Elevate Festival of Film and Music Brings World's Only Socially Conscious, Guerilla Filmmaking Competition to Hollywood's Kodak Theatre

Elevate Festival of Film and Music Brings World's Only Socially Conscious, Guerilla Filmmaking Competition to Hollywood's Kodak Theatre

Fourth Elevate Festival Features Alanis Morissette, India.Arie, Lisa Gerard, Missy Higgins and The Cat Empire, among other Award Winning Producers and Film Makers from around the Globe

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- The Elevate Festival of Film and Music, the first ever guerilla filmmaking competition to challenge the international film community to create works of social and global importance, announced today that the fourth Elevate Festival will premiere on Saturday, September 15th at the prestigious Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California. Produced by acclaimed director Drew Heriot (The Secret) and festival founder and award winning filmmaker Mikki Willis, Elevate is the first film festival to be invited into the 3,400 seat Kodak, home of the Academy Awards.

Highlighting the broad industry support for the September event, participants include Grammy Award winning artist, singer/song writer/activist Alanis Morissette, acclaimed poet and performer Saul Williams, producer Brian Gerber (The 11th Hour), platinum selling and Grammy Award-winning artist India.Arie, cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth (Fight Club), Golden Globe-winning composer Lisa Gerard (Dead Can Dance), award winning producer Mark Harris (Crash) and Scott Ross, founder of Academy Award-winning visual effects company Digital Domain. Other participants include one of Australia's biggest artists, ARIA award winning and nine (9) time platinum status singer-songwriter Missy Higgins, international ska band The Cat Empire, underground hip-hop stars Elevaters and the MTV-launched musical phenomenon Cipes and the People.

Marrying the power of film and music as vehicles for social change with the excitement of a guerilla challenge, the Festival launched in December 2005, screening eight short films to an audience of 500 at Golden Bridge Yoga Studio in Hollywood. The overwhelming success of the first Festival led to subsequent events at the Ford Amphitheatre and Pasadena Civic Auditorium and participation of industry luminaries including actors Daryl Hannah and Derek Luke, producer Ross Grayson Bell (Fight Club) and Grammy Award-winning producer Linda Perry who has written and produced hit songs for artists including Christina Aguilera and Pink.

HOW IT WORKS

On Saturday, September 8th, just one week prior to Elevate IV, the participating producers and directors will draw the topic they are to produce. They then have 48 action-packed and tension-filled hours to complete their project which will be screened on September 15th at the Kodak Theater. The challengers will be competing in three categories: Music Video, Narrative Short and Documentary Short.

"The overwhelming support and interest we've received speaks both to the desire of the international film community to effect positive change and the thrill of a high-stakes competition among talented artists," said Mikki Willis, founder and director of the Elevate Festival. "Imposing the 48 hour timeframe really brings out the creativity in our directors and serves as a great metaphor for the huge strides we can make in important areas such as the environment, health and poverty if we really put our hearts to it."

The search for participating directors is global, supported through numerous filmmaking outlets and networks. Socially conscious topics are carefully selected through a world wide search, with topics chosen based on whether the audience will be left feeling elevated and most importantly-in action!

"Special attention is given to topics that help us complain about all that is right in the world," said co-producer Drew Heriot, most recently known for his work with The Secret. "This year we have films made in Mexico, Australia, India and the US and we are confident our rapid expansion is directly related to the world's thirst for uplifting entertainment."

The Elevate Festival is free to the public and wristbands are awarded on a first come, first serve basis at the Kodak box office, on Level 2 of the Kodak Theater, the night of the festival starting at 6:30pm. Additionally, a limited amount of guaranteed premium seats are on-sale now at the Kodak box office and through ticketmaster for $22.

This year's generous sponsors include Reed Smith LLP, LA Weekly, Panther Management, Namaste Interactive, Yogamates.com, Whole Life Times Magazine, Current TV, Escents Aromatherapy and NOEMATIKS.

Past winners at the Elevate Festival include Lilakoi Moon (formerly Lisa Bonet) for Best Documentary Director and Best Documentary for Waking Compton and Cree Summer for Best Musical Artist.

ABOUT THE ELEVATE FESTIVAL OF FILM AND MUSIC

Created by production company Elevate Films, the Elevate Festival of Film and Music is the fastest growing film festival in the world. Created to challenge the international film community to produce works of social and global importance, Elevate is the first film festival to combine a guerilla filmmaking competition with a mandate to produce socially conscious films.

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Source: The Elevate Festival of Film and Music

CONTACT: Katy Saeger, +1-310-597-2337, katy@saegermediagroup.com or
Erica Gimbel, +1-516-448-4313, erica@saegermediagroup.com, both of Saeger
Media Group for The Elevate Festival of Film and Music

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Profile: International Entertainment