HealthCorps® and Actor Matthew Modine to Host Screening of Award-Winning Short Film Jesus Was a Commie in Sacramento's Crest Theatre

Panel Discussion to Follow on Current Cultural and Scholastic Climate in Country

NEW YORK, Nov. 29, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- HealthCorps® (www.healthcorps.org), a national wellness movement with a proven peer mentoring program in schools across the United States, and actor and producer Matthew Modine, announce the screening of Jesus Was a Commie, on Saturday, December 10, at 6 p.m. at the Crest Theatre in Downtown Sacramento.  The event also represents the first in a series of initiatives to introduce HealthCorps' new marketing campaign, "What r u hungry 4?" whose aim is to begin a serious dialogue in the U.S. as to what is truly driving the obesity crisis, food or hunger?

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Directed by Terence Ziegler and Matthew Modine, Jesus Was a Commie won the Founders Prize for best short film at the 2011 Traverse City Film Festival held in July and was recognized at several prestigious film festivals, including Clint Eastwood's Carmel Art & Film Festival 2011, the 2011 Vancouver International Film Festival, the 2011 Hamptons Film Festival and the 2011 Taormina Film Festival.  HealthCorps supports the message of the powerful film, which embodies a positive story of love and forgiveness, responsibility and hope at this challenging time in history with many Americans touched by a severe economic downturn and grappling for answers on purpose and direction.  To order tickets, please http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?agency=TDC&pid=7150457.

A panel discussion led by actor/director Matthew Modine will follow the screening. Other panelists are Daniel Zingale, Senior Vice President of Policy, Communications and Public Affairs of The California Endowment and Dr. Shawn Hayes, National Director Education of HealthCorps, Neuroscientist and Co-Founder of the Neotropical Grassland Conservancy.  Michelle Bouchard, President of HealthCorps will moderate the panel.  A special VIP reception with live music will be held at The Urban Hive, the home of HealthCorps' West Coast Offices. To purchase reception tickets, please http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/211482.

According to HealthCorps President Michelle Bouchard, "HealthCorps is committed to enhancing the health of teens and communities and mental strength is part of our core curriculum.  In bringing Jesus Was a Commie to HealthCorps' new West Coast home in Sacramento, we want to start a national dialogue and find out how we can cure the famine in America, one that we feel stems from a dearth in purpose, direction, friendship and love."

Founded by renowned heart surgeon and television talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz and his wife Lisa Oz to address the childhood obesity crisis gripping the U.S., HealthCorps is building a movement through its in-school peer mentoring program to not only help Americans discover what they are really hungry for and why but also to introduce the proper remedy.  The non-profit engages recent college graduates as Health Coordinators in public high schools in high needs communities to carry out a curriculum on nutrition, fitness and mental strength and introduce students to public service.  HealthCorps has a presence in 54 high schools in 13 states with programs that will impact about 32,400 students and over 64,800 community residents in the 2011-12 school year.

In July, HealthCorps opened a West Coast Office at the Urban Hive in the heart of Midtown Sacramento to accommodate its expanding California school network, which has grown from four high schools to 15 total schools throughout the state, including Sacramento Charter High School, Luther Burbank and Hiram Johnson High School. HealthCorps benefits from new partnerships with the California Endowment, the California Department of Public Health and Anthem Blue Cross Foundation, as well as continued support from the California Walnut Board.  In addition, HealthCorps has a new national sponsor, Evamor Water of Covington, Louisiana, which has invested over $1.2 million as the Official Water Sponsor to help expand HealthCorps across the country.

The screening of Jesus Was a Commie with HealthCorps Ambassador Matthew Modine participating in the subsequent panel discussion is part of HealthCorps' mandate to empower Americans to become health advocates to improve their communities' health and environmental conditions.

ABOUT HEALTHCORPS®
HealthCorps®, a 501 (C) 3 co-founded by renowned heart surgeon and two-time Emmy® Award-winning talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz and his wife Lisa, is building a movement to fight the childhood obesity crisis by helping Americans discover what they are really hungry for and why.  HealthCorps "Coordinators" carry out unique in-school and community programming targeting high-need populations. Using peer mentoring to deliver a progressive curriculum in nutrition, fitness and mental strength, HealthCorps Coordinators give teens purpose, help develop human character and inspire an interest in health and culinary arts careers. HealthCorps also serves as a unique research laboratory - exploring the complex, underlying causes of the obesity crisis and discovering and communicating solutions. HealthCorps is bringing many initiatives together to address the "Whole Child" and activate the students' mind, body and spirit. As a result, HealthCorps is transforming the educational paradigm one school at a time. The program network spans 54 schools in 13 states.  For more information, please visit at www.healthcorps.org and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/healthcorps and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/HealthCorps.

ABOUT JESUS WAS A COMMIE
Could it be argued that Jesus was a Communist? There's no question he was a revolutionary, but not with violence. His revolution involved a dramatic change in the way people thought; progressive and liberal thinking in a time of Empire. With no army and no weapons, he led people toward a new, more humane way of thinking; toward a philosophy of love and forgiveness. Jesus Was a Commie elegantly and intelligently captures an audience desperate to understand what is happening across our country. Using unambiguous language that openly presents two swamplands America is presently bogged down in: environmental degradation and partisanship. Actor Matthew Modine's words are as plain and simple as a parable from his film's title character. Jesus was a Commie is an avant-garde dialectical conversation about the world and the prominent issues of modern society. It recently won the Founders Prize for Best Short Film at Michael Moore's Traverse City Film Festival and is currently playing festivals worldwide.  For more information, visit www.jesuswasacommiefilm.com.

SOURCE HealthCorps