Press
September 26, 2003: ConnecTV chosen as “New Yorker of the Week” for NY1 TV spot.
February 2004: ConnecTV featured in Able News.
March 15, 2004: ConnecTV featured on the Christopher Reeve Paralysis
Foundation website.
March 17, 2004 ConnecTV interviewed on WNYC’s Brian Lehrer show.
March 31, 2004: Article about ConnecTV on website of Mayor’s Office for Film, Theatre and Broadcasting
April 2004: ConnecTV HBO Screening featured in Able News.
April 2004: ConnecTV featured in 2-page spread in ABILITY Magazine.
Festivals and Awards
ConnecTV films were selected for and were shown in the following festivals:
The 2003 Pride International Film Festival in Manila, the Philippines
The 2004 Rehabilitation International World Congress Awards
The 2004 Alliance for Community Media Northeast Regional Video Festival
The 2004 Picture This Film Festival
The 2004 Brooklyn International Film Festival (Spirit Awards)
August 12-16, 2004: The Sacramento Film & Music Festival
Sept 30 – Oct 3: The Moscow Disability Film Festival: “Breaking Down Barriers”
Upcoming festivals:
Dec 1 – 5: London Disability Arts Forum Disability Film Festival
Events
March 4, 2004: HBO showcased ConnecTV work at premiere screening.
April 16, 2004: ConnecTV goes to Edison, N.J. to report on the Abilities Expo.
April 29, 2004: ConnecTV participates in Long Island University’s
Great American Wheelchair Race and Disability Awareness Day.
May 13, 2004: ConnecTV goes to Albany, N.Y. to report on the
Governor’s Expo on Assistive Technology.
May 17 – 24. 2004: ConnecTV crew goes to Birmingham, Alabama to film the
ABILITY house.
June 9 – 13, 2004: ConnecTV goes to Washington, D.C. to film the
International VSA arts Festival
July 11, 2004: ConnecTV goes to Setauket, Long Island to meet with
Rick Allen and Lauren Monroe of the Raven Drum Foundation
And participate in their drum circle.
August: ConnecTV participates in LIU’s annual wheelchair race to
Help raise awareness about accessibility issues.
October: ConnecTV is produced a video for the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities about Disability Mentoring Day, a yearly event that promotes the employment of people with disabilities
ConnecTV students participated in job shadowing at CBS as part of
Disability Mentoring Day.
October 12th: ConnecTV launched a twelve-part video conferencing series to
connect members of the NYC disability community with disability
groups around the world.
The 2004 ConnecTV ANNUAL REPORT
In 2004, ConnecTV continued to reach out to the larger disability community.
In early March, HBO hosted a public screening of 4 ConnecTV shorts for the New York City broadcast and disability communities which was a huge success. At the screening, we announced our intention to take ConnecTV global through an international video conferencing project to connect our producers to other disability groups outside the NYC area.
Following the screening we were featured in ABILITY magazine and were guests on WNYC’s
The Brian Lehrer Show. ConnecTV has continued to get more and more exposure.
In May, we welcomed our third ConnecTV class who, after “video boot camp,” have started working on PSAs for the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities to help raise awareness in the general public about disability issues. These new students joined their more experienced peers to cover Assistive Technology fairs in New Jersey and Albany and will produce short segments focusing on interesting AT equipment that help people with disabilities improve their quality of life for our TV series.
The older students continued to work on individual projects and collaborated on group projects about accessible housing, Disability Mentoring Day and accessible voting. Projects are in all phases of production. Patricia Belfanti is working on an experimental project depicting the world through the eyes of a person with ADD. Diana Naftal is editing Disarmed and Dangerous, all 40 hours of it! Carmelo Gonzalez continued working on Moving On Up, filming new material about his housing situation. Wilbert has been focusing on his editing skills by helping with the editing of AT segments. Ted is expanding his short into a feature and has already completed a feature length script – his first script ever. Now he can add dialogue to his award-winning stop-action animation.
The most advanced students went to Alabama to cover the building of a fully accessible house complete with the latest AT gadgets built through a collaboration of ABILITY magazine and Habitat for Humanity. Another crew went to D.C. to follow 2 New York artists with disabilities to the VSA International Arts Festival and document this exciting event that brings talented people with disabilities from all over the world together every year.
During the festival, we reached out to our peers from other countries in preparation to include them in our international video conferencing project and came back with many new friends.
ConnecTV also participated in a few fun events to reach out and support other members of the community. In July, we went out to Setauket, Long Island to support Rick Allen’s Raven Drum Foundation. In August, we participated in Long Island University’s yearly awareness-raising wheelchair race for the non-disabled. Chris and Carmelo hammed it up as we helped raise awareness about the importance of accessibility. We were happy to support LIU since they made their campus fully accessible prior to the passing of the ADA. We have continued to develop a collaborative relationship with LIU and other city organizatons.
Chris volunteered as a member of the organizing committee for the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities’ Disability Mentoring Day, and ConnecTV followed 2 mentees through the process to produce a piece on DMD and also a promotional video for the Mayor’s Office to advocate for people with disabilities to be included in more mentoring opportunities at NYC businesses. The advanced students also personally participated in Disability Mentoring Day by job-shadowing professionals at the CBS News Early Show.
ConnecTV films continued to be recognized in festivals around the world.
Works were shown in the following festivals:
The 2004 Rehabilitation International World Congress Awards,
The 2004 Alliance for Community Media Northeast Regional Video Festival
The 2004 Picture This Film Festival
The 2004 Brooklyn International Film Festival (Spirit Awards)
The Sacramento Film & Music Festival
The Moscow Disability Film Festival: “Breaking Down Barriers”
The London Disability Arts Forum Disability Film Festival
ConnecTV finished the year by launching our international video conferencing project in collaboration with Long Island University, Queens Library and consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton. So far, we have spoken with groups and individuals in Los Angeles, Oregon, Australia, New Zealand, Honduras, Peru, the U.K., Japan, Hong Kong and Jordan. We will continue to reach out to and include other groups from around the world. We are very excited about this opportunity to exchange information and our stories with our new friends. We will also be putting information on our website so other groups can set up cameras to speak with us or with each other. With each new accomplishment, we raise the bar even higher and jump over it!
In 2005, we will focus on studio training in DCTV’s newly remodeled Cyberstudio and the completion of the TV series. Students will have a chance to finish their pieces and prepare reels of their work.