Top > Entertainment > 2005 > October > 2005-10-25

`RebelFest` Finale Includes Michael Madsen and Deejay Ra

Independent film laureate Michael Madsen and Hip-Hop activist Raoul Juneja (a.k.a. Deejay Ra) met to discuss gangster poetry at the `RebelFest` Film Festival which took place at the Royal York Executive Hall September 11th in downtown Toronto. The two icons wanted to spread the word, the written word of poetry, that is, to high school students who have become uninterested in reading and literature.

Recording an exclusive high school and campus radio PSA in addition to planning new educational-themed initiatives for his latest poetry collection and audiobook, Madsen now joins fellow Tarantino alumni Robert Forster and American literary legend Elmore Leonard as a supporter of Juneja`s `Hip-Hop Literacy` campaign, encouraging movie screenplays and music themed books to students uninterested in reading as alternative literacy developing methods in the midst of entertainment media`s strongest digital age.

Juneja, considered `One of the entertainment industry`s most vocal and effective campaigners` (FilmInk), launched a Michael Madsen `grassroots media` tribute with PocketEssentials and Crash Cinema last week through his Lyrical Knockout Entertainment company, commemorating the `Sin City` and `Kill Bill` actor`s Toronto visit. Madsen`s former co-stars in over 100 productions since 1982 have included Al Pacino, Ben Kingsley, Uma Thurman, Mario Van Peebles, Kristanna Loken, and most memorably Harvey Keitel in Quentin Tarantino`s `Reservoir Dogs`, who presented Madsen with his 2005 Equinoxe Rebel Award at the `RebelFest` Toronto Finale.