FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: March 22, 2011
Ed Patterson: 404-213-3106or edvol@bellsouth.net
Candi S. Cross: 678-768-0694 or services@candicross.com
Filmmaker Lee Daniels to Appear at HRC Atlanta Gala Dinner May 14
Tickets for the 24thGala Dinner and Auction on Sale Today!
ATLANTA—HRC Atlanta is thrilled to announce Lee Daniels, producer and director of the courageous films Shadowboxer, Monster’s Ball, and Precious,will appear at the 24th Gala Dinner on May 14. Daniels, whowas the first African-American director to be nominated by the Directors Guild of America, will appear with Mo’Nique, who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in Precious. Mo’Nique will be presented with the Ally for Equality Award during the signature event.
Preciousreceived six nominations, including Best Picture, for the 82nd Academy Awards.The Hollywood Reporter called Precious “a disturbing masterwork of human survival,” and Variety dubbed it “courageous and uncompromising, a shaken cocktail of debasement and elation, despair and hope…helmer Daniels demonstrates a remarkable, balletic ability to juggle emotional extremes.” The film was distributed by Lionsgate with assistance from Tyler Perry and Oprah Winfrey, who said of the film, “I've never seen anything like it... It's so raw and powerful, it split me open.”
Daniels' background is filled with bold stories as real and gritty as the narratives from the films he creates. By the age of 21, Daniels had founded and was running his own health care agency, providing nurses to private homes and hospitals; he was simultaneously trying to be a screenwriter. After selling his health care business and giving up screenwriting, Daniels began managing actors such as Loretta Divine, Michael Shannon, Natasha Kinsky, and Aishwarya Rai. He turned to producing as a natural result of trying to find and create great material for his clients; the organic leap to directing came soon after. Daniels received the HRC National Visibility Award this past October at the HRC National Dinner in Washington, DC.
The 24th Annual HRC Atlanta Gala Dinner and Auction will take place at the Atlanta Marriott Marquis on Saturday, May 14. For more information on the dinner and purchasing tickets, please visit: http://www.atlantahrcdinner.org. Tickets will sell quickly and will not be sold at the door. You are encouraged to buy today.
Note to reporters:Photo opportunities and brief interviews may be available on site for a limited time before the dinner program at the discretion of each speaker and dependent upon the event schedule. Please call HRC’s media contacts to secure media passes and special requests or for questions and story ideas.
The Human Rights Campaign is America's largest civil rights organization working to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. By inspiring and engaging all Americans, HRC strives to end discrimination against LGBT citizens and realize a nation that achieves fundamental fairness and equality for all.
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Our intellects and souls are continually fed with experiences of love and loss, joy and suffering. Through sharing our stories with others, we give perfect meaning to the essence of who we are as individuals and collectively. As the conversations continue in office settings, at dinner tables, on Facebook.com, in airplanes, and in the Oval Office, miracles happen! We fall in love, do business around the world, rebuild entire continents, and pass historical legislation as a result of these stories. Help us keep the conversations going. As a lesbian, gay man, bisexual or transgender person, straight ally, parent or family member, what is your story? This year, the 2011 Human Rights Campaign Atlanta Gala Dinner and Auction seeks to focus on our collective stories and the rich advancements for equality that are achieved when others connect real stories with the cause. 
