ELEVATE FILM FESTIVAL INSPIRES THOUSANDS
by Michael Allen Howard

The 2008 Elevate film festival (5th annual) was held on Sunday, October 5th and it was absolutely inspirational from start to finish.  Kicking it off in grand Hollywood style with a green twist, directors, producers and cast members posed for photos and stopped for interviews on the Green Carpet.

Held at the beautiful Nokia Theatre in downtown Los Angeles, the festival began with live performances by a group of percussionists and the Shamanic Cheerleaders who also did a few cheers outside including a well received "Go Obama" cheer.  The Shamanic Cheerleaders were dressed in green outfits and had sparkly pom pons and had signs that said BE HERE NOW.

There was a brief introductory video by Mikki Willis (one of the co-founders of Elevate).  He spoke about how he went to Ground Zero after 9/11 and started helping and was inspired by people coming together and working together to make a difference.  This inspired him to create the Elevate Film Festival 5 years ago.  This was followed by an invocation ceremony that was led by Carmen Vicente-Road, Woman of the Sacred Fire of Itzachilatlan, native of Ecuador.

There were 20 short films including comedy, drama and documentaries as well as music videos and even inspirational commercials.  These films were created with a budget of $1,000 and a 7 day deadline.  Each short was interesting and most were inspiring and made you think about how we can make a difference in the world and inspire others to do the same.   Some of the highlights were:

"Symbiotaxiplasm" - written and directed by Scott Cervine (comedy).  I laughed out loud.

"Help Wanted" - directed by Teo Guardino (drama).  It actual moved me to tears in the end and it won an award for Best Narrative.

"Eien" (Eternal) - This movie featured an old, Asian man looking at his wife's face in her coffin.  There are images of them in earlier stages of their relationship, when they met, how they fell in love, things that they did together, etc.  This short had a live soundtrack onstage while the film was being shown.  Singer Jody Watley sang Roberta Flack's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" with Eric Spicard on piano and Maria Scherer on cello.  The man's fingers leaves his wife's face at the last note and there wasn't a dry eye in the house.

"Keep an Open Mind"  - directed by Scott Altomare.  This clever film won the award for best Documentary and featured animation and children on the topic of "Being Right".

My favorite documentary was "Hear Me - The Imagine Project" - Directed by Shae Diyn.  This film captured children from around the world in places such as Iraq, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and Watts (projects in the Los Angeles area) singing "imagine" by John Lennon in their own language and saying what kind of possibilities for a better world they can imagine.

There were some great music videos such as "Mama Filipina" by Apl de ap of Black Eyed Peas (who's mother is actually a Filipina), "Peace" featuring the enlightened, Los Angeles based hip hop band, Luminaries and "America The Beautiful" featuring a great, bluesy rendition of the song performed by Keb Mo with images of black and white people living in harmony.  "Love Now", directed by Paul Sparks and written and produced by Kute Blackson was quite moving.

Inspirational commercials for Viesso Furniture, Dole, Indie 103.1, Waterless Grass and EarthFX were shown and they not only supported Elevate but showed how commercials can make a difference as well.

An inspirational awards ceremony capped off the event.  Anurag Gupta, (owner of The Difference Engine) one of the key people involved with manifesting the Elevate Film Festival  was on stage along with Mikki Willis and his fiancé Nadia Salamonca.  Shiva Rea (a nationally known yoga teacher) took the stage adorned with beautiful feathers.  Dr. Reverend Michael Beckwith (featured in "The Secret" and spiritual leader of Agape Spiritual Center in Los Angeles) accepted The Elevator Award for elevating the human spirit. Dr. Beckwith then honored the late Paul Newman, whose organization gave away hundreds of millions to charity.

All of the judges were recognized and every director was then invited to come on stage for audience recognition and each one said a few inspirational words.

Elevate Film Festival closed with a documentary called "I Am Walking" (www.iamwalking.org)  - Directed by Jeff Schneidner.  This film documents Chris Howe's preparation to leave the Nokia Theatre stage and walk 6,500 miles to Brazil over the next year and a half which will likely be made into a full length documentary.  When the film ended, Chris Howe, his girlfriend Jennifer, his aunt and his sons all came up on stage.  Chris spoke about showing people that anything is possible and taking people's prayers with him on his journey.  "We are incredibly honored that Chris has chosen to begin his walk with us and look forward to giving him as big a farewell as we possibly can," said ELEVATE founder Mikki Willis prior to the event. "More than anyone, Chris embodies ELEVATE's theme of selfless service for the common good and we look forward to supporting him on his trip."

- Thanks for this Review and Photos to member MICHAEL HOWARD, our Media Executive Recruiter and Business Coach.