People with Disabilities and Mass Media: Actions and Events Annual Conference: People with Disabilities and Mass Media Three International Conferences on People with Disabilities and Mass Media were held from 2006 to 2008, at the Press Centre of SGC-SGI, attracting approximately forty five speakers and four hundred participants from Greece and abroad. The conferences were held in Greek, English and in Sign Language with supportive texts in Braille and were transmitted live via Internet and satellite. 3rd “People with Disabilities and Mass Media” International Conference Held between June 23 -24 2008, at the Press Centre of SGC-SGI. The following issues were discussed:
New Media an Accessibility
Communication and Autism
Paralympics and Mass Media: from Athens to Beijing
International Experience
Two years later: 2006-2008 – A Review
The Rights of Children with Disabilities and Mass Media
Filming by Children with Disabilities
“People with Disabilities and Mass Media” Events “People with Disabilities and Mass Media” events were held by the SGC-SGI around Greece:
Kozani, June 5 2008, Kozani Exhibition Centre
Tripoli, May 7 2008, “Apostolopoulos Cultural Centre”
Komotini, April 13 2008, Rodopi-Evros Prefecture Palace
Alexandroupolis, April 12 2008, Classical Grand Hotel Egnatia
Heraklion, April 3 2008, Municipality of Heraklion, Androgeo Hall.
Thessaloniki, March 5 2008, at the Conference Centre “J. Vellidis”
Annual Festival: Emotion Pictures - Documentary and Disability The SGC-SGI, in cooperation with the Greek Film Centre and within the framework of the International Conference “People with Disability and Mass Media”, has organized for the past two years the annual international festival “EMOTION PICTURES Documentary and Disability”. Film director Maria Chatzimichali-Papaliou is the festival's artistic director The aim of the festival is to present issues promoting the inclusion of people with disabilities and to encourage artists, with disability or not, to take an active interest in this area and address the widest possible audience.
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People with Disabilities and Mass Media: Actions and Events
1st Emotion Pictures Festival - Athens 2007 The 1st Emotion Pictures Festival was held between 16 -18 June 2007 at the New Benaki Museum for Contemporary Art and Design. The festival’s opening ceremony was honored by the presence of the president of the Hellenic Republic, Karolos Papoulias. Famous British artist Alison Lapper and American actress, athlete and model Amy Mullins were among the guests of the festival. Over 300 films from 45 countries competed at the festival. The festival jury, chaired by French writer and documentarist Jean-Marie Drot, gave out five awards, accompanied by cash prizes of 20,000 euros each. First Prize for Best Documentary Film was given to the German entry “Invitation to the Dance”, directed by Gerhard Schick. During the closing ceremony of the festival, the guests watched a documentary film produced by the Emotion Pictures Cinema Workshop and created by students from Ilion Special High School. 2nd Emotion Pictures Festival - Athens 2008 The 2nd Emotion Pictures International Documentary Festival on Disability was held between 21-23 June 2008, at the New Benaki Museum for Contemporary Art and Design. The aims and objectives of the festival remained the same, those being, the use of documentary films as a medium that puts on the map issues of disability by artists form around the world and all walks of life; increasing public awareness and promoting the inclusion of disabled people, whilst further encouraging the media and film-makers, disabled or not, to take an active interest in this area and address the widest possible public. In the two years of its existence the festival has accepted more than 500 participations. This year's program, which included films about the inexhaustible power of life, also embraced issues such as disability and sexuality, homosexuality and motherhood. First Prize for Best Feature-length Documentary was awarded to Israeli film “How to dare you?” by Uri Shin and Lizka Assa. Actions of the Emotion Pictures Festival in Greece and abroad The Emotion Pictures Festival is the first film festival in Greece that focuses on the issue of people with disabilities; it is part of a powerful and influential international movement of artistic expression. In cooperation with media unions and municipalities, Emotion Pictures organizes screenings of selected films from the Festival around Greece:
Chalandri, Attiki (3-8/12/07) Kessariani, Attiki (14/11/07) Nigrita, Serres (12/09/07) Chania, Crete (30/06/07)
Requests for similar screenings have been submitted to the organizational committee of the Festival by the following institutions: the Special Professional Education and Training Workshop in Agrinio (E.E.E.E.K.), the Health and Social Affairs Organization in Volos, the Youth Cultural Group ELEYSIS, Arcadia, the Cultural and Social Development Company of Serres. The Festival has already initiated collaboration with the municipalities of Syros and Tinos.
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People with Disabilities and Mass Media: Actions and Events
Emotion Pictures’ award-winning movies have been screened at significant international festivals, such as the International Mediterranean Cinema Festival of Rome (818/11/2007), and the 31st International Film Festival of Cairo (27/11/2007).
