AbleMedia LLC

Needham, MA - May 4, 2005 – Independent filmmaker John Hammel’s classic war movie of strategy and mayhem debuts worldwide today on the Classics Technology Center on the Web (CTCWeb, http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb). Hammel, a student at the Moses Brown School in Providence, Rhode Island, is this week’s AbleMedia Bronze Chalice winner for his movie Vini, Veni, Vici: Caesar vs. the Helvetii. “Roll out the virtual red carpet and notify the Academy! CTCWeb brings you the international premiere of this cinematic short, jam packed with military action, martial intrigue, and Latin,” said Wendy E. Owens, CTCWeb Editor-in-Chief. “Never before has a movie about ancient Roman debuted to a worldwide audience, directly to your computer screen. Only CTCWeb can make it happen for you.”

Edgy camera work merges with ancient Latin script in Hammel’s Vini, Veni, Vici to evoke the Götterdämmerung wrought by Rome and the steely generalship of Julius Caesar in Book 1 of Caesar's De Bello Gallico. Hammel combines heavy metal music, model soldiers, and gritty commentary in Latin and English to dramatize Caesar’s crushing defeat of the Gallic tribe, the Helvetii. With his classmates as co-producers, guided by studio executive Ruth Breindel, Hammel’s Latin teacher and fellow CTCWeb award-winning author, Hammel’s five and a half minute spectacular brings Caesar’s military commentaries to the computer screen and makes ancient military action relevant to today’s students. Background information on the movie’s production and its historical subject matter are available with the movie on CTCWeb.

“Caesar is quite fascinating to students when he is presented as living history,” said Breindel in an interview with CTCWeb editors. “The problems Caesar had, such as running ahead of his supply line, finding treachery among his allies, keeping ancient grudges, and making decisions about battle tactics, are timeless.”

Each year Breindel reenacts with her students a scene from Caesar’s De Bello Gallico. In response to her assignment to represent the class’s translation of Caesar’s commentaries, Hammel used his digital video camera, 60-70 model Roman soldiers, and the aid of fellow classmates to make movie magic. Hammel says, “I am so excited to know that my movie made it onto CTCWeb!”

Each week AbleOne’s sponsor, AbleMedia, salutes contributors for outstanding submissions to the AbleOne Consortium (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/consortium/), the CTCWeb Showcase (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/showcase/), and CTCWeb Netshots™ (http://ablemedia.com/ctcweb/netshots.html). Each receives the Bronze Chalice award. AbleMedia awards Silver Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the month. At the end of each year, AbleMedia awards Gold Chalices for the outstanding submissions of the year.

AbleOne serves millions of educators, students, and other users in over 100 countries and the number of users is tripling annually. AbleOne’s CTCWeb is a repository of practical tools, for classicists and other educators, to enhance the use of computer technology in Classics education. At CTCWeb, students, educators and others find the free dissemination and open exchange of practical educational materials, systems, and applications by individuals and organizations involved in the Classics community. AbleMedia sponsors CTCWeb as part its AbleOne Education Network.

The AbleOne Education Network (AbleOne) is an online educational resource for millions of educators and students at the K-12 and post secondary levels around the globe. For seven years, AbleOne’s has used the Internet to provide quality teaching and learning materials to its rapidly growing corps of dedicated users: educators, students, and other curious minds worldwide. For more about AbleOne go to http://ablemedia.com/ableone.

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AbleMedia LLC is a global management and technology consulting firm. For over a quarter of a century, we have served the best, the brightest and the biggest in business, technology, and education. AbleMedia can be found on the Web at http://ablemedia.com.