Press Release:
Beverly Hills, CA — Dimmer and The Boys of Baraka will be screened on November 29 at 7 p.m. as the next installment in the 25th annual Contemporary Documentaries series, presented by the Academy Foundation of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences and the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Free and open to the public, the screening will take place at the Academy's Linwood Dunn Theater in Hollywood.
Directed by Talmage Cooley, Dimmer is a glimpse into the life of Mike, a blind teenager growing up, with his gang of blind friends, amid the decaying factories and neighborhoods of Buffalo, New York. The film was produced by Cooley, Andy Spade and Anthony Sperduti.
In The Boys of Baraka, a group of at-risk kids are relocated from Baltimore's dead-end streets to a progressive educational institution in rural Kenya. Once away from the ubiquitous drug use and rampant crime of their home neighborhood, the boys eagerly respond to educational opportunities that more fortunate youths often take for granted. The film was directed and produced by Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady.
Admission to all screenings in the Academy/UCLA Contemporary Documentaries series is free. Doors open at 6 p.m. All seating is unreserved. The Linwood Dunn Theater is located at the Academy's Pickford Center for Motion Picture Study, 1313 North Vine Street, in Hollywood, at the northwest corner of Fountain Avenue and Vine Street. Parking is available behind the building through the entrance on Homewood Avenue, one block north of Fountain. For more information, call (310) 247-3600 or (310) 206-FILM.