Favela Rising Touring Los Angeles Communities
From Director/Producer Matt Mochary:
At our screening last night, we had a huge treat. Not only was Anderson able to be there and share his personal experience with the audience, but also Raul Diaz, member of Homeboy Industries, came and brought three youth from Boyle Heights. Raul and the three youth (Carlos, Julio and Bebe) connected strongly and viscerally with the film, and Anderson immediately felt a kinship with them. Homeboy Industries is to Los Angeles what AfroReggae is to Rio. It was great to see ambassadors from these kindred groups meet and connect so strongly. Raul and Ando were able to communicate without an interpreter through a half-portugese, half-spanish conversation. It was great to watch …
At the Tribeca screenings in April, many audience members were inspired to donate money to AfroReggae. Junior politely declined all the donation offers. He said: This isn’t a Brazilian problem, it’s a world problem. This problem exists in your own backyard. If you are inspired to help, help your own neighbors. Find a community group in one of the ghettos in your own city. Give them your time and money.
Well, at this LA screening, we brought that very local community group to the screening. It was so satisfying to see inspired audience members come up to Raul and the other Youth Opportunity Movement and Homeboy Industries members after the screenings, and ask how and if they could get involved. The vision is becoming a reality …
To follow up on this great screening, we have scheduled two screenings in the next two days in two of the most violent-torn ghettos of Los Angeles:
On Monday we screen at the Magic Johnson Theater in Englewood, where David LaChapelle (director of Rize) will be joining us as we screen Favela Rising for the subjects of the film Rize. David has become a huge fan of Favela Rising, and he wanted us to share the film with the people he worked with making his movie. We were honored by the invitation and we greatly look forward to having Anderson meet with “favela” residents of LA.
On Tuesday, at the invitation of Raul, Youth Opportunity Movement and Homeboy Industries, we will screen at Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights, recently known for the most violent and deadly gang activity in Los Angeles. Raul will be touring us around Boyle Heights beforehand, we will be eating at the Homegirl Café, and then screening the film. I look forward to Ando being able to converse directly with the Boyle Heights residents through Portugese/Spanish words.
So, the film is accomplishing the two main goals we had for it:
1. To inspire residents of US ghettos that there is hope of a way out of violence through culture and community-building.
2. To inspire non-ghetto Americans to get involved in helping build their nearby ghettos by working with community groups that already exist in those neighborhoods.
At our screening last night, we had a huge treat. Not only was Anderson able to be there and share his personal experience with the audience, but also Raul Diaz, member of Homeboy Industries, came and brought three youth from Boyle Heights. Raul and the three youth (Carlos, Julio and Bebe) connected strongly and viscerally with the film, and Anderson immediately felt a kinship with them. Homeboy Industries is to Los Angeles what AfroReggae is to Rio. It was great to see ambassadors from these kindred groups meet and connect so strongly. Raul and Ando were able to communicate without an interpreter through a half-portugese, half-spanish conversation. It was great to watch …
At the Tribeca screenings in April, many audience members were inspired to donate money to AfroReggae. Junior politely declined all the donation offers. He said: This isn’t a Brazilian problem, it’s a world problem. This problem exists in your own backyard. If you are inspired to help, help your own neighbors. Find a community group in one of the ghettos in your own city. Give them your time and money.
Well, at this LA screening, we brought that very local community group to the screening. It was so satisfying to see inspired audience members come up to Raul and the other Youth Opportunity Movement and Homeboy Industries members after the screenings, and ask how and if they could get involved. The vision is becoming a reality …
To follow up on this great screening, we have scheduled two screenings in the next two days in two of the most violent-torn ghettos of Los Angeles:
On Monday we screen at the Magic Johnson Theater in Englewood, where David LaChapelle (director of Rize) will be joining us as we screen Favela Rising for the subjects of the film Rize. David has become a huge fan of Favela Rising, and he wanted us to share the film with the people he worked with making his movie. We were honored by the invitation and we greatly look forward to having Anderson meet with “favela” residents of LA.
On Tuesday, at the invitation of Raul, Youth Opportunity Movement and Homeboy Industries, we will screen at Roosevelt High School in Boyle Heights, recently known for the most violent and deadly gang activity in Los Angeles. Raul will be touring us around Boyle Heights beforehand, we will be eating at the Homegirl Café, and then screening the film. I look forward to Ando being able to converse directly with the Boyle Heights residents through Portugese/Spanish words.
So, the film is accomplishing the two main goals we had for it:
1. To inspire residents of US ghettos that there is hope of a way out of violence through culture and community-building.
2. To inspire non-ghetto Americans to get involved in helping build their nearby ghettos by working with community groups that already exist in those neighborhoods.
posted by Favela Rising at 5:45 PM
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