young @ heart • food, inc. • innocent voices • money-driven medicine • trouble the water • riding alone for thousands of miles • microcosmos • the garden • this black soil • me, you, them • the beautiful country • throw down your heart
Young @ Heart
To be shown on the Elks Theatre's big screen, 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Dec. 28th. An open discussion will follow the show.
SYNOPSIS:
Over the last 25 years, there has existed a group of senior citizens living in Northampton, Massachusetts, who refuse to let age and ill health get them down. "Young@Heart" is a documentary based on the lives of the current singing group of 24 senior citizens, brought to the big screen by British filmmaker, Stephen Walker, who saw their performance in London. "Young@Heart" is not your ordinary singing chorus, because they sing punk, R&B, disco, and rock (anything from James Brown to Coldplay) and the average age is 81 with the oldest being 92 year old Eileen Hall. The documentary follows the group over a six-week rigorous rehearsal schedule, plus practicing at home for an upcoming sold-out concert in their home town. The group has many songs in their repertoire, but Bob Cilman, the stern but sympathetic chorus director, has added several songs for the new concert. These are not easy for the group to learn such as "Yes We Can", "Schizophrenia" and "I Got You or (I Feel Good)".
Get ready to rock with the senior citizen's chorus, "Young @ Heart"!
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"Its subjects are so compelling that Young @ Heart becomes a blisteringly funny and deeply moving meditation on music and mortality." --Robert W. Butler, KANSAS CITY STAR
"Young@Heart is nothing less than an ode to joy." --Roger Moore, ATLANTA SENTINEL
"...joyous and brimming with life...." --Jim Lane, SACRAMENTO NEWS AND REVIEW
"Whether you know it yet or not, this will be one of your favorite movies of the year." --Daniel M. Kimmel, WORCESTER TELEGRAM & GAZETTE
AWARDS:
- 2007: Won Audience Award (Best International Feature), Los Angeles Film Festival
- 2008: Won Audience Award (Best Feature Film), Atlanta Film Festival
- 2007: Won Golden Rose Award, Rose d'Or Light Entertainment Festival (U.K.)
- 2008: Won Audience Award, Warsaw International Film Festival
- 2009: Nominated for Critics' Choice Award (Best Documentary Feature), Broadcast Film Critics Association
DETAILS:
Rated PG for some language and thematic material. 107 min. In English. Color. 2007 release.
TRAILER AVAILABLE:
Food, Inc.
SYNOPSIS:
In "Food, Inc.", producer-director Robert Kenner and investigative authors Eric Schlosser ("Fast Food Nation") and Michael Pollan ("The Omnivore's Dilemma") lift the veil on the US food industry--an industry that has often put profits ahead of consumer health, the livelihoods of American farmers, the safety of workers and our own environment.
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"Don't take another bite till you see Food, Inc., an essential, indelible documentary."--Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE
"Essential Viewing"--Gary Goldstein, LOS ANGELES TIMES
"You Have To See Food, Inc."--Corby Kummer, THE ATLANTIC
"See it. Bring your kids if you have them. Bring someone else's kids if you don't."--David Edelstein, NEW YORK MAGAZINE
"Excellent in every respect."--Pete Hammond, BOX OFFICE MAGAZINE
"A cleverly written and well produced documentary. Kenner crafts an intelligent, visually compelling argument grounded in old-fashioned investigative research and journalism."--Maria Garcia, FILM JOURNAL INTERNATIONAL
DETAILS:
MPAA rating: PG (for some thematic material and disturbing images). 2008 release. 94 min. In color.
TRAILER AVAILABLE:
Innocent Voices
SYNOPSIS:
Based on the screenwriter's actual experience, this film is the story of an 11 year-old boy and his mother, abandoned by the boy's father, during the civil war in El Salvador during the 1980's. Child conscription into the national army was a threat which the boy must be crafty to evade, as the army strives to eliminate the peasant forces of the FMLN. Somehow he manages to help his mother by finding work, keeps a hopeful and open outlook, and even experiences his first love, in the face of daunting circumstances.
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"In...Innocent Voices, we experience both war's tragedy and its sometimes weird exhilaration--with innocent clarity."--Michael Wilmington, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"Carlos Padilla is superb as a boy who eagerly looks forward to manhood while ruefully bidding farewell to youth."--Phil Villareal, ARIZONA DAILY STAR
"The many riveting moments will stay with you for days, and Padilla is well up to the task of carrying this intense story on his tiny shoulders."--Elizabeth Waltzman, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
"Luis Mandoki's most potent film, made with anger and indignation...."--Sean Axmaker, SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS:
- 2005: Won Crystal Bear Award, Berlin International Film Festival
- 2005: Won Silver Ariel Award, Ariel Awards Festival, Mexico
- 2005: Won Freedom of Expression Award, Nat'l Board of Review, USA
- 2005: Won Crystal Heart Award, Heartland film Festival
- 2005: Won Jury Prize (Best Feature Film), RiverRun Internat'l Film Festival
- 2005: Won Stanley Kramer Award, PGA Awards Festival
- (6 other wins, 9 nominations)
DETAILS:
Rated R (disturbing violence, some language). 120 min. 2004 release. In Spanish with English subtitles. Color.
