UPS Pilot is Award Winning Independent Filmmaker

When he’s not wearing brown and flying back and forth across the country, Dewayne Rudd is filming documentaries. Rudd, a pilot for the United Parcel Service (UPS), has made several documentaries on subjects ranging from veterans suffering from Alzheimer’s disease to a young boy’s exploration of NASA to an American singing group’s tour of China.

“My passion is to show the great humanitarian projects people are doing and to bring inspiration to others,” said Rudd. “There are thousands who make part of their life mission helping others. We want to shine a light on their great work.”

Rudd’s work has been chosen to be included in several film festivals, both in the United States and abroad. His film “Friends in Discovery” was recently chosen by the International Film Festival in Egypt for 2009.

“Friends in Discovery” is the story of 10 year-old Conner and his father as they explore the history of the space program. The film gives audiences Connor’s perspective and includes exciting archival footage of significant successes in NASA’s exploration of space.

“I wanted to provide a film that would ignite the scientific curiosity of our children and be an inspirational story for all ages,” says Rudd.

Another of Dewayne Rudd’s films “Into the Way of Peace,” follows the Americana Music Group during their two week tour of China. Americana performs a variety of music, from the classics to contemporary pop, for thousands of Chinese students. The film also includes traditional Chinese music from 1,300 years ago performed by Chinese scholar-musicians. “Into the Way of Peace” proves there is one world, shared; one race, human; and one way, peace.

More personal, Rudd chronicled the story of WWII and Korean War veterans in his “They Are Still There,” a documentary about those veterans now struggling with Alzheimer’s and dementia. The Korean War veteran was Rudd’s own father.

“‘They Are Still There’ declares the spirit of loved ones with dementia still survives, and they still deserve our love,” says Rudd.

Dewayne Rudd is president of the nonprofit production organization Cross & Flag Productions. www.crossandflagproductions.com

Stand up to Cancer raises $100M

In an unusual merging of the usually competitive three major television networks – ABC, CBS and NBC – the Friday night “Stand Up To Cancer” (SU2C) telethon raised more than $100 million for cancer research.  The figure included money raised from viewers since the campaign officially began, on May 28, 2008.

According to ABC’s website the telethon reached an estimated 170 countries and territories and was the most-watched show on broadcast television according to Nielsen Media Research.

A spectacular line up of talent including Jennifer Aniston, James Taylor, Scarlett Johansson, Meryl Streep, David Cook, Christina Applegate, Lance Armstrong, Jack Black, Kirsten Dunst, Charles Barkley, America Ferrera, Halle Berry, Hilary Swank, Forrest Whitaker, Jimmy Fallon, Keanu Reeves made personal appearances on the show.

SU2C funds will support research projects conducted by interdisciplinary, multi-institutional translational and clinical research “Dream Teams” and high-risk Innovative Research Grants from which ideas for new Dream Teams may arise. The funds will be administered through the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the largest scientific organization in the world focusing on every aspect of high-quality, innovative cancer research.

The Entertainment Industry Foundation is a charitable organization whose head, Lisa Paulsen, vowed that 100 percent of the money would go directly to fund research.

Cancer, the uncontrolled growth of diseased cells, spreads through the body invading healthy organs. The newly discovered map of genetic mutations behind some of the most aggressive cancers – glioblastoma and pancreatic cancer – are offering hope for new diagnostic tests and better treatments.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the country after heart disease, and The American Cancer Society predicts that 1,437,180 new cancer cases will be diagnosed this year alone.   More than 500,000 in the U.S. die from cancer which takes more than six million worldwide each year.