and to empower smokers to quit successfully. Our group is best known for our national campaign for teen smoking prevention, and also for our large web outreach to those who want to quit smoking. Every major search engine ranks Smokefree America among its top three results for “anti-smoking”, “anti-tobacco” and related search phrases. The 501c3 org was founded by Patrick Reynolds, the grandson of RJ Reynolds who spoke out against the tobacco industry after his father died from smoking. Through his appearances and debates in the media, Mr. Reynolds continues his volunteer work to help educate the public about tobacco issues, including ballot measures and State assembly bills. He’s also a frequent speaker around the nation at health conferences, colleges and community groups, as well as at middle and high schools. “The Truth About Tobacco,” the acclaimed DVD of Patrick’s live talk to 1,000 9th graders, has been purchased by over 9,000 schools and health departments. The org is a tax-exempt, public foundation. We invite you to learn more about Smokefree America at www.Anti-smoking.org/info/ and encourage you to consider a generous gift to support our efforts.
Brooklyn and Boyle, January 2009, “Consumer Electronic Show Live” by Rami Rivera Frankl
Damon Whitaker and Rami Rivera Frankl Introduce BLET Report at CES 2009
Show aims to present Internet Age through hip-hop eyes
LAS VEGAS (AFP) January 11th, 2009 – Hollywood film industry veterans Damon Whitaker and Rami Rivera Frankl are betting that fascination with Internet Age technology pulses as naturally as a base beats through the hip-hop generation.
The pair are convinced that gadget-loving young blacks and Latinos — each fast-growing communities — are being neglected by media outlets new and old.
That is why they were at the world’s top Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas filming a pilot for a Black Latino Entertainment Technology (BLET) Report program that has already garnered interest from major television studios.
“We are Gen-X from the Hip-Hop generation,” Whitaker said as he and Frankl dashed about the CES show floor on Sunday, the final day of the annual gizmo extravaganza in Las Vegas.
“It seems that people talk down to Gen X-Y-Millennium babies, which is odd because we grew up with Internet technology. We are going to bring it home; show the generation how it applies to their lives and is used by friends.”
Whitaker and Frankl expect BLET to be on television by the middle of this year and are building an online stage for expanded content as well as RSS (really simple syndication) feeds of technology news to hip-hop Web users.
“Hip-Hop is music, art, dress, graffiti, skateboards, videogames,” Whitaker said. “We will not only cover technology, but pull it together with music, art, dress and more from a hip-hop point of view.”
Whitaker and Frankl will host and produce BLET, taking advantage of Hollywood and music relationships built up during two decades.
Whitaker described himself as actor Forest Whitaker‘s “little brother” and has appeared in more than a dozen productions. Entrepreneur Frankl has been a digital media advisor to major film studios.
A Web 2.0 trend of mashing together computer applications into creative hybrid programs is second-nature to a hip-hop generation known for blending songs from different genres into dance music hits, they said.
“Part of our native tongue is technology,” Frankl said. “Baby Boomers are learning it as a second language. The convergence of entertainment and technology is a visceral experience for us.”
BLET will be “hands on,” with Whitaker and Frankl going as much as possible to places where technology is developed or innovatively applied.
“We geek out,” Frankl said. “We want to go where these things are created and play with these toys; sit in the Panasonic massage chair while we are getting a Blu-ray demonstration.”
NFTE’s Global Entrepreneurship Week in East LA
LOS ANGELES, CA – Friday, November 21, 2008
by Orly Douek
As part of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship’s Global Entrepreneurship Week, Rami Rivera Frankl, the president and founder of Hobokenwest Digital Media was invited to speak to students at Downey High School’s Business Education and Finance courses. As a business entrepreneur and urban activist, Mr. Rivera Frankl was excited to share his challenging personal story and the journey of creating the first Latino owned DVD mastering company to produce product for the major film studios. His talks got the attention of the mostly Latino/Hispanic students now creating their own business plan for their trial small businesses.
Rather than solely focusing on his story, Rivera Frankl asked students to share their dreams and goals. His laid back discussion of his his own challenges made the students feel at ease to ask questions. Rivera Frankl shared his personal history and created a context for dialogue. A reoccurring theme in Rivera Frankl’s talks was “that which you are most ashamed of, can become your greatest asset and power.”
They also discussed goal setting and aligning one’s actions with one’s goals. Rivera Frankl shared that he has fallen in love with failure. “Setbacks,” he said, “are a learning experience that help you get closer to your goals. You have to align your actions with your goals and then you learn through doing.”
