For Immediate Release:

NEW FEATURE DOUCUMENTARY, “HAZE,” WARNS OF

ALCOHOL ABUSE AND HAZING ON COLLEGE CAMPUSES

In a time when feature films have brought insight to such major issues as global warming and health care, a major full-length documentary brings to the forefront a growing problem that is responsible for more than 1,700 deaths and hundreds of thousands of injuries each year … alcohol poisoning and hazing on college campuses.

The motion picture is titled “HAZE” and its purpose is to dramatically and thoroughly present an impressive case that it is time for leaders to wake up and attack this national health crisis that affects just about every campus in America. The documentary is due to be completed in the first quarter of 2008.

Executive produced by Michael Lanahan and Leslie Lanahan, who, in Sept, 2004, lost her son, Gordie Bailey, in an alcohol related hazing incident at the University of Colorado, the film features no narration. Instead, it uniquely weaves together a collection of approximately 35 interviews, many by national experts, on the subject of alcohol abuse on campuses. Evidence of the severity of the problem is presented through highly graphic and disturbing images filmed at campus parties, during emergency medical calls, and from police files.

“The intent is to use real life footage to showcase the problems, and then present experts, on film, who can give an objective perspective on the severity of alcohol abuse and hazing in university settings.” said Michael Lanahan.

Introducing a preview for the documentary is actress Robin Wright Penn, who was recently named as honorary chairperson of The Gordie Foundation, based in Dallas, TX. The Gordie Foundation was started in 2004 to primarily make students and parents aware of the problems alcohol and hazing present on campuses and to educate young adults on how to be responsible in saving the lives of those who may have had too much to drink. She chose to be affiliated with the foundation and the film because her two children will soon be headed to college and she wanted them to be knowledgeable on how to deal with these issues associated with campus life.

Produced by the Colorado Springs, CO film company, Watt Imagination!., the movie

is directed by Pete Schuermann who includes among his credits film projects for The Walt Disney Company, MGM Lions Gate, Raytheon and Yamaha.

“We selected Watt Imagination! due to their familiarity with the project, having produced

an Emmy Award winning short documentary on alcohol poisoning,” said Leslie Lanahan, “We felt from the very beginning that they had the same passion we have for the subject and also were confident that they would take ownership of our goal and objectives for the film.”

“We want to use the film to prevent other tragic deaths like what happened to Gordie.” according to Michael Lanahan. “We hope that this documentary will encourage our society to make the necessary changes for a safer environment on college campuses.”

The “soul” of the film is the story of Gordie Bailey who lost his life in a hazing incident as an 18-year-old freshman. He and 26 other Chi Psi pledges were told to drink four bottles of whiskey and six bottles of wine as part of the fraternity’s traditional initiation ceremony a month after he arrived on campus. Gordie was left alone after passing out and was found dead nine hours later by his fraternity brothers on the fraternity house’s library floor, near a couch where he had been left to “sleep it off.” His death was attributed to alcohol poisoning.

“Gordie’s death was preventable,” says his mother, Leslie Lanahan. “It happened in an environment unknown to many parents and high school students. By shedding light on this environment we hope for parents to have an opportunity to discuss important issues about college life with their children before sending them away from home. Likewise, students electing to join a fraternity should know that the pledging process may include dangerous traditions that only survive by deceit. We know Gordie’s soon-to-be brothers did not mean to kill him. They were ignorant about the dangers of alcohol poisoning and didn’t understand the consequences of their decisions.”

“Our goal is to educate college students in general, and fraternity and sorority members and athletes in particular, about the dangers of peer pressure, hazing and alcohol poisoning. Our dream is that they will stop these dangerous practices. Our hope is that they will know when someone is in danger from alcohol and call for help. Gordie would have been alive today if someone had known,” Leslie Lanahan concludes.

A special 10 minute preview of “HAZE” can be seen by going to www.hazethemovie.com.

Presented on film are a number of experts in the field led by Joseph Califano Jr., former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare. He founded and currently serves as Chairman of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.

Others featured are Chuck Hurley, Chief Executive Officer of MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving); T.J. Sullivan, CEO of CampusSpeak (leading providers of campus speakers on social issues affecting college students today); Dr. Susan Lipkins, a seasoned psychologist is an expert in conflict and violence on high school and college campuses. Dr. Lipkins is frequently interviewed on radio and television, and has been featured on Oprah, Larry King Live, the O'Reilly Factor; Barry Seaman, former TIME Magazine reporter and author of the book Binge, Excess in the Age of Disconnection; Ron Stump, Vice Chancellor of Student Affairs, University of Colorado; Dr. Henry Wechsler, College Alcohol Study, Harvard School of Public Health; and Dr. Aaron White, Alcohol Research, Duke University.

According to studies completed by the Harvard School of Pubic Health about 44% of college students binge drink. . It has been identified in other studies by college students as the “largest problem on campus.” Besides deaths, binge drinking has been estimated to have contributed to as many as 700,000 assaults, 600,000 injuries, nearly 100,000 sexual assaults or date rapes.