TRAILER
Money-Driven Medicine
SYNOPSIS:
Money-Driven Medicine provides the essential introduction Americans need to become knowledgeable participants in healthcare reform, now and in the years ahead. Produced by Academy Award winner Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side; Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room) and based on Maggie Mahar's acclaimed book, Money Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much, the film offers a behind-the-scenes look at how our 2.6 trillion dollar a year healthcare system went so terribly wrong and what it will take to fix it.
The U.S. spends twice as much per person on healthcare as the average developed nation, fully one-sixth of our GDP - yet our outcomes, especially for chronic diseases, are very often worse. What makes us different? The U.S. is the only industrialized nation that has chosen to turn medicine into a largely unregulated, for-profit business.
REVIEWER'S COMMENTS:
"One of the strongest documentaries I have seen in years and could not be more timely. The more people who see and talk about it, the more likely we are to get serious and true healthcare reform." —Bill Moyers
“Few Americans appreciate how the healthcare system is gamed against physicians’ professional commitment to focus only on their patients’ best interests. This outstanding film helps us all understand why reform is essential.” —Elliott S. Fisher, MD, Director Dartmouth Center for Health Policy Research Principal Investigator, Dartmouth Atlas Project
"In the midst of all the hollering comes a calm, quiet new documentary that offers another diagnosis of what’s ailing the American healthcare system. What makes Money-Driven Medicine so compelling is how the film listens to patients, and even more, to doctors." —Terry Moran, NIGHTLINE
AWARDS:
(This documentary has just been released)
Maggie Mahar's previous book, "Bull: A HIstory of the Boom, 1982-1999" was selected as a Publisher's Weekly Best Non-Fiction Book of 2003
DETAILS:
Not rated. 2009 release. 86 min. Color. In English.
TRAILER:
Trouble the Water
SYNOPSIS:
How is it that Hurricane Katrina managed to revolutionize American attitudes about the environment, but somehow the very people most devastated by the storm have become refugees in their own country, and their experiences have been all but forgotten? In Trouble the Water, this voiceless population becomes vibrantly human as documentarians Tia Lessin and Carl Deal engage with native New Orleans filmmaker and musician Kimberly Rivers Roberts and her husband, Scott, to create a powerful, partly autobiographical survival story that reflects the lives of many of the people of New Orleans. Kimberly's chilling home footage of her hometown before, during, and after the storm provides an account that essentially rewrites most of the media coverage of the disaster. Broadcast news stories of rampant looting are transformed into ingeniously heroic tales of survival, while recent stories of a thriving recovery in New Orleans are exposed as a false bill of goods sold on the backs of the disenfranchised. Trouble the Water makes unapologetically clear that Hurricane Katrina rages on as an unnatural disaster of governmental and journalistic neglect. What is also truly amazing is that the levee protecting Kimberly's humanity against this devastating storm remains firmly grounded in her deep-rooted love for New Orleans, her family, and her art, and her enduring faith in her fellow human beings. --copy; Sundance Film Festival
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"One of the best American documentaries in recent memory..." --Manola Dargis, THE NEW YORK TIMES
"The person at the centre emerges as a force of nature unto herself. Meet, and prepare to be inspired by, Kimberly Rivers Roberts."--Rick Groen, TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL
"You can't help wanting--and maybe needing-- to read into her indomitable spiritedness something like a reason for hope. For her, for other Katrina survivors, for all of us."--Joe Leydon, HOUSTON CHRONICLE
"Trouble the Water doesn't merely bring its characters to the edge of the abyss. It watches them fall in--and then, amazingly, climb out."-- Michael Sragow, BALTIMORE SUN
"Trouble the Water is a crucial film, one of the best of the decade."--Joe Williams, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
AWARDS, NOMINATIONS:
- 2008: Won Grand Jury Prize, Sundance Film Festival
- 2008: Won Jury Award (Best Picture), Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
- 2008: Won Best Documentary Award, Gotham Awards
- 2009: Nominated for Academy Award (Best Documentary, Feature)
DETAILS:
Color, English, 90 min. MPAA: not rated. 2008 release.