After the last class, I sat down to review the student evaluations.The students left class feeling empowered to create those goals for themselves and to start taking the everyday steps toward their dreams. In Rivera Frankl’s talks he mentioned that if he could take his childhood traumas and use them to connect and help someone then his work would be done. If the evaluations were any indication, then indeed his work was done this day.
Are You Ready?
Hobokenwest Digital Media (Entertainment Technology)
tel: (213) 534-3134
Abel Salas names Rami Rivera Frankl, Entertainment Technology Editor
Abel Salas names Rami Rivera Frankl, Entertainment Technology Editor of Brooklyn & Boyle, “Art & Life in Boyle Heights and Beyond.” Brooklyn & Boyle is an East LA magazine created by Poet and writer Abel Salas. Mr. Salas, Publisher/Editor-in-Chief at Brooklyn & Boyle: Art & Life in Boyle Heights and Beyond, is an LA-based journalist, actor, poet and filmmaker. His work as a free-lance writer has been published in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, New Angeles Monthly, Artillery Magazine, Latina Magazine, The Austin Chronicle, The Austin-American Statesman, Tu Ciudad Los Angeles Magazine, Hispanic Magazine, New Angeles Monthly, Batanga Magazine and the San Antonio Current among many others. His radio essays and reports have been broadcast on KPCC-FM 89.3 by “Off-Ramp,” a weekly news magazine airing in Southern California as well as nationally on LATINO USA. Co-author of the film Six Thugs, Salas is a former staff member at NALIP (National Association of Latino Independent Producers) where he helped develop the first ever NALIP Producer’s Academy which nurtures emerging mediamaker talent. As an active and concerned community and urban youth advocate, Salas has taught writing at Los Angeles County juvenile and is a founding member of the Echospace Poetry Collective at Eastside Café, an intergenerational and multicultural group of writers, artist, educators and community activists who came together in the spring of 2007. As a result of his extensive work in media, Salas has often been contracted as a public relations and marketing consultant Among his clients have been Sony Discos, Arista Records, Hollywood Records, Reyes Entertainment, Estrada Communications, Tula Media/Viva Hollywood, performing rights royalty clearinghouse SESAC, Univision Music, documentary production company Galan Productions, Strategy Workshop, Grammy Award-winning music group La Mafia, Telemundo KTMD-TV 48. Long before moving to Los Angeles, Salas was the editor at The National Hispanic Journal and Managing Editor at ARRIBA: Art & Business News, both in Austin, Texas as well as the Managing Editor at Crossroads, a U.S. Mexico-border news and culture journal in Brownsville, Texas. An actor and theatre arts professional since childhood, Salas has occasionally been active as producer, writer and performer for the stage. Before leaving Austin for the border, he co-founded the Cultural Warriors, an at-risk youth theatre company and Teatro Libertad, a Latino theatre company.
Rami Rivera Frankl, President and founder of Hobokenwest Digital Media (HWDM), entered the digital media space with over 10 years of film, television and commercial production experience, including work on Selena, Cesar Chavez Memorial, “Tales from the Crypt,” and with Young & Rubicam as well as a Nestle chocolate commercial. His transition into digital media began in 1997 at Universal Studios within the Digital Video Compression Center (DVCC), one of the first research sites/labs for HD and DVD technology. Mr. Frankl next went on to manage the nationwide Digital Media Services for VDI, now point360. He later created Digital Media and DVD divisions from the ground up at two prominent post houses. In 2002, Mr. Frankl foresaw the digital media wave and created a trademark, Advertising on Demand (AOD). AOD was a new business model for advertising in the digital marketplace. While working on BloodRayne 2 (Vivendi Entertainment), Hobokenwest created DVD Comic Book™, an innovative method for recreating the comic experience digitally. While in Hong Kong, Mr. Frankl was recognized as an entertainment technology futurist. With a history of digital innovation, Hobokenwest Digital Media, a visionary digital media services company, was founded with Brent Akamine in 2003. Hobokenwest was the first Latino owned DVD lab to perform work for the major studios. Clients have included MGM, SONY, Paramount, Disney, Twentieth Century Fox, Toyota USA, Panasonic Disc Services, and Vivendi Entertainment (UMGD). Frankl is currently producing a Blu-Ray project for Vivendi Entertainment, serves as the Entertainment Technology Editor for Brooklyn & Boyle Magazine, is a contributing writer to Latin Heat and is on the Board of Directors of the Entertainment AIDS Alliance (EAA). EAA is a volunteer group of industry professionals, which was formed in 1989 to respond to the urgent need for funding AIDS service organizations nationwide. Ninety percent of funds raised are distributed to qualifying AIDS health care organizations and facilities. In October 2008, HWDM launched the test site for www.politicalbs.org a political satire video aggregator. At AFM 2008, HWDM’s production partner Hoboken Entertainment launched a Hispanic feature film which is scheduled to begin principal photography 2010.
