DVD Release Today; Donate Life Hollywood Film Fest June 13

LOS ANGELES, March 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Will Smith's film Seven Pounds is released on DVD today and while critics had mixed reviews, there is one group who loved it.

"The organ and tissue donation/transplant community can be critical of Hollywood's portrayal of our issue because too often they get it wrong, which costs lives," says Donate Life Hollywood Campaign Director, Tenaya Wallace. "Seven Pounds is the first feature film to show the real-life pain of those waiting for a transplant and the profound joy of receiving the gift of life and sight. Will Smith got it right."

To show their appreciation for the film, Donate Life Hollywood will be awarding Seven Pounds for Outstanding Portrayal of Organ and Tissue Donation in a Motion Picture. The award will be presented at Donate Life Hollywood Film Festival's evening awards dinner held at the Directors' Guild of America on June 13 at 6 p.m. A full schedule of the day's events and call for submissions can be found at www.donatelifehollywood.org.

Donate Life Hollywood encouraged thousands of donor families, organ recipients and transplant professionals to go to the theaters to see Seven Pounds when it opened in December 2008. "Many saw the film multiple times and were moved by the story and performances," says Wallace.

Glenn Matsuki, a heart recipient who now works for OneLegacy, the non-profit organ and tissue recovery organization serving the greater Los Angeles area, agrees. "I related instantly to Rosario Dawson's character in Seven Pounds. She showed how hard it is to wait for a heart transplant. She gave a face to the more than 100,000 people now waiting for a transplant, and a beautiful face at that!"