TRAILER:
Monday July 27, 2009
Riding Alone for thousands of miles
SYNOPSIS:
A young Japanese film maker is in hospital in Tokyo. His estranged father tries to visit, but the son refuses to see him. As a gesture of reconciliation, the father decides to go to China to complete the filming of a Chinese opera, called "Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles," which the son was working on but unable to finish. But the master singer whom the son was most interested in filming is now in jail, so official permission must be granted. And then the singer has a breakdown because he wants to see his own young son who is somewhere in the countryside. The Japanese father now has to travel rural China to find the son of the singer. A strong and beautiful film (as one would expect from master director Zhang Yimou, who has given us such classics as "Raise the Red Lantern", "The Road Home", and "Not One Less"), it is a tale of one man's journey both into the world and into himself.
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"Zhang is one of the world's great filmmakers, both in technique and in his rich humanity. Riding Alone will move you."-- Jack Garner, ROCHESTER DEMOCRAT AND CHRONICLE
"It's the kind of story that shows more than it tells, a story that's forged in the spaces that exist in between characters and spaces."-- Marjorie Baumgarten, AUSTIN CHRONICLE
"...Zhang's observant eye neatly captures the idiosyncrasies of Chinese life and the heartbreak in Gouichi's journey"-- Sean Means, SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
"A meticulously crafted film in which nothing is ever forced or overstated. There's a grace and subtlety that pervades the film and quietly impresses"-- Beth Accomando, KPBS.ORG
AWARDS, NOMINATIONS:
- 2006: Won San Diego Film Critics Award (Best Foreign Language Film, Best Actor)
- 2007: Won Hong Kong Film Award (Best Asian Film)
- 2006: Won Shanghai Film Critics Film of Merit Award
- 2007: Nominated for Golden Rooster Award (Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay)
DETAILS:
In Mandarin and Japanese, with English subtitles. 107 min. MPAA: rated PG for mild thematic content. 2006 release. In color.
TRAILER AVAILABLE:
Monday June 29, 2009
Microcosmos
SYNOPSIS:
"'Microcosmos' is an amazing film that allows us to peer deeply into the insect world and marvel at creatures we casually condemn to squishing. The makers of this film took three years to design their close-up cameras and magnifying lenses, and to photograph insects in such brilliant detail that if they were cars, we could read their city stickers.
The movie is a work of art and whimsy as much as one of science. It uses only a handful of words, but is generous with music and amplified sound effects, dramatizing the unremitting struggle of survival that goes on in a meadow in France. If a camera could somehow be transported to another planet, in order to photograph alien life forms, would the result be any more astonishing than these invasions into the private lives of snails and bees, mantises and beetles, spiders and flies?
There is no other film like it. If the movies allow us to see places we have not visited and people we do not know, then "Microcosmos'' dramatically extends the range of our vision, allowing us to see the world of the creatures who most completely and enduringly inhabit the Earth." —Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
OTHER REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"These (biologist) filmmakers have made their documentary into something much more interesting than a standard nature piece by turning the bugs into larger-than-life characters whose quirks, pastimes and relationships are never less than riveting." —Brendan Kelly, VARIETY
"`Microcosmos' has it all -- sex, love, war, a comic sense of fleeting life and radiant beauty. "---Peter Stack, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"...the filmmakers employ jaw-dropping visuals to silently convey not just the activities of the many insects they study, but also the dizzyingly foreign world in which they live." ---Jake Euker, AMC FILMCRITIC
AWARDS, NOMINATIONS:
- 1996: Won Technical Grand Prize, Cannes Film Festival
- 1997: Won Cesar Awards (France) for Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Music For a Film, Best Producer, and Best Sound
- 1996: Won Georges Delarue Prize, Flanders International Film Festival
DETAILS:
80 min. In color. In French with English subtitles. 1996 release. MPAA: not rated (suitable for all audiences in our opinion).
TRAILER AVAILABLE:
Microcosmos
The Garden
SYNOPSIS:
"The 14-acre community garden in South Central Los Angeles is the largest of its kind in the United States. Started as a form of healing after the devastating L.A. riots in 1992, the South Central Farmers have since created a miracle in one of the country’s most blighted neighborhoods. Growing their own food. Feeding their families. Creating a community.
