Posted on 04/22/2012 1:17:29 AM PDT by restorecivilsociety
The Way Nominated for Best Film at 2nd Annual Film Festival
LOS ANGELES Today, organizers of the Life Fest Film Festival, the premiere showcase for films that honor the value of human life and the unique importance of each life, announced that actor/producer Martin Sheen will receive the 2012 Spirit of Life Award. Now in its second year, the Festival will be held May 5-6, at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
Martin Sheen has been outspoken in his opposition to legalizing assisted suicide, a form of voluntary euthanasia, and in his opposition to abortion, said Brian Johnston, director of the Life Fest Film Festival. Life Fest seeks to affirm those stories and story tellers that reflect the unique value of the human experience and of each human life. Life Fest provides a forum to films that highlight a simple yet profound message: every life matters. Martin Sheens willingness to go against the zeitgeist and speak out for the value of each innocent life, is both brave and honorable.
In a July 2003, interview with The Progressive, Sheen stated: As a father and a grandfather, I have had experience with children who dont always come when they are planned, and I have experienced the great joy of Gods presence in my children, so Im inclined to be against abortion of any life I dont think abortion is a good idea. In 2008, Sheen served as a spokesman for Washington states Coalition Against Assisted Suicide. In an ad campaign against Initiative 1000, which legalized assisted suicide in the state, Sheen observed, People who are ill need real medical care and compassion, not lethal drugs.
In addition to the Spirit of Life Award, Sheens most recent film, The Way, in which he co-starred with his son and the films director, Emilio Estevez, has been nominated for Best Film. According to the films website: THE WAY is a powerful and inspirational story about family, friends and the challenges we face while navigating this ever-changing and complicated world. Martin Sheen plays Tom, an irascible American doctor who comes to France to deal with the tragic loss of his son (played by Emilio Estevez). Rather than return home, Tom decides to embark on the historical pilgrimage The Way of St. James to honor his sons desire to finish the journey. What Tom doesnt plan on is the profound impact this trip will have on him. Through unexpected and oftentimes amusing experiences along The Way, Tom discovers the difference between the life we live and the life we choose.
Life Fest recognizes that entertainment professionals actors, directors, writers, and producers alike have a unique voice and powerful tools at their disposal, Johnston added. We want to encourage them to follow Martin Sheens example by telling compelling stories that highlight the intrinsic value of life.
Interviews:
Life Fest Director Brian Johnston and Publicist Derrick Jones are available for interviews about Life Fest Film Festival. To arrange an interview, contact Derrick Jones at (323) 393-0674 or email lifefestpress@gmail.com. Members of the press are also welcome to cover the Festival. For a complete schedule of events and to register for credentials, please contact Derrick Jones.
About Life Fest Film Festival: Now in its second year, the Life Fest Film Festival is dedicated to showcasing films that reinforce the intrinsic worth of innocent human life and the profound significance of each life. Last years participants included Lamplight Entertainment director Jonathan Flora and his wife, actress Deborah Flora, actor/producer Clint Howard, actor Charlie Holliday, and actress Mell Flynn. The Life Fest Film Festival will take place May 5-6, 2012 at the Los Angeles Convention Center. To attend Life Fest follow this link lifefilmfest.eventbrite.com
P.S. Thanks for all your support!
Email the team at info@lifefilmfest.com
Well I disagree 100% on that point as well. Individual liberties are a cornerstone of conservatism, whereas intrusion on those liberties is tyranny. How can you argue on one end that conception creates a right to life, yet dictate to that same indivudual that they have no right to end their suffering? IMO that viewpoint is CRUEL and twisted. In any case I'm solid on mine, so have a great day.
Thank you...we’re doing fine now, as it’s been two years. Take care FRiend.
Agree Mich. I’ve seen several of my family members suffer horribly up to the end. So much so both my parents have DNR orders and clear instructions saying no ventilation.
Thanks! Quite a trip down memory lane - I was 7-12 years old when the Combat series was running so the show was big, serious stuff for me at that age.
