"I Have Dreams Dammit!" Documentary Launches Production on Martin Luther King Jr. Weekend

    /24-7PressRelease/ - HOLLYWOOD, CA, January 12, 2007 - Lisa Murray, the independent filmmaker responsible for the popular internet video, "Free Hugs in Hollywood", (which was recently featured on Yahoo's home page) is launching production on her feature documentary, "I Have Dreams Dammit!" a film about the pursuit of a dream. "It is total serendipity that the production start date fell on the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. With independent film, you take what you can get when you can get it - this weekend is when the resources opened up and so I moved forward with it. I couldn't have planned it better than this! Dr. King's work is a huge inspiration in my life and with this film," says Murray.

Murray takes Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech to the next level in the title of her documentary, "I Have Dreams Dammit!" Murray explains, "I wanted to talk to various 'dreamers' and not only try to figure out what this thing is that pushes them to create something big like a dream, but also take a real look at it, the frustrations, the delays, and the heartaches." And she would know. She has been pursuing her dream of becoming a full-time filmmaker long enough to know the "realities" behind the hype. She is capturing her own personal journey through a series of video blogs on her popular YouTube channel. (Total views for all of Murray's online videos are over half a million views.) The film will spotlight various 'dreamers' who have gone for their dreams and stuck it out through the hard times. (Subjects include: a first generation Italian man starting a family-run winery in Northern California, a Nigerian music producer and artist making his dream real in Los Angeles, an investment banker turned screenwriter, and more.)

Hollywood fame has flirted with Murray, but she has yet to own it. She was the Grand Prize winner in Entertainment Tonight's "Search for the Caress Confidante" in late 2005. Her "...creatively scripted and directed submission" (ETonline.com) earned her the prize. After viewing hundreds of entries, celebrity casting directors selected five finalists whose video submissions aired on Entertainment Tonight a month before the Emmys. A panel of celebrity judges (one of which included Emmy award-winning actress Kathryn Joosten) were then given the final task of choosing the woman with the style, confidence and radiant skin to be the first-ever Caress Confidante, which was announced two weeks before the 57th Emmys on Entertainment Tonight.

As the Caress Confidante, Murray walked the red carpet at the Emmys where she rubbed elbows with the hottest stars in the television industry. Her prize also included a week long stay at the posh Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel (the "Pretty Woman" hotel), had a luxury limo at her disposal, and was a VIP guest at many star-studded Emmy events including the Entertainment Tonight/People Magazine Emmy party. The ET cameras followed Murray to capture her week of living like a star and viewers followed along by reading her blog entries and by voting on her designer dresses and shoes on ETonline.com

Just days before Christmas, Murray's "Free Hugs in Hollywood" video was featured on Yahoo's home page. Within just a couple of hours of the Yahoo feature, the video had been viewed over 250,000 times and Murray was flooded with emails and calls thanking her for her Hollywood installment of the "Free Hugs" movement started by Juan Mann. The Australian Mann was a recent guest on the Oprah show where he spoke about the movement.

SkyLife Productions is a film production company.

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