El Sistema -Music to Chamge Life : Dudamel / Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra

El Sistema
Jose Antonio Abreu, Gustavo Dudamel, Simon Bolivar Youth Orchestra

EL SISTEMA on DVD

Three decades ago, visionary Venezuelan musician and politician Jose Antonio Abreu founded El Sistema, a national system of music education designed as a model for social improvement. Today, some 265,000 Venezuelan children and young people are involved in choirs and orchestras around the country, and El Sistema is exporting some of the world’s finest musicians.

El Sistema takes us from the barrios of Caracas and Maracay to the concert hall of the Lucerne Festival, following the lives of children who have found the way to a better future through the model of the symphony orchestra.
This lyrical and moving documentary shows us young children and their families in their home environments. They speak of their everyday hopes and fears: of gang warfare and gunfire, drugs and violence, and the dream of a better life through education and music.

A film by Paul Smaczny and Maria Stodtmeier. Venezuela's unique system of music education takes children from violent slums and turns some of them into world-class musicians. "El Sistema" shows how Venezuelan visionary Jose Antonio Abreu has changed the lives of hundreds of thousands of children over the past three decades. This lyrical and moving documentary takes us from the rubbish dumps and barrios of Caracas to the world's finest concert halls. Children from streets dominated by the gun battles of gang warfare are taken into music schools, given access to music, and taught through the model of the symphony orchestra how to build a better society. Paul Smaczny and Maria Stodtmeier's film finds hope and joy in unlikely places. ( medici arts )

Bonus: experience an audition for the National Children's Orchestra of Venezuela.

AWARDS:
Grand Prix Golden Prague 2009, Rodos Ecofilms Special Jury Prize 2009, Rodos Ecofilms Feature Film Competition Award 2009

REGION CODE NTSC: 0
PICTURE FORMAT: 16:9
SOUND FORMATS: PCM-STEREO, DD 5.1, DTS 5.1
BOOKLET: English, Spanish, French
RUN TIME: 100 mins + 9 mins Bonus