Little Hébert

Produced by: 
Hébert Peck
Year: 
1993
Duration: 
15 min

It was a natural impulse, especially for a filmmaker like Hébert Peck, to document his wife, Kaz, as she went through her first pregnancy. Nine months and a day later, when their child Hebert Jr. was diagnosed with Down syndrome, the film became a haunting primer for parents and educators. "I went through the grieving and then I promised Hébert that I would never let him be segregated from the world," Ms. Peck said. "He was going to have everything that life offered." The video portrays the couple's fears, love and newly reconfigured outlook on life as a family. The video, which encapsulates the power of the Pecks' experience in just 13 minutes of film, is still regularly screened at schools in New Jersey and Pennsylvania where it is used to help teachers and parents gain insight into the diagnosis.

Hébert Peck is an independent television producer. He has created television series, short form documentaries and web based projects for Rutgers University Television Network, a statewide closed circuit cable television and broadband Internet system. These programs air internationally through the ReseachChannel. Peck is the producer of Philadelphia Stories, a 13-hour series of documentaries and short films exploring the people, the places and things that make up the rich fabric of Philadelphia. A project of public television WYBE, Philadelphia Stories, now in its fifth season, features work by the regionís most talented film and video makers. Peck's personal work, including the award winning video essay Little Hébert, has been broadcast on PBS and screened at festivals nationally. For eight years Peck managed the operation of the Scribe Video Center in Philadelphia. He completed one term as the co-president on the Board of Directors of the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture (NAMAC) and has served on an advisory capacity in such areas as film, video and multimedia production funding for the Rockefeller Foundation, the Independent Television Services (ITVS), the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS).

Press: 

August 12, 1999 - "Street Movies Invite You to Connect To The Community", Chestnut Hill Local

September 26, 1999 - "In Person: The Underdog's Bulldog", by Lisa Suhay, The New York Times

Public Screenings, Broadcasts and Festivals: 

1995 - Black Marial Film + Video Festival

July 16 & August 20, 1996 - Tuesday Night Specials, DUTV Cable 54, Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA)

February 13, 1998 - Five on the Black Hand Side, Scribe Video Center: A Retrospective, Painted Bride Art Center (Philadelphia, PA)

August 19, 1999 - Street Movies screening at the Water Tower Recreation Center (Philadelphia, PA)

May 23, 2004 - Sprout Film Festival (New York, NY)

May 18, 2006 - Western New York Developmental Disabilities Day Conference (Buffalo, NY)