Honorees & Filmmakers Dinner Announced for 7th Annual Awareness Film Festival – A Conscious Cinema

LOS ANGELES - Oct. 12, 2016 - PRLog -- The  7^th Annual Awareness Film Festival is in FULL SWING at LA LIVE Regal Cinemas in DTLA with screenings every night and is open to the public.  Tickets can be purchased online or in the West Garage behind the Regal Cinemas.  The festival started on October 6^th and will conclude on October 16^th 2016 with a veterans panel and screening prior to the Awards Ceremony and Closing Night Party.

On October 15^th, 2016, The 2016 Awareness Film Festival Vegan Honoree Dinner and Filmmaker Party will take place at PYO Gallery at 1100 S. Hope Street #105 in Downtown Los Angeles at 7pm.  2016 Awareness Film Festival will be honoring:

• Jorja Fox (Actress & Activist) – Jorja Fox is most well-known for her TV work on ER, West Wing, & CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.  Fox is a supporter of the Human Rights Campaign and has been a dedicated vegetarian since the age of 19, working with PETA to help promote vegetarianism as well as working with ADI to bring light to the suffering of anima circuses.  She has been an environmentalist and humanitarian who participates in many outreach causes.

• Ellie Laks (from The Gentle Barn Animal Sanctuary) – Ellie Laks is the Founder of The Gentle Barn Foundation, a national organization that rescues and rehabilitates unwanted animals, and heals people with the same stories of abuse and neglect. She is a celebrated animal welfare advocate, humane educator, and the author of "My Gentle Barn: Creating a sanctuary where animals heal and children learn to hope".

Ellie founded The Gentle Barn in 1999. She invented her own "Gentle Healing method" that allows old, sick, injured and terrified animals to fully recover using a mixture of Western medicine, holistic healing modalities, holding therapy and lots of love. Ellie is an expert in healing orphaned and sick animals, like puppies with Parvo and calves from veal crates. Ellie has hosted hundreds of thousands of at-risk, inner city and special needs children, war veterans, seniors, victims of domestic violence, and those in recovery from drug, alcohol, and gang affiliation.

To date Ellie has saved hundreds of animals and hosted over 300,000 guests. The Gentle Barn is currently home to approximately 200 animals. The Gentle Barn has two locations in Santa Clarita, California and Knoxville, Tennessee. It is her goal to build Gentle Barns in every state in America, "Teaching people kindness and compassion to animals, each other and our planet."

• Sara Cozolino (Photographer) – Sara Cozolino's photographs of animals go way beyond the standard mug shots of dogs and cats often offered by animal shelters and rescue groups. Simply put, her pictures give pets a better shot at finding forever homes.

A professional photographer, Cozolino has been devoting at least one day a week for two years doing volunteer camera work at Long Beach Animal Care Services, putting special touches and extra care in her portraits of dogs and cats, as well as the occasional bunny or reptile.  You can see some of Cozolino's work at her site saracozolino.com (http://www.saracozolino.com/#!/page/38874/gimme-shelter).

• Mary Catalano (of Rescue Roundtable) – Pooses & Pups Rescue is a non-profit that rescues cats, dogs, and other pets from Los Angeles's high-kill shelters and works to inprove the plight of homeless animals. Founder Mary Catalano is a professional standup comic who also hosts a rescue show on cable called Rescue Roundtable, which can be seen on various local public-access stations. We hope to inform and educate while having a little fun. Although rescue is not funny, there are some wonderful happy endings to share.

· Megan Blake and SUPER SMILEY (the "Super Smiley Adventure" on PetLife Radio) – In living with dogs, cats and horses, one thing I've learned is that if we are open to it, animals will lead us on amazing adventures! I believe animals can be healers and teachers, and with that in mind we explore every path of Pet Adventure we can find.

Whether it's Smiley, my giant mutt, hiking across New England and inspiring an entire Flash Mob Campaign 4 Pet Adoption; Tout Suite The Travel Kitty traveling over 130,000 miles giving travel tips; or Starfire, our beautiful Arabian, leading me on inner journeys of self-discovery; my life with animals is always an adventure. Add the "happy chemicals" pets bring and a smiling dog and our show appeared!

Academy Award Nominees, Top Pet Experts, Stars for Animal Rescue and Innovative Thinkers are all on A Super Smiley Adventure.  Pets lower our blood pressure, lower our heart rates and increase our happy chemicals. We are their leaders, but if we can be open to see where they lead us, we all can begin our own Super Smiley Adventure.

Tickets for the event can be purchased here: https://awarenessfestival.org/screening/vegan-honoree-dinner/

The Awareness Film Festival – A Conscious Cinema Celebration – is a dynamic festival promoting the awareness of world issues. Bringing together filmmakers, artists, educators, environmentalists, alternative health practitioners and other industry professionals, the Awareness Film Festival claims to inspire the public through this engaging, entertaining and unique annual event in the film capital of the world.

Themes represented in this year's films include: the American voting system, green and eco-friendly living, homelessness, gang/felon reform, the foster care system, veteran's issues, cancer survival, Animal treatment, GMOs, drug addiction, drug and policy reform, couch-surfing community, pilgrimages, mental health stories, vision loss, women's issues; stories of hope, the arts, spirituality, and current events.  Accompanying many presentations will be filmmaker Q&A's, often with talent in attendance.

Proceeds from the Awareness Film Festival benefit the non-profit organization 501(c)3 Heal One World (healoneworld.org).  This Los Angeles-based charity offers yoga, tai chi and alternative treatments to members of low-income and underserved demographic groups.  Heal One World seeks to educate people and provide them access to preventative health care, integrative health modalities, natural non-invasive treatments, and self-help techniques for the body, mind and soul.  In 2012-2014, it was rated a Top Nonprofit by GreatNonprofits.

Festival Site: awarenessfestival.org
Tickets (Full Festival Pass, Regular, Senior, Student, & Military): awarenessfestival.org/tickets-passes/
Festival Schedule:awarenessfestival.org/2016-festival-schedule/

Remaining Events
October 12^th: 3pm Environmental Film Panel: https://awarenessfestival.org/screening/panel10

October 14^th: 3pm LA City Homeless Panel: https://awarenessfestival.org/screening/panel11

October 15^th:
3pm Animal's Rock Panel: https://awarenessfestival.org/screening/october-15th-block-animals-rock/
7pm Vegan Honoree Dinner: https://awarenessfestival.org/screening/vegan-honoree-dinner/
9:30pm: Filmmaker Party: https://awarenessfestival.org/screening/filmmaker-party/

October 16^th:
11:30AM-1pm: Creating Dialogue: Media for Social Justice Panel: https://awarenessfestival.org/screening/panel7
6pm Veteran's Panel w/ Film: https://awarenessfestival.org/screening/october-16th-block-4A
8PM Closing Film w/ Awards: https://awarenessfestival.org/screening/closing-awards/
10pm-Midnight Closing Party: https://awarenessfestival.org/screening/october-16th-closing-party