Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS will be hosting a free advance screening of "Waking Sleeping Beauty" March 16 at 7:30 PM at The Directors Guild of America. Director Don Hahn and producer Peter Schneider will hold a discussion following the screening.
Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairy tale, as it chronicles the time from 1984 to 1994 at Walt Disney Studios, when a perfect storm of people and circumstances changed the face of animation forever. It is a story of clashing egos, out-of-control budgets, escalating tensions... and one of the most extraordinary creative periods in animation history.
Director Don Hahn (producer of Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King) and producer Peter Schneider (former chairman of the studio), key players at Walt Disney Studios feature animation department during the mid1980s, offer a behind-the-magic glimpse of the turbulent times the animation studio was going through and the staggering output of hits that followed over the next 10 years. Artists polarized between the hungry young innovators and the old guard who refused to relinquish control, mounting tensions due to a string of box-office flops, and warring studio leadership create the backdrop for this fascinating story told with a unique and candid perspective from those that were there. Through interviews, internal memos, home movies and a cast of characters featuring Michael Eisner, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Roy Disney, alongside an amazing array of talented artists that includes Steven Spielberg, Richard Williams, John Lasseter and Tim Burton, Waking Sleeping Beauty shines a light on Disney animation's darkest hours, greatest joys and its improbable renaissance. Waking Sleeping Beauty is a Stone Circle Pictures/Red Shoes Production.
The film is set to open March 26 at Landmark's Sunshine Cinema (143 East Houston Street). Tickets are free and are first come first serve. Visit http://www.broadwaycares.org/Page.aspx?pid=781 to make reservations.
For more information, visit www.wakingsleepingbeautymovie.com.
