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Brooklyn Teens Gain 2005 Sundance Film Festival Nomination

Timothy Stansbury's shooting by cop inspires documentary on gun violence

December 8, 2004

When Timothy Stansbury was fatally shot by a Housing cop on the roof of a Bed-Stuy apartment building on January 24 this year, family and friends looked for ways to handle their grief. While some suggested, "the cops are expecting us to riot", Stansbury's closest friend Terrence Fisher took a different view.

The 19-year-old Fisher, who was standing behind Stansbury when he was shot, picked up a video-camera and documented the tense hours and days after the controversial incident. In collaboration with another close friend, Danny Howard, 18, the two Brooklyn teens produced a documentary entitled "Bullets in the Hood - A Bed-Stuy Story", which today earned a nomination for New York City in the Short Documentary category at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival. Danny and Terrence will celebrate their remarkable achievement when they head to Park City, Utah this January to participate in the festival and see their film on the big screen.

Bullets in the Hood - A Bed-Stuy Story is a product of a program run by New York's Downtown Community Television Center-a non-profit media arts organization with programs for New York’s inner city youth.

Working out of DCTV's studios in Lafayette Street, Fisher and Howard produced a raw and gritty insight into how residents of a New York City project dealt with the slaying of one of their own. With stark images of guns and grief, the film documents reactions to Stansbury's slaying from his family and other residents of the Louis Armstrong Housing Project and how his close friends investigated the deadly incident to determine if it really was an accident as the cops involved claimed.

For further details contact Karen Plitt, DCTV Director of Development, on 212 966-4510 ext 234 or karen@dctvny.org

BACKGROUND SHEET ON DIRECTOR/PRODUCERS:

ABOUT Director/Producer TERRENCE FISHER:

Terrence, 19, has lived all his life in the Louis Armstrong Housing Project in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Eight of his friends have been shot and killed in the streets around his home. Terrence was standing behind his best friend Timothy Stansbury when he took a bullet fired by a cop patrolling the roof of their building on January 24, 2004. The force of the shot sent Terrence and Timothy tumbling down the stairs together in a spray of blood. Timothy lost his life and Terrence lost his best friend. The shooter was a policeman. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said the killing was "unjustified" but the cop involved was later cleared by a grand jury investigation. Terrence, and his DCTV classmate, Danny Howard, were working on a documentary about gun violence when the killing occurred. Despite his shock and grief, Terrence sought refuge at DCTV where his filmmaking instructor, Mami Kuwano and her PRO-TV program helped him channel his emotions through the lens of his camera.

Today's Sundance nomination recognizes a budding moviemaking career for Terrence Fisher. His work with DCTV includes winning an Honorable Mention Student Emmy® this year. He also won an Honorable Mention in the Freshest Youth Awards Show at the Hip Hop Odyssey International Film Festival (2004) for his film, "Hip-Hop and Violence." Terrence is currently enrolled in the PRO-TV Advanced program and also works as a DJ and produces music for underground hip-hop labels.

ABOUT Director/Producer DANIEL HOWARD:

Daniel, 18, grew up in the Brooklyn's Atlantic Terminal City housing project. Three of his friends have been killed by gun violence. Danny’s mother encouraged him to join DCTV's PRO-TV program in 2001 as a way to help him develop his self-expression and confront the challenges he faced living in the projects. The films Daniel has made as a PRO-TV student have won numerous prestigious awards including a Student Emmy® for his biographical film, "State of Mind: Living in the Projects." Danny also won an Honorable Mention/National Student Television Award of Excellence (Student Emmy®) this year for "Jai-Yen: Cool Heart," his film on his experiences during an international reporting assignment in Laos. Daniel has distinguished himself among the thousands of youth filmmakers in the country and he is the most honored youth producer in the U.S.

Danny is currently attending Claflin University, in South Carolina, where he is studying Mass Communications having been awarded a prestigious Emma Bowen Foundation four-year scholarship. During the summer, Danny has earned a coveted internship at the NBC affiliate for the duration of his college years.

Danny says: "Before this (PRO-TV) I didn’t feel like I had any power to change my environment. Before this I didn’t feel like I had a voice. Now I know I have a voice."

DCTV is now appealing for funds to help send send a small group-- Fisher, Howard and his mom, their PRO-TV co-producers and instructor who participated in making Bullets in the Hood - A Bed-Stuy Story-- to Park City, Utah, to collect their historic Sundance nomination.

Sponsors to send our group to Sundance include: The Ford Foundation, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation, Salesforce.com Foundation, and Cathrine S. Steck .

ABOUT DOWNTOWN COMMUNITY TELEVISION CENTER:

Downtown Community Television Center is an independent nonprofit media center, based in a landmark firehouse on Lafayette Street in New York City. DCTV offers unique youth and community programs that extend the tools of television and electronic media production to a broad and diverse set of artists.
DCTV’s productions, which reach over 100 million viewers each year, have received 12 National Emmy Awards, 2 Student Emmy Awards and 3 DuPont-Columbia Awards. Over the past 30 years DCTV has taught the essentials of television production to over 50,000 students, most of them members of low-income and minority communities.

DCTV offers over 150 free or low-cost video and electronic media training workshops a year. Through its non-profit program PRO-TV, for challenged youth and ConnecTV, the only program of its type for adults with disabilities, DCTV provides free training in television production, mentorship and job readiness training to needy New Yorkers.

Terrence and Danny produced "Bullets in the Hood - A Bed-Stuy Story" as part of DCTV's Professional Television Training (PRO-TV) program for inner-city youth.

For further details contact Karen Plitt, DCTV Director of Development, at 212 966-4510 ext 234 or karen@dctvny.org

DCTV, 87 Lafayette Street, New York, NY 10013
Phone: 212-966-4510, Fax: 212-226-3053, url:www.dctvny.org

Contact: Karen Plitt- Director of Development, Downtown Community Television Center
212-966-4510 x 234 or karen@dctvny.org