ELEVATE Film Festival Schedules Epic Finale to Launch Modern Pilgrim Chris Howe on 6,500 Mile Walk From Los Angeles to Brazil

ELEVATE Film Festival Schedules Epic Finale to Launch Modern Pilgrim Chris Howe on 6,500 Mile Walk From Los Angeles to Brazil

World's Only Socially Conscious Filmmaking Competition and Awards Show Brings Night of Cutting Edge Cinema to Los Angeles' 7,100-Seat Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Sunday, October 5

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- ELEVATE Film Festival, the first ever filmmaking competition to challenge the international film community to create works of social and global importance, announced today a blowout finale to close the evening at this year's event and to launch modern pilgrim Chris Howe on a 6,500 mile walk from Los Angeles to Mundau, Brazil. With the goal of demonstrating that ordinary people can achieve the extraordinary, Howe hopes to inspire people and societies to work harder at overcoming the differences that persistently divide and threaten the global community. The first steps of Howe's months-long journey come immediately following this year's ELEVATE event as he steps outside the doors of the Nokia Theatre L.A. Live and heads southward towards Brazil.

Founded by producer Nadia Salamanca and award winning filmmaker Mikki Willis, ELEVATE 5 will premiere 20 short films by some of the industry's hottest young talents for a night of cutting edge cinema devoted to stimulating positive change. When the show concludes, Howe's wife and two children will join him on the ELEVATE stage to say their goodbyes, after which the 7,000-plus ELEVATE guests will be invited to join him on the streets of downtown Los Angeles for the first five blocks of his walk. As part of the massive sendoff, ELEVATE organizers will ask guests to donate one dollar each to support Howe during his travels and a documentary short about the walk will be the final film of the event.

"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. "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."

Growing from just 500 attendees in 2005 to 3,600 at last year's star-studded event at Hollywood's Kodak Theatre, turnout this year is expected to top 7,000 guests, making ELEVATE the largest single screen film festival event in the world. "All Tribes Unite" is the theme of ELEVATE 5 with the competing filmmakers challenged to create works that inspire people and societies to break out of the limited thinking and prejudices that persistently divide mankind. The competition will be judged by a panel of industry heavyweights including Michel Shane (exec. producer I, Robot, Catch Me if You Can), A. Kitman Ho (producer Hotel Rwanda, Ali) and Martha De Laurentiis (producer Hannibal) who will evaluate entries in the categories of Music Video, Narrative Short and Documentary Short. Music videos from Apl of the Black Eyed Peas and Grammy Award winning Keb Mo will debut in the music video category.

ELEVATE is free to the public and tickets are awarded on a first come, first serve basis at the Nokia box office starting at noon on October 5. Additionally, a limited amount of guaranteed premium seats will be on sale for $35 and can be purchased through Ticketmaster or at the Nokia Box Office. For more information, please visit: http://elevatefilmfestival.com/. For more information on Chris' journey, please visit: http://www.iamwalking.org/.

ABOUT ELEVATE FILM FESTIVAL

Created by production company ELEVATE Films, ELEVATE Film Festival 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 filmmaking competition with a mandate to produce socially conscious works.

Source: ELEVATE Film Festival

CONTACT: Marci Coulson of Saeger Media Group, +1-310-691-4518,
marci@saegermediagroup.com, for ELEVATE Film Festival

Web site: http://elevatefilmfestival.com/
http://www.iamwalking.org/

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