Jon Voight kicks off Ringling College's annual film-lab series.

Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning actor Jon Voight describes himself as the type of person to find something he likes and remain loyal to it.

So when he took a liking to the pancakes at Hamburger Hamlet in Los Angeles, he found himself a regular. He recalls noticing something special about then-waitress Brook Bello, and the two struck up a friendship.

Bello was working at the restaurant after recently escaping a life in which she fell victim to human trafficking.

She says Voight was the first man she trusted in her new life, and he worked with Bello to help her develop her career as an actor, paving the way for her to transition out of a career on the big screen and into the nonprofit sector. Bello is the founder of More Too Life Inc., a Sarasota-based nonproft organization using digital media to bring awareness to — and fight — human trafficking.

Friday, Sept. 30, Voight and Bello spoke at Ringling College of Art and Design to kick off this year’s film lab series and help promote More Too Life’s forthcoming collaboration with the school, Semkhor Networks and Dylan McDermott’s web series “Sugar,” which centers on human-trafficking issues.

Bello, who was recently named Florida’s survivor advocate of the year by Attorney General Pam Bondi, says short, episodic digital content, like “Sugar,” is an ideal platform for reaching a younger audience to inform them of the issues and help educate them on prevention and assistance options.

“Making digital content that’s well-written, metaphoric and hard-hitting is the way to reach that audience,” she says. “We want to utilize that for the men and women we work with.”

Voight agrees.

“Film is very powerful and has the ability to make an impact,” he says. “Film could be the answer.”

As part of his visit, Voight toured the campus, where he says he was impressed with the students’ accomplishments and the school’s standing as a top film program in the country.

He encouraged young filmmakers to focus on positivity and hope, and to use their craft to help create a better world for future generations. Citing collaborations like the one between Bello and Ringling College and Semkhor Networks, in which they will produce documentary content to explore the roots causes of this epidemic, Voight expressed his pride in Bello’s work and her contributions to social justice.

“With the explosion of technology, we’re able to tell stories we never could before — in ways we never could,” he says. “The great artists today are being raised with these tools, and they’re the ones with the energy and the vision to go out and create something truly important. With these issues, only someone who has been there can truly understand what’s going on. Brook is one of those people.”