BUFFALO, NY (May 11, 2009) -- A screenplay about the life of abolitionist and civil rights activist Frederick Douglass earned top honors at the Buffalo Niagara Film Festival Sunday night at the Mansion on Delaware in Buffalo, N.Y. Rochester author Kerry Gleason's “North Star: The Life of Frederick Douglass” earned its first film festival award just blocks away from historical Underground Railroad sites and crossings into Canada. The feature-length screenplay was one of more than 40 scripts in the 2009 competition, which attracted entries from Canada and several other countries.

The Buffalo festival is just one of a few dozen U.S. film festivals that offer screenwriting competitions.

“I'm so pleased. I believe this is a powerful story. It's the right story, the right script and the right time,” Mr. Gleason said.

“This was my first film festival ever,” he continued. “The Buffalo Niagara Film Festival afforded me the opportunity to meet celebrities, film makers at every level and respected industry professionals who were open to sharing ideas, advice and encouragement. It exceeded my expectations.”

“North Star” has already been entered in other competitions to generate awareness for the screenplay. Mr. Gleason considers the script an action-adventure because Douglass was a fugitive slave who later became an ideological fugitive as a free man. The author says his script emphasizes the depth and breadth of Douglass' character, which allowed him to become one of early America's greatest freedom fighters and the first African-American to be an editor, a publisher, a bank president, a vice presidential candidate, a political commentator with credentials to sit in Senate chambers, a presidential appointment to a government post and a foreign diplomat. In the end, Douglass was also the first African-American to lie in state at the Capitol rotunda, before his body came to its final rest at Mt. Hope Cemetery in Rochester.

Mr. Gleason's screenplay earned a certificate, an 11-inch, cobalt-blue etched glass trophy and recognition from actors, producers, filmmakers and industry experts in attendance.

Gleason, 48, is an award-winning journalist and public relations executive who has made his mark on the food and beverage industry (Wendy’s International's "Where's the Beef?" campaign, Coca-Cola, the Buddy System and dozens of restaurants), medical and health care (Johnson & Johnson) and in internet marketing. As president of Gleason Public Relations and AdWorks, he's been a marketing consultant for about 200 clients and with dozens of entrepreneurial start-ups. “North Star” is his second feature-length screenplay, following “The Feeney Luck,” a romantic comedy that is also unproduced. He is no stranger to Buffalo, where he operated the Tuesday Night Supper Club, organizing about 30 unique dinner events from 2003 to 2005. In 2007, he launched Pizza All-Stars™ as a fund raiser to help the ALS Association fight Lou Gehrig’s Disease. The St. Bonaventure graduate calls Irondequoit, N.Y. home.