SOCIETY OF CAMERA OPERATORS (SOC) TO MAKE A DOCUMENTARY AND PSA FOR THE VISION CENTER AT CHILDREN HOSPITAL

The Society of Camera Operators (SOC) will make a 15 minutes short documentary and two Public Service Announcements about the scientific achievements of The Vision Center at Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles. The documentary untitled 'Let It Be Light" and the two PSAs will be filmed at the center during the next three months and is expected to be screened at the annual SOC Lifetime Achievement Awards and later entered in several international film festivals in 2010. The PSA will be placed in different TV networks and cable television stations.

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."

The creation of the documentary and the PSA will strengthen and increase the public awareness of the charitable bond between The SOC and The Vision Center and it will create a window of opportunity for financial contributions toward the Vision Center.

A production team composed by seasoned professionals of the motion picture industry and members of the Society of Camera Operators (SOC) will create, produce and direct all aspects of the making and delivery of “Let it be Light“. In order to achieve an outstanding final product, the team will write a compelling short narrative based on on the intersection of the lives of several patients and their families. Project producers for the documentary are George Leon and Bonnie Blake, SOC. David Mahlmann, SOC events chairman and Dan Kneece will also assist in the production.

Leaders of the Society of Camera Operators (SOC) and

The Vision Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
announce a new documentary project by the SOC
on the center's work to save children's sight.
The group also displays the latest donation by
the society to the children's contact lens program.
Left to right: George Leon, Dan Kneece, President, SOC;
Dr. Natalia Uribe and Dr. Mark Borchert,
both of The Vision Center and David Mahlmann, SOC

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 changes in a child's eye may require up to eight lenses a year.

The SOC, founded in 1979 and based in Hollywood, is dedicated to the advancement of the art and creative contributions of the camera operator in the motion picture and television industries. The SOC has made generous annual contributions over the past 25 years to The Vision Center in honor of the essential ingredient -- sight -- that bonds the society to children with vision problems.

The Vision Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles is an international referral center that treats children afflicted with all forms of eye disease. It is the largest pediatric ophthalmology program in the nation with multiple subspecialty programs that offer advanced diagnosis, treatment and research. CHLA is one of America's premier teaching hospitals, affiliated with the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California since 1932.