Music documentaries screenings
In collaboration with the Cinema Club of Chios
Homerion Cultural Centre of the Municipality of Chios, at 20:30
Friday 07.02
The Chios Music Festival is inaugurating the official launch of its collaboration with the Cinema Club of Chios, with two 50’ long music documentaries.
Screening of the films:
“El Sistema: Saving Lives”
by Yorgos Avgeropoulos
One afternoon in 1975 in a garage in Caracas, Venezuela, the then 36-year-old music professor and economist, José Antonio Abreu, embarked on a crusade that seemed to be completely utopian. To save as many children as possible from poverty, the streets and crime by teaching them, for free, classical music and making them members of a symphony orchestra.
“Nothing like the first rehearsal,” recalls today the 74-year-old conductor, Abreu. “This is the moment I remember most passionately. The rest was a great daily thrill”.
Only 11 children came to that first rehearsal. But the seed had already fallen into the soil, giving birth to what would get to be known as EL SISTEMA (The System). An instrument of Education, but at the same time a weapon against poverty. A tool for social change. An attempt to change the world through music.
“Singing with Angry Birds”
by Hyewon Jee
Jae-Chang Kim is a Korean opera singer, nicknamed Angry Bird. Five years ago he took a big decision and started a children’s choir in the slums of Pune, India.
Although he did not know how the children’s families would react to his effort, he was confident of his work. The lack of support on behalf of the parents disappointed him, but he kept going, trying to train them to sing for a concert along with their children.
We see how this process changes the lives of the children involved in the choir and at the same time provides them with confidence and discipline,and gives them the opportunity to travel to Korea. The distrust of the parents and their difficulty to realise the value of their endeavour brings Angry Bird before a difficult challenge. A journey full of tears and laughter.
