In preparation for the upcoming kick- off of the adoption advocacy documentary, “STUCK” with its recently- announced 60- city North American premiere tour in February, "STUCK" Executive Producer, Craig Juntunen will be previewing his award- winning film on Thursday evening, January 24, 2013 at 8 PM at The Lutheran Church of The Resurrection, 420 Stewart Avenue in Garden City.
Mr. Juntunen is a successful entrepreneur, author, filmmaker ("Both Ends Burning") and founder of the International Adoption Movement. He attended the University of Idaho where he distinguished himself on the gridiron and was named to the Idaho Sports Hall of Fame prior to playing quarterback in the Canadian Football League. He built and ultimately sold a very successful company on the west coast and has parlayed what he learned as a leader on the field and in the boardroom to become a passionate advocate for innocent orphans around the globe and a tireless supporter of the concept that “Every child’s most fundamental need and most basic human right is to grow up in a loving, nurturing and caring family”.
“STUCK” chronicles the worsening situation currently being faced by adoptive parents worldwide as they attempt to consummate an increasingly difficult, more expensive and sometimes impossibly red tape- laden process of bringing an adoptable child into their families. After being shown at Michael Moore’s Traverse City Film Festival it subsequently won the coveted “People’s Choice Award” at the Heartland Film Festival last summer, prior to being shown to members of Congress and their staffs in the Capitol building in Washington, D.C., under the auspices of Senator Mary Landrieu (D. La), a champion for adoption rights to her colleagues in Washington and to policymakers overseas.
Two adoptive Garden City families, The Oellrich and Powers families appear in the film as a part of “STUCK’s” effort to show how successful the outcome of the adoption process can be if it is allowed to work as it was intended.
The barnstorming bus tour is the brainchild of Mr. Juntunen, Samuel Goldwyn Films which recently acquired public distribution rights to “STUCK” and of “Both Ends Burning” in their ongoing commitment and effort to mobilize the public to support and defend orphans and their prospective adoptive parents rights to become family. The movement is a true grass roots approach to raise awareness and ultimately to effect real and lasting change by re opening countries around the globe to International adoptions. The tour begins in late February in Washington, covers more than 17,000 miles, crisscrossing the lower 48 states over the following three months before returning to D.C. in May. It will culminate with a “Childless Stroller March” on the Capitol.
Please visit BothEndsBurning.org for more information about the movie, the movement and the organization and to see how you can assist in effecting critical change on these helpless orphans' behalf.
The Lutheran Church of the Resurrection, “a Christian Community of Faith” is hosting this event as a part of its ongoing commitment to and focus on children, youth and family ministries.
