Walter Reed Medical Army Complex to premiere "Unbeaten" for 300 Wounded Warriors

April 23, 2010 - PRLog -- The inspirational documentary film that's qualified for Academy consideration for 2011, is doing its part to earn its place as an independent film of courageous spirit and humanitarian triumph.

Vanilla Fire Productions and Polaris Media Group are having a premiere for all the wounded warriors (just like the Sam Worthington/Jake Sully paraplegic character in Avatar) at the Red Cross Building 41 on the Walter Reed Medical Facility Complex on May 12th, 2010.

The President and the First Lady and other high dignitaries have all been sent invitations and it would be a very uplifting evening for the warriors for more stars to show their support and be in attendance and/or help promote the event as a day of healing and resolution for these men and women who have made supreme sacrifices.

James Cameron tells why he chose a paraplegic Marine to be his main character in Avatar at the recent Global Green Pre-Oscar Party when he was interviewed by "Unbeaten" producer and GreenTwithTamara.TV eco TV host Tamara Henry, aka "Green T" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRHDEWu_J2s



This event will be hosting 300 wounded Marines (just like Sam Worthington's "Jake Sully" character in Avatar) at the Red Cross Building 41 of the Walter Reed Complex on May 12th, 2010. It's unbelievable how beautifully the messages of these films are interconnected and interwoven, just like the message behind Avatar implies. We are all one.

One of the producers of Unbeaten, Tamara Henry of GreenTwithTamara.TV, recently joined forces with Positive Impact Magazine at the Red Cross "Red Tie Affair" on April 17, 2010:
Photos: www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165700&id=562863158&l=b88fbfb1fa
www.positiveimpactmagazine.com/celebritiesjadapinkettsmith.html (Red Cross)
www.positiveimpactmagazine.com/wordpress/?p=1093  (UnbeatenTheMovie.com)

Unbeaten filmmaker Steven C. Barber recently teamed up with Actor Sam Worthington to bring the paraplegic stars of Unbeaten to the Avatar premiere, the first two movies of the decade that both feature a paraplegic Marine veteran. Sam Worthington gave special invites to the only wheelchair attendees at Avatar's premiere, and two of the filmmakers from Unbeaten.  Filmmaker Steven C. Barber and Producer Tamara Henry along with paraplegic wheelchair racers Chris Kohler and Edwin Figueroa were honored guests who "walked" the blue carpet at the Mann's Grauman Chinese Theater December 16th, 2009. Steven C. Barber was interviewed by various media outlets, including REELZ Channel. Inside the theater before the film began, the wheelchair racers visited with Stephan Lang, Brendan Fraser, Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Bill Paxton. At the After-Party in the Grand Ballroom the wheelchair racers enjoyed visiting with Sam Worthington, Sigourney Weaver, Danny DeVito, Tom Arnold, and a few other stars.
AVATAR PREMIERE PHOTOS AND VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1fhChyURVU
Wheelchair athlete Jeremy Newman was also present for the evening. Others in attendance included Lois and "Buzz" Aldrin, Jamie Lee Curtis, Rob Silverstein and many others. The filmmaker then went on to appear on CNN Larry King Live December 19th, 2009: http://www.youtube.com/stevencbarber

Barber has also been known to use his filmmaking prowess to get legislation passed to bring home MIAs from WWII with his Ed Harris narrated doc on Discovery's Military Channel and now, to raise the profile of the disabled...
Barber's first film: http://www.hulu.com/watch/74507/return-to-tarawa
JAPAC has invited Barber back to Tarawa to document their mission to uncover missing Marines from the 2nd Division and Barber is actively seeking and accepting funding for this next follow-up documentary. The Military Channel's Director of Development says, "Return To Tarawa: The Leon Cooper Story exceeded our viewership expectations and garnered unprecedented attention from the mainstream media. We are aware that Mr. Barber will be going along to document this mission."

Vanilla Fire Productions has teamed up with Polaris Media Group to get the amazing film Unbeaten all around the world to save lives. Director Steven C. Barber, producers Shane Krider, Greg Strom and Tamara Henry have all come together for one synergistic mission, and that is to raise the profile of the disabled athlete and disabled American.

"Unbeaten" was recently privately pre-screened for 200 spinal cord doctors and medical professionals at Walter Reed hosted by Doctor Rory Cooper from the University of Pittsburgh.
http://docs.google.com/View?id=ddb56tbv_496fxtrx3d7

Unbeaten will make you laugh, make you cry and make you stand up and cheer! These men and women show the entire world what can be done and words like "disabled" and "obstacle" are only that...words!!

Barber was stunned when he was in Beijing filming this documentary and out of 6000 journalists found out that he was one of only a handful of journalists from America. Mr. Barber called all of the major networks and his pleas for coverage fell on deaf ears. It has now become a driving mission to get all of the media possible to focus in on Vancouver 2010 Paralympics and London 2012 Paralympics. The producers are using "Unbeaten" as a platform to raise the profile of the disabled in a positive and awe-inspiring way!

This three year odyssey to finish the film came with the help of some of the highest profile individuals in the world including Dan Aykroyd, Clint Black, JP Dejoria, Steve Forbes, Eli Broad, T. Boone Pickens, Cher, Billy-Jean King, Tony Hawk, Paula and Sumner Redstone, Larry Hagman, Carole Bayer Sager, Mark Burnett, Steve Jobs, Norman Lear, Lee Roy Mitchell and Pamela Anderson. An eclectic group to be sure! http://www.polarisglobal.com/giving_back

Vanilla Fire Productions and Polaris Media Group have teamed up for the project Unbeaten, the second film from award-winning documentary filmmaker Steven C. Barber which made its debut early January 2010. Barber took the Paralympic Gold Medalist and Marine Veteran www.OzSanchez.com on a world-wide trek including Australia, the Sundance Film Festival, and the Vancouver 2010 Paralympics. Vanilla Fire Productions and Polaris Media Group premiered this film in NYC and LA in early January 2010.    

The wheel-chair protagonist in "Unbeaten" is real life paraplegic Oz Sanchez. Iraq and Afghanistan veteran who not only is a paraplegic... not only one of the stars of Unbeaten... but is the reigning Paralympic Gold Medalist... the fastest man in the world in a wheelchair:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=up7Hre2xTTA

The film takes us into the 55 mile-per-day grind of three wheelchair racers, Chris Kohler, Geoffrey Erickson and Edwin Figueroa. The story transitions midway through as the filmmaker follows the elite racers of the US Paralympics squad, Oz Sanchez (current Paralympic Gold Medalist and fastest man in the world in a hand cycle) and Alijandro Albor (Silver Medalist) in their quest to medal at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics.

Unbeaten debuted in January 2010 and has qualified for Academy consideration for 2011. Partial proceeds from this film will be given to the Challenged Athletes Foundation. This foundation has secured over 26-million dollars in funding in its 16 years of operation, and the founder, Bob Babbitt who is also the editor for Competitor Magazine has embraced the film and debuted the first trailer for the public on Dec 19th, 2009 at an exclusive 400 person event for the Ironman. More information can be found www.PolarisMediaGroup.com and www.VanillaFire.com and www.UnbeatenTheMovie.com