New York, NY -- (ReleaseWire) -- 05/14/2010 -- DCTV is proud to announce the launch of BeyondBullets.org, a website aimed to use the power of media to quell America’s gun violence epidemic.

BEYOND BULLETS ALSO TAKES TO THE STREETS ABOARD THE CYBERCAR, DCTV’s mobile video production and exhibition vehicle. The TOUR kicks off Monday, May 17th at Boys and Girls High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, where hundreds of students will watch short, youth-produced documentaries about the effects of gun violence and have their own town meeting about how to avoid bloodshed in their streets. During the week the CyberCar will travel all over the city, visiting schools in areas where gun violence is prevalent. Please join us - it will be a very moving experience.

Every three hours, a child is shot and killed on the streets of America. Media is partially responsible, and DCTV believes media can be part of the solution. DCTV’s Beyond Bullets campaign is a unique, multi-media approach to promoting gun violence awareness. By leveraging grassroots organizing and documentary storytelling with the power of social media, DCTV will provide New York City youth with a platform from which to prevent gun violence in their communities.

BeyondBullets.org will provide a unique resource to New York City, hosting video, news, and images from the frontlines of the war on gun violence. Young video journalists will post weekly pieces about gun violence in communities throughout the City: stories about shootings and local solutions to gun violence. These segments seek to uncover the human drama behind the statistics. The first of these pieces, “Mother’s Day Tragedy” directed by Jessie Auritt, goes live on the site on Monday May 17th and highlights the story of Samantha Guzman, who was shot and killed on Mother’s Day in 2006. Her mother, Diana Rodriguez, talks about losing her 18-year-old daughter to gun violence. The segments from these reporters will be supplemented by videos produced by DCTV’s Oscar-nominated producers, an army of youth reporters and user-submitted videos.

In addition to the video content, BeyondBullets.org will also exhibit comments and photos posted by local youth, describing their personal contact with gun violence and the local solutions that exist in their communities. DCTV also has begun leveraging social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter and Flickr, to ensure maximum community involvement and impact.

“Our collection of videos is equally devastating and hopeful,” said Stephanie Skaff, Project Director, “And by combining online outreach with direct community engagement, we are putting into place tools to support young people who want to end gun violence in their neighborhoods.”

The Beyond Bullets campaign began five years ago with the film, Bullets in the Hood. This Emmy and Sundance award-winning documentary about gun violence came out of DCTV’s youth media training program, PRO-TV. It was directed by two teens that had eight friends killed by guns in the streets of New York City¬. Since then, DCTV has facilitated a citywide anti-gun violence media tour reaching hundreds of NYC youth. With support from the Ford Foundation, DCTV conducted a 15-city investigation to build alliances with national leaders in gun violence prevention. Now, with the support of Knight Community Information Challenge of The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and The New York Community Trust, the campaign turns its attention to America’s greatest city, our home, New York, New York.

"These films are made in New York, by the very young people who are affected by violence, and who want desperately to find solutions to this carnage.” said Jon Alpert, award-winning director and co-founder of DCTV.

Beyond Bullets is an innovative campaign to gain new ground in the war on gun violence.

About the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation;
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation advances journalism in the digital age and invests in the vitality of communities where the Knight brothers owned newspapers. Knight Foundation focuses on projects that promote informed, engaged communities and lead to transformational change. For more, visit http://www.knightfoundation.org.

About Downtown Community Center
Downtown Community Television Center, Inc. is a non-profit independent media arts center that fosters diverse viewpoints by providing professional media training, and state-of-the-industry resources, and by creating and exhibiting outstanding documentary programs, in the belief that diversity of expression strengthens our democracy and enhances civil society. DCTV’s broadcast productions reach over 100 million viewers each year and have won fifteen National Emmys, two Student Emmys, two DuPont-Columbia Awards, a Peabody, and every other major prize in the broadcast field. 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.

DCTV, 87 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10013
212-966-4510
http://www.dctvny.org