Sanctum Advance Screening

[FW]

Hello,

This is an interesting "Cave Diving Event" that will honor Wes and generate funding for the New Florida Springs Institute.

Please pass this info on.

Thanks for your time.

Mark and Annette Long


----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Florida Springs Institute <thefloridaspringsinstitute@gmail.com>
To: listserv2@floridaspringsinstitute.org
Sent: Tue, January 18, 2011 11:48:18 AM
Subject:[Listserv2] Florida Springs Institute SANCTUM Screening Tickets Now on Sale

PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS NOW ONLINE
Sanctum Advance Screening to benefit the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute and The Blue Path

CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS, while supplies last

PRESS RELEASE

Sanctum Advance Screening to benefit Saving Florida's Springs and honor Wes Skiles

Gainesville, Florida, January 17, 2011 On February 2, an Advance Screening of the 3D epic underwater adventure Sanctum, from three-time Academy Award®-winning executive producer JAMES CAMERON, will be shown in RealD 3D to a select audience in Gainesville, Florida, as a benefit to Save Florida's imperiled springs and honor the pioneering work of local hero, the late Wes Skiles.

Co-written and produced by Australian explorer Andrew Wight, Sanctum is inspired by a freak incident that happened to 22 explorers, including Skiles and Wight while on a 1988 expedition to penetrate a dangerous cave system known as the Pannikin Plains cave in the remote Nullarbor plain. A rare storm hit without warning on the expedition's last day and a deluge of rain collapsed the cave system entombing them far below.

This one-time screening includes an extra 12 minutes of 3D footage shot at Ginnie Springs, Florida, the place where Cameron, Wight and Skiles gathered to film the material they would use to pitch Universal Pictures.

Only 238 tickets to the sole advance screening go on sale to the public on the FloridaSpringsInstitute.org website. The screening takes place Wednesday, February 2, 7:30 pm at the Regal Royal Park Stadium 16. Tickets to the benefit screening are $35.00 for regular seating. $50. 00 VIP seating includes the opportunity to meet Wight and hear tales of the original adventure.

The Sanctum Advance Screening is being held in honor of Skiles to benefit his great passion: saving his beloved Florida springs. The complete proceeds of the showing will directly benefit two springs projects of the non-profit Florida's Eden: the Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute and The Blue Path Campaign.

In the 3D epic underwater adventure, master diver Frank McGuire (RICHARD ROXBURGH of Moulin Rouge!, Mission: Impossible II) has explored the South Pacific's Esa'ala caves for months. But when his exit is cut off in a flash flood, Frank's key team—including 17-year-old son Josh (RHYS WAKEFIELD of The Black Balloon, Broken Hill) and financier Carl Hurley (IOAN GRUFFUDD of Fantastic Four series, W.)—is forced to radically alter plans. With dwindling supplies, the crew—including Carl's girlfriend, Victoria (ALICE PARKINSON of Where the Wild Things Are, X-Men Origins: Wolverine), and Crazy George (DAN WYLLIE of Muriel's Wedding, Chopper)—must navigate an underwater labyrinth to make it out. Soon, they are confronted with the unavoidable question: Can they survive, or will they be trapped forever?

In the 1988 incident which inspired the movie Sanctum, the world waited for word of the trapped explorers. Those on the surface, including Terri Skiles, looked for an alternate way into the cave. The divers below were also searching for a way out and at last, after two days, the last of the cave divers found their way out from deep within the collapsed cave. Giant boulders and rivers of water poured in as the entire mid-section caved in. All the while, using a few pieces of camera equipment that survived the accident, Skiles continued to film and whisper a narrative of events into the microphone.

The equipment perfected during this, and subsequent expeditions, was used by Skiles in his pioneering work to map and understand the caves deep within the Floridan Aquifer which feeds the more than 700 freshwater springs in Florida. Skiles, who passed away in July while filming off the coast of Florida is recognized as one of the world's foremost underwater explorers. His passion for saving Florida's Springs led him to help found The Blue Path Campaign in 2010.

Sanctum opens in theaters nationwide February 4.

# # #

For more information and interviews:

Contact:
Annie W. Pais
Executive Director
Florida's Eden
Coordinator of The Blue Path campaign
www.TheBluePath.org
awpais@aol.com
352-377-0777

Robert L. Knight, Ph.D.
Director
Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute
www.floridaspringsinstitute.org
bknight@floridaspringsinstitute.org
352-538-6620

Ross Ambrose
Colleague of Wes Skiles
ross@westsidestories.com
352-359-4256

Universal Pictures, Media Contact:
Patrick McHugh
Universal Pictures
Eastern Region Publicity & Promotions
825 8th Avenue - 30th Floor
New York, NY 10019
(212) 445-3829 - Direct
(212) 445-3840 - Fax