Society of Camera Operators to Make Documentary on The Vision CenterThe Society of Camera Operators (SOC) will make a documentary film about the scientific achievements of The Vision Center at Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. The documentary will be filmed at the center during the next three months and is expected to be entered in several international film festivals in 2010. The SOC has been making charitable donations to The Vision Center since 1981. According to Dan Kneece, SOC president, “The documentary will be shot and edited by society members. It will feature the lives of children whose sight has been saved by the surgeons at The Vision Center. The center has some of the most skilled physicians and advanced ophthalmic surgical technology in the world, but it is the stories of the families that will capture viewers’ hearts.” Project producers for the documentary are George Leon and Bonnie Blake, SOC. David Mahlmann, SOC events chairman and Kneece will also assist in the production. In addition to announcing the new documentary, the SOC also made its latest gift to the children’s contact lens program at The Vision Center. The program, conducted by optometrist Dr. Natalia Uribe, sees about 700 patients a year, some as young as one month old. Many of these very young children require contact lenses to restore their sight. The SOC, founded in 1979, is dedicated to the advancement of the art and creative contributions of the camera operator in the motion picture and television industries. The society publishes Camera Operator magazine and hosts the annual CAMMY awards ceremony in Hollywood. The SOC has made generous annual contributions over the past 25 years to The Vision Center at Children's Hospital Los Angeles in honor of the essential ingredient – sight – that bonds the society to children with vision problems. |