Student documentary on police shooting continues to affect viewers, judges

New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 03/20/2009 -- Downtown Community Television Center is honored to announce the nomination of Bullets in the Hood: a Bed-Stuy Story for a New York Emmy Award. Bullets, a documentary about the shooting of one of the filmmakers’ best friend by a NYPD officer in 2004, is contending in the “Teen Programming,” category, but is the only nominee produced by teenagers themselves. This is a groundbreaking achievement, and DCTV is grateful for the recognition of the dedication and triumph of the young artists behind the film.

Teen filmmakers, Terrence Fisher and Daniel Howard, were documenting the incidences of gun violence in their Brooklyn neighborhoods, after having lost eleven friends between them, when the project took a tragic turn. During the making of their film another of their own was gunned down, only this time the shooter was a New York City police officer, who was not indicted in Stansbury’s death.

Terrence Fisher was standing behind best friend Timothy Stansbury, who was unarmed and bound for a birthday party, when Timothy was fatally shot by a housing policeman on the roof of Brooklyn’s Louis Armstrong housing project in January 2004. Fisher, 19 at the time, dealt with his loss by picking up a video camera and documenting the tense hours and days after the controversial incident. In collaboration with fellow filmmaker, Daniel Howard, then 18, he produced the multi-award-winning Bullets in the Hood: a Bed-Stuy Story. Bullets is executive-produced by Mami Kuwano and DCTV Co-Founder and celebrated documentarian Jon Alpert.

DCTV is proud to have the incredible work of its young students still recognized for its artistic achievement and powerful message. Bullets has toured festivals around the world and won the Special Jury Prize at Sundance; the nomination for the New York Emmy by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences’ New York Chapter only further affirms the importance and relevance of the film.

Bullets in the Hood: a Bed-Stuy Story is an example of DCTV’s filmmaking philosophy – social awareness in a personal story-telling style. Jon Alpert says, “This film is the most recent example of DCTV’s three decades of public service. DCTV is proud to lead the next generation of independent filmmakers.”

Bullets in the Hood is a product of DCTV’s youth program, PRO-TV, the most successful youth media arts-training programs in the nation. PRO-TV gives inner city youth the opportunity to make their own media, empowering them to explore socially significant issues that affect themselves and/or their communities. Almost 100 percent of its Media Fellowship Program participants (an intensive two year training program) go on to attend college. Many of these participants receive prestigious educational scholarships and/or media industry internships.

Bullets in the Hood: a Bed-Stuy Story was the crux for a regional anti-gun-violence tour in 2006 aboard DCTV’s Cybercar, a 40-foot-long bus converted into a mobile TV production and exhibition studio. Now, DCTV is preparing to take the tour to a national scale, bringing Bullets to over twenty cities across the country this Fall. The tour intends to raise awareness of gun violence, promote anti-violence initiatives by reaching out to at-risk communities through various channels: town meetings, schools, youth events, the Internet, meetings with community leaders and policy-makers and more.

“Bullets shows the power of television at its best,” said Alpert, “young people picking up cameras instead of guns – and using their videos to improve our world. I’m very proud of what these young New Yorkers have created.”

ABOUT DOWNTOWN COMMUNITY TELEVISION CENTER:
DCTV is the most honored independent nonprofit media center in the nation. DCTV’s productions reach over 100 million viewers each year and have received twelve National Emmys, two Student Emmys, two DuPont-Columbia Awards, a Peabody, and every other major prize in the broadcast field. DCTV consistently produces some of the best and most important documentaries about issues in America and around the world. For over thirty years, DCTV offers unique programs for underserved youth, community programs, affordable workshops in digital media, production facilities, and equipment rentals. For more information, visit http://www.dctvny.org

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