We had cap guns too, but none that looked as cool as this! :-)
People change. Watch Mr. Sheen and see if he’s not becoming more conservative and stronger in his faith.
He may be a Hollywood lib but he is a good man when no one is watching. I know this first hand when he helped me in private and wanted nothing in return. I never watched his show but he is a good person in private.
Euthanasia is NOT suicide. Any of us can “off” ourselves and the only problem is between ourselves and God, if there is a God. But euthanasia fans always want someone else involved. And that’s when the Jack Kevorkians of the world step up to the plate - if that’s the last face you’d like to see before you die. What we need is better palliative and end-of-life care - not death.
I applaud his pro-life stance. I never would have guessed since he continues to support Democrats who are almost 100% pro-abortion. I will never understand how anyone can profess to be a Catholic yet consistently vote for and support pro-abortion candidates! Can someone please explain this to me?
My gun!
My other gun : )
If I still had mine, and if it were possible to fire it over the Internet, there is one whackjob right here on FR I’d love to rattle their windows, you probably already know who it is, lol
FRmail
Sometimes a prominent liberal advocate of a conservative position can do much good. Think, for example, of the way the NRA has successfully used guns as a wedge issue with rural Democrats to split the Democratic Party and win victories for the Second Amendment. Abortion seems to be a nastier issue for liberals and there are a lot fewer liberal supporters of pro-life causes, but let's be glad for advocates of truth in strange places.
I remembered the silver plastic guard on the top of the barrel...I could never figure out a way to buy it. But boy, did I ever lust after it.
Agreed.
However, I do admit that the moral issue of suicide is much cleaner to me than the moral issue of euthanasia.
Suicide is mostly a decision we make for ourselves, and logic isn’t always the driving factor. But even so, that decision is between us and God.
It is always that road, the slippery road, where people begin making decisions for others.
That is the one that will eat and erode a society.
But as long as there have been humans, there has always been the recognition inside us that we do indeed have the power to name the time of our passing if we choose to. God gives us that-he has to-the ability to choose.
Much as he gives us the ability to love him and believe in him...or not. He gives us the option to either give him the choice in the matter, or to take the control lever for ourselves. There are some who say that taking that power into your own hands is embracing a false idol. I don’t feel that way myself.
It is a test of faith.
It is said that God never gives you more than you can handle, but if suicide isn’t just that, what is? I have always hoped that the God I believe in would have the compassion (which he must) to accept suicides into his arms with the greatest love, and be with them in heaven.
Somehow, I feel it in my heart that it is as I have just written. I feel it with a conviction. But, I also understand, I cannot know for sure.
I work in medicine and have seen some awful things over the years, how hard it is for some people to die. Just awful. And just as we cannot know how God thinks on these things, one can’t help but feel that same inability to completely grasp how we ourselves would fare when confronted by some of those things. It makes me shudder.
A few years ago, I had a heart wrenching experience when a co-worker fell ill. A beautiful, young, vivacious woman, with a couple of kids, a loving husband, pets, work, doing it all and being universally admired while doing it, was a gem of a human being. A gem. We all loved her. All of us.
She became ill, debilitated and wasted away in a short period of time.
And she clung to life. That woman suffered and struggled to live. She did it for her kids and her husband. When she became so ill that the battle became too tough to bear, she said to a friend at her bedside “I don’t want to go.” And her friend (another co-worker I admire greatly for her intellect, commonsense and ubiquitous practicality) said “I know. But you can’t stay.”
And she replied “I know.”
She died shortly thereafter. It was as if she finally realized, that after fighting so hard, it was okay to relax your death grip on life. Almost as if you had a toll or a debt you were obligated to pay before you could pass.
And you fully realized that you have paid the toll.
That is what I thought she did. But the point is, how she accepted her condition with such...grace. At least outwardly. And you have to think: “How would I handle that?” It is a very sobering and humbling thing to dwell on.
The Mrs has a bag of red and blue “Good Ol’ USA vs Commies” plastic soldiers made in China.
Lets hear it for Packy East!
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