Other Actions and Initiatives The SGC-SGI organized several speeches, seminars and interviews on the issue of disability:
Interview to the journalist Mr. Papastamatiou on Hellenic Radio (ERA), January 2008 Literary Evening on Al. Damoulianos’ poetry and life, Ianos Bookshop, January 2008 Event on People with Disabilities, organized by the Municipality of Chalandri: Discussion & Screening of films on disability, December 2007 Conference on “Greek initiatives on Disability”, Organized by the Hellenic American Union, December 2007 Interview (from Cairo) to journalist Mr.Galanakis on ERA, December 2007 31st Cairo International Film Festival: Section on Documentary and Disability, Cairo, December 2007 Seminar on “Mass Media and Racism”, Titania Hotel, November, 2007 Gerakinia 2007: Cultural Events, Municipality of Nigrita, September 2007 Two-day scientific meeting on the life quality of people with disabilities (University of Athens, supervised by Professor L.Dellassoudas), May 2007 International Day of People with Disabilities, December 2006
Online Initiative Launching the www.ameamedia.gr site: www.ameamedia.gr is the first Greek site on the issue of People with Disabilities and Mass Media, and offers among other services, organizational support to the Festival and the Conference. In the future, the SGC-SGI websites www.minpress.gr and www.ameamedia.gr will integrate screen-reading software so that they can be accessible by vision-impaired citizens. Legislative Initiative According to Act 3592/2007 (article 6), the Media should include in their programming:
A daily news broadcast in notional language with subtitles (at least 7 minutes long) and weekly programs with subtitles (minimum a total of 4 hours). Privately-owned media are encouraged, through a positive point-system in broadcast licensing, to include programs accessible to the disabled.
Public debate on terminology used by the Media for people with disabilities Aiming to update and reissue the “Guidebook for Journalists on Issues of Disability and the Media”, the SGC-SGI has invited all interested parties to contribute to this endeavour by submitting their proposals. The aforementioned entries will contribute to the regular updating and enrichment of the Guidebook for Journalists on issues of Disability and Mass Media, which was first published in November 2006. Opinion Polls by the Hellenic Audiovisual Institute (IOM) Each year, the Hellenic Audiovisual Institute conducts a public opinion poll on issues concerning people with disabilities and mass media. The results of each poll are presented in the working sessions of the corresponding Conferences.
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People with Disabilities and Mass Media: Actions and Events
The 2006 and 2007 opinion polls were about how the media present people with disabilities, while the 2008 opinion poll focused on how people with disabilities evaluate and perceive their representation in the media.
Television and Radio Prisma Plus: Access to Difference Prisma Plus is a public television digital channel that started broadcasting in 2006, aspiring to offer high quality entertainment, education and information. Prisma Plus is accessible to the disabled: most of its programs are broadcasted with subtitles and interpretation in the Greek Sign Language. During its two-year operation, it has transmitted more than 3,200 hours of programming in the Greek Sign Language and another 3,000 hours with optional subtitles. Furthermore, for the first time in the history of Greek television, people with disabilities can watch movies of the golden age of Greek cinema, using optional subtitles. In 2007, Prisma Plus obtained the rights for screening the majority of documentary films showcased in the 1st Emotion Pictures Festival. Prisma Plus: Prospects The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), co-funded by the 3rd and 4th Community Support Framework (CSF), will produce new high quality digital programs, such as documentaries, news programs, films, shows, children’s programs etc., accessible to people with disabilities. These programs will be enriched with optional subtitles and sign language for those with hearing problems, as well as with audio description for the vision impaired. The programs will be broadcasted through ERT’s digital cable channel as well as through a special broadband portal. ERT will also set up a Unit for Disability Access Services, one of the first in Europe with the capacity to add access services in real time as well as to store and retrieve massive data of digital programs and services. Hellenic Radio (ERA) - 3rd Program For the first time in twelve years, recorded theatre plays are broadcasted on ERA’s 3rd Program, primarily in order to give visually impaired people access to theatrical productions. SGC-SGI Publications (Greek) In Braille
2006 - Calendar of Political Events 2007 - Calendar of Political Events 2006 - Ecology Leaflets
Poetry Collection – God in the Horizon In 2007, the SGC-SGI published the “God in the Horizon” poetry collection of Alexandos Damoulianos, a 17 year-old quadriplegic
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People with Disabilities and Mass Media: Actions and Events
student who has also co-scripted the eponymous documentary film screened in the 1st Emotion Pictures Festival.
Guidebook for Journalists: Disability Issues and Mass Media The publication of this Guidebook for journalists came as a direct response to issues raised at the 1st Conference "People with Disabilities and Mass Media". Published in November 2006 in Greek, and distributed to journalists throughout Greece, it offers assistance with disability – related terminology. Proceedings of the “People with Disabilities and Mass Media” Conferences The proceedings of the 1st and 2nd Conferences “People with Disabilities and Mass Media” were distributed to various institutions as well as to organizations supporting the disability rights movement. Guidelines Disabilities
for
Daily
Communication
with
People
with
In response to a proposition form the UNESCO chair of the University of Macedonia, the SGC-SGI published this brief guide in 2008. The guide was translated from a publication by the Croatian Confederation of People with Disabilities and lays out 18 simple rules of behavior to be followed when interacting with people with disabilities.
All publications (except the God in the Horizon poetry collection) are available for download at www.minpress.gr and www.ameamedia.gr
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