Watch video – Volunteers target Latinos with new vote oriented PSA
Posted by Elena del Valle on November 4, 2008
In mid September, Rami Rivera Frankl decided to become a political activist. Following his attendance at a political satire program on the Pocho Hour of Power, Rivera Frankl became motivated to spearhead a project that would lead him two months later to the production of Wake Up!, a politically oriented public service announcement (PSA) inviting Latinos to vote. Scroll down to watch the videos in English and Spanish.
According to the Pew Hispanic Center, in four of the six states President George W. Bush carried by margins of five percentage points or fewer in 2004 Hispanics constitute a significant share of the electorate: In New Mexico, Hispanics make up 37 percent of state’s eligible electorate; in Florida, 14 percent; in Nevada and Colorado, 12 percent.
“These statistics galvanized me to want to make a significant difference and help Barack Obama win our upcoming election,” said Rivera Frankl. “What I created is a bilingual political satire PSA targeting Hispanic communities across the country with the message that candidate John McCain is asleep on the job and it’s time for America to wake up and vote for change!”
He did this as a private citizen without being compensated for his time by anyone and without any support, financial or otherwise, from either party. Although the idea began as a non partisan message the end result, a 60 second video in English and Spanish, showing Republican Senator John McCain asleep in Congress seems to favor the Democratic candidates. Rivera Frankl and the project volunteers remained independent of the political parties and their representatives and have not shared the video with either camp or had any official contact with the presidential hopefuls or their representatives.
River Frankl found many helping hands in his two month journey including everyday concerned citizens and celebrities. More than 30 people supported his project along the way, offering assistance with minor tasks, advice, probono services and just plain support. All the work was probono. He initially paid $100 in publishing fees, marked down for the usual $7,000 fee, but since that part of the video fell through due to delays obtaining copyright permissions his fee was reimbursed.
“We started out doing it as a real simple thing,” said Rivera Frankl, who invested two months and 300 hours of his time on a voluntary basis to the project. “Because I truly believe the Obama/Biden ticket is going to be better for the Hispanic population than McCain/Palin. It’s a spot targeting Hispanic voters and that will galvanize the Hispanic population to vote.”
Although the video was ready for distribution a week ago it took almost that long to secure the remaining permissions and it was only on Halloween Day that he and his colleagues were able to release it nationally. The initial release was through YouTube. He plans to introduce the PSA via Spanish-speaking news outlets first and hopes for an Internet viral campaign to carry the message to the English speaking market.
Volunteers include: Actor Esai Morales (La Bamba, NYPD Blue, Jericho), provided the voiceover; Patrick Perez, provided editing services; Lisa Blackwood Hope, vice president of Operations at Media City Sound, provided recording and mixing services; and Carolyn Caldera DeFanti, executive producer, provided support, guidance, and mentoring. In addition to launching the project Rivera Frankl, president and founder of Hobokenwest Digital Media, was responsible for writing, directing and serving as executive producer of the video.
Click on the play button to watch the English version of Wake Up!
English:
Spanish:
STELLAR EVENING WITH AWARD CEREMONY AND SPECIAL SCREENING AT
Filmmakers, talent and celebrity guests celebrated another great year of film with an Award Ceremony honoring Latino cinema and a special screening at the Egyptian Theater.
Los Angeles, CA, September 21st 2008. – The 12th Annual Los Angeles Latino International Film Festival (LALIFF) concluded on Friday, September 19th, with its Award Ceremony and Closing Night Gala. The event took place at the Egyptian Theater in Hollywood and celebrated the work of the filmmakers who presented their work in competition. The guests were surprised with an advanced special screening of the upcoming feature film Nothing Like the Holidays, directed by Alfredo de Villa.
The red carpet star-studded event included appearances by Gustavo Santaolalla (LALIFF’s GABI Lifetime Achievement Award 2008 recipient), Demián Bechir, Carina Ricco, Alexa Vega, Maya Zapata, Lupe Ontiveros, Rick Najera, Montserrat Roig de Puig, Marlene Forte, Simon Rex, Jesse Garcia, Rami Rivera Frankl and other celebrity guests, along with community leaders and entertainment industry experts.
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