Bay Area Video Coalition, or BAVC (pronounced “bay-vac”), is a nonprofit media arts center that was founded in 1976 by a coalition of media makers and activists who wanted to find alternative, civic-minded applications for a new technology - PortaPak video. While the technology has continued to evolve, BAVC’s mission to bring increased cultural and economic participation to underserved communities through media, and our belief that telling compelling stories is powerful for both media maker and audience, remains.

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BAVC Blog


by Angelo Sacerdote, TIMA Manager and Preservation Specialist

Recently I had the opportunity to try out an HDTV, one of those fancy new giant things that everyone is supposed to be buying now.  Not having a Blu-Ray player available, I gravitated to the next best thing, my computer.  Using iTunes I found some trailers in HD. These files, encoded in H.264, are stunning even though they have a bit rate of only about 5 mbps (compared with Blu-Ray, which can play video at 40 mbps).  I knew you could rent movies on your computer through Apple's ITunes store, so I thought maybe I could rent an HD movie the same way.
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"The Apollos" featured in the SF Chronicle

SF Chronicle reporter Justin Berton recently wrote an article about "The Apollos," a film by Nick Parker and Jazmin Jones. The film, which was produced in BAVC's YouthLink program, was awarded a Human and Civil Rights Award from the National Education Association in Washington, D.C., on July 1.

Read the full article here >