Area Nonprofit Hosts 'Meet Monica Velour' Premiere at the Palladium

It hasn’t even been one month since the city played host to the , but Hollywood returns to Birmingham tonight for the premiere of Meet Monica Velour at the .

The film, the latest from Oscar-nominated producer and former Farmington Hills native Gary Gilbert, stars Kim Cattrall and Dustin Ingram, both of who will be at the premiere and the VIP after-glow party. Keith Bearden, who wrote and directed the film, also will be at the premiere.

The premiere is sponsored by JARC, a Farmington Hills-based nonprofit that provides services for those with developmental disabilities. According to Rena Friedberg, JARC’s chief development officer, Gilbert’s grandparents founded JARC in 1969 and ever since, Gilbert has remained a strong ally of the nonprofit, its mission and its fundraising efforts.

According to Friedberg, all proceeds from the event will go directly to JARC.

This isn’t the first time Gilbert — the producer of Garden State and The Kids Are All Right — has partnered with JARC. Gilbert worked with JARC to host a private, advanced screening of 2010’s Oscar-nominated The Kids Are All Right at the Palladium last summer. Similar screenings of Garden State in 2004 and Henry Poole is Here in 2008 raised more than $60,000 for JARC, Friedberg said. Tonight, however, will be the JARC’s first red carpet premiere.

Meet Monica Velour tells the story of a teenager who meets his favorite porn star, now a struggling single mom. The film officially opens April 15 at the . Friedberg said even though JARC has rubbed shoulders with Hollywood before, it’s exciting to see so many big names coming out to raise funds for the nonprofit.

“We’re thrilled,” she said. “It’s an exciting evening when Hollywood comes out to support our organization,” she said.

Ticket sales have been relatively slow so far, according to Friedberg, especially since JARC only began publicizing the event late last week. In addition, the event is expected to cause little trouble for the city and the Palladium. Chief Don Studt said his department hasn’t been approached by the Palladium or JARC requesting assistance or extra police presence. According to Nancy Devoe, director of operations for the Palladium, the theater will operate as normal tonight except for the third floor, where the premiere, red carpet and after-glow party will take place.

Though she said she didn’t know much about the event itself, Devoe said she’s thrilled to be working with JARC.

“We’re very excited to hold the event,” she said. “We’ve worked with JARC in the past and we believe they’ve chosen us because of how we’ve handled events in the past and because the theater is such a beautiful venue.”

If you go

The film premieres at 7 tonight, with red carpet events kicking off at 6:30 p.m. A question-and-answer session with Gilbert and Bearden will follow the film. Tickets to the film are $50 and can be purchased at the door or at www.jarc.org/events. Attendees can also purchase $150 VIP tickets for special seating and passes to the after-glow party.