‘El Sistema’ is a network of children’s and youth orchestras, music centres and workshops in Venezuela, in which more than 250,000 children and young people are currently learning to play an instrument. It was set up over thirty years ago by José Antonio Abreu, a conductor, composer and economist who developed the idea of combining social work with classical music, in order to offer children from poor neighbourhoods an alternative to life on the streets. In the dangerous and poverty-stricken shanty towns of Caracas, Abreu lifts children out of poverty through music, changing both people and structures. Several of the system’s young graduates now rank amongst the most coveted young talent in Europe, including the double bass player Edicson Ruiz, who at the age of 17 became the youngest musician ever to join the Berlin Philharmonic. |
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In the film, three young students are accompanied through their daily lives for a whole year. They have little in common until they become part of the ‘system’ and are confronted by their own instruments, as well as the love, persistence and patience of their teachers. The film explores the central question: what can the system accomplish by connecting young people with classical music, and to what extent can it change their lives? |
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El Sistema
Germany/Switzerland 2009, 102min. Video
Spanish. Subtitles: English
Crew
Screenplay: Paul Smaczny, Maria Stodtmeier
Cinematography: Michael Boomers, Christian Schulz
Sound: Andreas Koeppen, Toine Mertens, Georg Obermayer
Editing: Steffen Herrmann
Production: Günter Atteln, Frank Gerdes, Oliver Rieger, Paul Smaczny for Arte France, EuroArts Music
Distribution: Medici Arts
Director
Paul Smaczny studied law, French and German literature, film and theatre arts. He has produced or directed more than 200 films and television programs, winning an Emmy Award for best arts doc with his film on Danial Barenboim and his Palestinan/Israeli youth orchestra in 2007. Maria Stodtmeier (1979) studied cultural work in Potsdam and Budapest. She produced various international music and literature projects. Since 2006 she is active as a film producer. |