The World Needs Bebe Benet: Come Out Tomorrow And Party with BeBe

Two and a half years ago, I met and fell in love with a consummate performer by the name of Bebe Benet. Through our interactions, I also came to respect and adore a man named Nea Marshall. They are one and the same. Bebe Benet was the winner of the first season of RuPaul's drag race, and she is someone that I am very proud to call friend.

Bebe has touched the lives of so many people, not least my own. Though she doesn't know it, one winter night, as I was in the grips of my addiction, a chance word and a sweet text message from Bebe, after running into her at a bar in Minneapolis, lifted me out of the place I was and gave me the strength and spirit to step onto a different path. Now I have a chance to give back.

Tomorrow night, from 7pm-11pm in New York, there will be a fundraising party (details below) to support the post-production of a documentary concerning Bebe's life. To get in is cheap as can be...and $15 to support a Cameroonian-Minnesotan that has changed my life and changed the way we think about drag is no price to pay at all. Come out, meet Bebe, bid at the silent auction and help me begin to pay Bebe back for her friendship and love.

EVENT NAME:

"The World Needs a BeBe": Fundraiser Party for BeBe Zahara Benet Documentary

EVENT DATE & TIME:

Wednesday, July 29 2009. After work: 7-11pm.

VENUE:

BLVD - 199 Bowery at Spring Street. 21+ only.

COVER:
Cash at door: $15 or $10 with RSVP to: party@workandserve.com

WEBSITE:
www.bebedocumentary.com

FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=227938460712

TO MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION DIRECTLY:
https://www.fracturedatlas.org/site/contribute/donate/2367
EVENT DESCRIPTION:

Drag superstar BeBe Zahara Benet will be on hand to perform

World Premiere of our new fundraising trailer

NYC drag celebrity Mimi Imfurst will MC and perform alongside other special guests
DJ Barney Iller will spin

Barefoot Wine will be offering wine tastings and open bar for the first hour of the event
Amazing silent auction items available - bring your checkbook!


PARTY SPONSORS TO DATE:
Barefoot Wine, M.A.C. Cosmetics, Om Factory Yoga, Devachan Salon & Spa, D'mai Spa, Molton Brown, and Village Apothecary

FILM SYNOPSIS:

Nea Kudi Marshall is a goofy young Cameroonian man by day, and the staggeringly beautiful drag queen BeBe Zahara Benet by night. Since discovering his talent for female impersonation when he moved to Minneapolis from Africa only a handful of years ago, Nea has put everything he’s got into cultivating his craft. He his not a typical drag queen - his unique blend of dignity, spirituality, charisma and ambition set him apart from the others. Since 2006, we've been documenting his struggle to attain success on his own terms – while working to reconcile his unconventional career path with his family’s traditional values.

BeBe was recently named “The Next Drag Superstar of the World” by RuPaul himself as the winner of a new reality television show, RuPaul’s Drag Race (Logo/MTV Networks). BeBe now has an opportunity to move beyond lipsyncing to share his own voice with a huge new fanbase – but is his motherland ready to hear it?

PURPOSE OF BENEFIT:

The benefit is being held to raise finishing funds for our documentary film - specifically, enough to get us through our rough cut stage, thus putting us in a better position to attract distribution and finishing funds so that BeBe's message of positivity and self-acceptance can get out into the world.

BEBE: A DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions in behalf of BEBE: A DOCUMENTARY FEATURE FILM may be made payable to Fractured Atlas and are tax-deductible to the extent of the law.

NUMBER OF GUESTS EXPECTED:

appx 400-500

TYPES OF GUESTS:

Professionals in filmmaking, media, the arts, advertising and the GLBTQ community.