By Tara Kyle
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — A new campaign aiming to decrease gun deaths is asking young people across the city to turn their cameras on and capture the human impact of gun violence.
Beyond Bullets, an initiative of the Downtown Community Television Center, enlisted student filmmakers to create short documentaries addressing the fallout that shooting deaths create for families, friends and neighborhoods.
"I felt like I had a direct connection with gun violence," said Rosalino Ramos, 19, who is a student at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and grew up in Hamilton Heights.
"The people around me in my community and neighboring communities have gun violence problems, and I'm always thinking of ways how I can get involved, and still pursue something I'd like to do," he said.
Stories already on the website spotlight a 23-year-old who knew 35 people who were shot to death and a woman whose daughter was shot and killed on Mother's Day.
Upcoming videos will cover the creation of a memorial foundation for Chris Owens, a 13-year-old killed by a stray bullet in Harlem, and the life of another mother whose son was shot accidentally by a police officer in Brooklyn.
"I really developed a relationship with some of the subjects that I filmed and interviewed," said Jessie Auritt, a 25-year-old East Village-based filmmaker. "I really feel like I've connected with their stories and hopefully have been able to help them share their story and make a difference."
As part of its outreach campaign, Beyond Bullets took the filmmakers, their videos, and some of the victims' family members on the road last week to show the videos at local schools, including Chinatown's New Design High School.
The organization is also encouraging young people to submit their own videos to DCTV for potential inclusion in the campaign.
The campaign is supported by the Community Information Challenge of the John S. and James L. Knight foundations and the New York Community Trust.
Beyond Bullets' website will continue to feature new weekly video segments through December 2010.
