On November 3 at the Rome International Film Festival in Italy, a slice of rural Columbia County, NY will be shown in the documentary The Dark Side of the Sun, produced by Italian film company, Citrullo International. This film studies Camp Sundown, a unique to the world night program in Craryville, NY for children who can’t be in daylight. The Camp started in 1996 by Dan and Caren Mahar of Craryville shortly after their own youngest daughter was diagnosed with a very rare, life-threatening, light sensitivity condition.
The Film Festival, in its sixth year, is the coveted venue for film makers of all genres. Stiff competition abounds for entrants and many celebrities attend. Selection is elite.
Three years of professional filming, creativity and editing went into capturing the delight of children with a rare disease known as xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) at the special light-protected world of Camp Sundown. Children with XP lack the ability to repair damage done to their cells by sunlight and other forms of ultraviolet radiation making them 2000-4000x more susceptible to skin and eye cancers than the general population. Camp Sundown provides a UV-safe haven for afflicted children and their families, bringing people together to share support, information, recreation and friendship under the safety of the stars.
A trailer for the film can be viewed at www.thedarksideofthesun,org before the premiere. It is expected that the film will also be released in other countries and the US in the near future.
More information about XP and Camp Sundown can be found at www.xps.org .
