Neuro-Cinema and Beyond Gala Promotes Awareness

The Tarble Atrium and Café at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica was bustling with about 150 guests Sunday evening for the . The gala was the kick-off event for the Neuro-Cinema and Beyond film series, an effort by the Topanga Film Institute, Saint John's and the John Wayne Cancer Institute, aimed at bringing more awareness to the brain.

Patch blogger, , who also works for the Topanga Film Institute, organized the event.

The event began with a silent auction, featuring artwork and jewelry. The proceeds went toward brain tumor research led by Saint John's neurosurgeon Dr. Daniel Kelly.

Guests also had an opportunity to cast their vote for their favorite function of the brain. The choices for favorite brain function were emotion, positive thinking, intuition, memory, creativity, language, logic, or other. When the votes were tallied, creativity captured the most votes.

Following a dinner, which featured brain-shaped cupcakes for dessert, Taylor introduced the film The English Surgeon. The documentary followed a British neurosurgeon on one of his many trips to the Ukraine, where he offered his services free of charge to patients who desperately needed health care.

Geoffrey Smith, the director of The English Surgeon, then joined the audience from London via Skype for a question-and-answer session. Dr. Kelly also fielded questions about the brain, new technology and what it takes to be a good neurosurgeon.

During the discussion, many guests said they were moved by the documentary and were genuninely concerned about the patients profiled in the film. Many audience members also began asking about how the brain works and what the surgeons were doing in some of the scenes, which Kelly and Smith were eager to answer.

If the goal was to get people thinking about what's going on upstairs—judging by the discussion—the event did just that.

"As I stood at the podium looking out at an incredibly diverse and expansive audience, I felt a great sense of hope, actually," said Taylor. "The media can be used in such positive ways and I was convinced that every single person was going to walk out with a new perspective on the magnitude of their brains, and this knowledge in some fashion would take not only their creativity to new frontiers, but more importantly, their humanity."

There will be two more film screenings in the series:

Jonna's Body, Please Hold
Feb. 19 at 2:30 p.m
Santa Monica Library, 601 Santa Monica Blvd.
For more information, click here.

Marwencol
Date, time and location have not yet been determined.
For more information, click here.

RSVPs are required for the screenings, so please click the links above for more information.

• For the latest blog posts from LG Taylor, .
• For information about St. John's Health Center, click here.
• For information about the Topanga Film Institute, click here.
• For information about the John Wayne Cancer Institute, click here.