Shrek appears to be moving away from the 'healthy role model' controversy and is instead appearing as the first feature film shown at a theatre created for children hospitalized at Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto. The theatre was spearheaded by filmmaker Barry Avrich, and cost $1 million (USD$910,000) to create, all the donations (money and equipment) were raised in one month. The theatre was created in an aging auditorium of the hospital.
Avrich believes this is the first charity of it's kind, providing sick children with the thrill of a night at the movies. He says, "This is a world of walls that we live in, and that especially goes for those in hospital. During a film, the walls come down; that's the definition of theater, when a kid can walk in, or be wheeled in, and completely forget about life and be a kid again."
Children too ill to be brought to the movie can watch from their rooms via closed circuit television and Avrich is working with studios to bring 3-4 first run movies to the hospital theatre each year. I love this story because it shows how your private passion (film in this case) can translate into something of value to other struggling souls. I am often paralyzed by the enormity of the problems of the world, I can't cure AIDS, but sometimes giving kids the escape of a night at the movies is enough to make a difference while scientists and doctors learn how to cure various diseases.
