'Lincoln' DVDs to Go to All U.S. Middle and High Schools

4:07 PM PST 2/11/2013 by Rebecca Ford

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Participant Media's social action campaign also includes screenings of Spielberg's Oscar-nominated film at 8 U.S. towns named Lincoln on Feb. 12.

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Participant Media said Monday that in conjunction with its upcoming social action campaign, “Stand Tall: Live Like Lincoln,” DVDs of Lincoln will be distributed to all public and private middle and high schools in the U.S. once the DreamWorks Pictures/20th Century Fox film becomes available on home video.

“As more and more people began to see the film, we received letters from teachers asking if it could be available in their classrooms,” says Spielberg in a statement. “We realized that the educational value that Lincoln could have was not only for the adult audiences -- who have studied his life in history books -- but for the young students in the classroom as well.”

The DVD package each school will receive includes an educator’s guide so that teachers can talk about the real-life impact of the 16th president.

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Also as part of the "Stand Tall: Live Like Lincoln" campaign, Participant Media will screen the Oscar-nominated film to eight U.S. towns named Lincoln on Feb. 12 -- which is the date celebrated as Abe Lincoln's birthday. Then, in mid-March, 15 Lincoln high schools across the country in largely underserved communities also will get screenings of the film. Each school will also receive new audiovisual equipment, including a 120-inch portable screen, Blu-ray and DVD player, projector and new speakers.

Lincoln goes into the Feb. 24 Oscars with a leading 12 nominations, including best picture, best director, best actor (Daniel Day-Lewis) and best supporting actress (Sally Field).