1. Press Release
Source: The Vision Center at Childrens Hospital Los Angeles
On 11:30 am EDT, Wednesday October 7, 2009
LOS ANGELES, CA--(Marketwire - 10/07/09)
Society of Camera Operators to Make a
Documentary Film and Two PSA About The
Vision Center at Childrens Hospital LA
The Society of Camera Operators (SOC) will make a documentary and two Public
Service Announcements about the scientific achievements and service to the community
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 and on location 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, we will write a compelling short narrative based in the real
story on the intersection of the lives of several patients and their families. Project
producers for the documentary are George Leon, Director/DP and Bonnie Blake, SOC.
David Mahlmann, SOC events chairman and Kneece will also assist in the production.

2. 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
contactlens program. Left to right: George Leon, Director/D.P, Dan Kneece, President, SOC; Dr.
Natalia Uribe and Dr. Mark Borchert, both of The Vision Center; and David Mahlmann, SOC
Events Chairman.
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.