“The Lion King” producer and Pulitzer Prize-nominated photographer to speak at SXU 2011 Spring Commencement

“Hand Held” filmmakers Don Hahn and Michael Carroll to receive honorary degrees at May 15 ceremony

Chicago (April 19, 2011)Award-winning film producer Don Hahn and photojournalist and Romanian Children’s Relief founder Michael Carroll will speak at Saint Xavier University’s 2011 Spring Commencement on Sun., May 15.

Hahn and Carroll will receive honorary degrees and give the Commencement speech at the Undergraduate Ceremony, which begins at 10 a.m. in the Shannon Center Main Arena at SXU’s Chicago campus, 3700 W. 103rd St.

Hahn produced some of the most successful Walt Disney animated films of the past 20 years, including Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Emperor's New Groove, Earth and Oceans. Hahn was the first producer to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar for an animated film for Beauty and the Beast and his films have been nominated for 18 Academy Awards. Hahn also has written several books, owns his own film production company called Stone Circle Pictures and currently is producing the remake of Tim Burton's Frankenweenie.

Carroll is a Pulitzer Prize-nominated photojournalist who was one of the first journalists to courageously travel into Romania after the fall of its communist regime in 1989. Upon his arrival, he walked into one of the most horrific scenes of the 20th century; the orphanages and pediatric AIDS wards in Romania. His incredible photographs and heart-wrenching stories ran in The Boston Globe and The New York Times, opening the eyes and hearts of the Western world to the plight of the Romanian children.

Hahn and Carroll recently held the Chicago premiere of their new documentary, Hand Held, at SXU. The film explores the overcrowded Romanian orphanages housing more than 400,000 children and Carroll’s efforts to tell their story and bring them aid, eventually resulting in him founding Romanian Children’s Relief. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his work. Watch video of the SXU premiere here.

-SXU-

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Rick Ducat, Assistant Director of Media Relations
O: (773) 298-3325
C: (708) 306-0402
ducat@sxu.edu