But now, bulldozers are poised to level their oasis. The Garden follows the plight of the farmers, from the tilled soil of this urban farm to the polished marble of City Hall. Mostly immigrants from Latin America, from countries where they feared for their lives if they were to speak out, we watch them organize, fight back, and demand answers: Why was the land sold to a wealthy developer for millions less than fair-market value? Why was the transaction done in a closed-door session of the LA City Council? Why has it never been made public? And the powers-that-be have the same response: 'The garden is wonderful, but there is nothing more we can do.' If everyone told you nothing more could be done, would you give up?"-- (Review from Rottentomatoes website)
OTHER REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"It's tempting to call "The Garden" a story of innocence and experience, of evil corrupting paradise, but that would be doing a disservice to the fascinating complexities of a classic Los Angeles conflict and an excellent documentary that does them full justice."--Kenneth Turan, LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Imagine if John Steinbeck rewrote the script for 'Chinatown'."--Peter Hartlaub, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"A political documentary that is as lovingly developed as the garden cared for by poor immigrants."--Harvey S. Karten, COMPUSERVE
"A compelling, inspirational, provocative and thoroughly engrossing documentary."--Avi Offer, NYC MOVIE GURU
"Scott Hamilton Kennedy's plucky, powerful storytelling makes this a worthwhile experience."--Christie Lemire, ASSOCIATED PRESS
AWARDS:
- 2008: Oscar nominee, Best Documentary Feature
- 2008: Won Sterling Award, Silverdocs
- 2008: Official Selection, LA Film Festival
- 2008: Nominee, IDA Pare Lorentz Award
DETAILS:
80min. In color. English. MPAA: not rated. April 2009 theatrical release.
TRAILER AVAILABLE:
this black soil
Directed by Teresa Konechne
Produced by
Working Hands Production
This inspiring and provocative new film chronicles the successful struggle of Bayview, Virginia, a small and severely impoverished rural African-American community, to pursue a new vision of prosperity.
Catalyzed by the defeat of a state plan to build a maximum-security prison in their backyard, the powerful women leaders and residents created the Bayview Citizens for Social Justice, a non-profit organization, secured $10 million in grants, purchased the proposed prison site land and are now building a new community from the ground up.
Under the leadership of visionary women, this new rural village challenges all conventional ideas of community development and includes not only improved and affordable housing, but a sustainable economic base to earn a living wage, a community center for educating its residents, a daycare center, laundromat, and a community farm, which not only provides jobs and income for the organization, but returns them to their roots, working on the land.
Bayview's story has been featured in national and international media including: CBS' "60 Minutes", the New York Times, Washington Post, People magazine, and the BBC.
Awards:
- American Library Association - Notable Videos for Adults 2006
- Director's Citation, Black Maria Festival
- Audience Award, Best Documentary, Central Standard Film Festival, Minneapolis
- Second Place, Documentary, Big Muddy Film Festival
- Bronze Plaque, Columbus International Film & Video Festival
- Finalist, Best Short Documentary, Big Sky Documentary Film Festival
- Israel Environmental Film Festival, Tel-Aviv, Israel — May 2007
- The 9th Zanzibar International Film Festival — Zanzibar, Tanzania July 2006
Reviews:
"The tendency of today's policymakers to serve up prisons as the answer to rural America's economic plight comes with devastating consequences...The story of Bayview, Virginia provides a much-needed example of what can happen when indigenous rural leaders reach beyond the boundaries of race, class, and geography to fight back against the prison industrial complex. Teresa Konechne's inspired and inspiring chronicle of one community's successful struggle to defeat a plan to locate a prison in their town and pursue a sustainable future instead should be in the toolkits of all educators, organizers, economic developers, advocates for justice, and founders of innovation across the nation seeking an answer to the question: 'If not prisons, what?'" Tracy Huling, Author, "An Analysis of the Economics of Prison Siting in Rural Communities", Founder/Co-Director, National Resource Center on Prisons and Communities.
"This is the story of people who help themselves and destroy the myth that being poor means ignorance, apathy or surrender." —Cleveland International Film Festival
"Teresa Konechne puts the Bayview residents at the center of her documentary, telling their hard won story without the intrusion of a narrator. We see both the obstacles and victories, making this an inspiring primer of grassroots organizing from the bottom up. This film is truly an example of what REAL democracy looks like! ...this black soil honors the struggle of 'ordinary' people seeking economic justice, improving their lives and discovering their own power through activism." —Lydia Howell, Print/Radio Journalist
"A model for grassroots organizing, but it also speaks to the importance of local governance...This sort of human triumph makes for an inspiring experience, but Konechne ensures that her doc also provides the tools for others who wish to follow in the footsteps of Bayview's activists." —Caroline Palmer, City Pages (Minneapolis/St. Paul)
"A potentially incisive template for social activism, Teresa Konechne's This Black Soil spans almost a decade and stands as a heartening shot across the bow for everybody who imagines the poor can't come together to seize power." —Central Standard Film Festival Program
"This black soil is unique in that the filmmaker is able to document a decade long process of American activism at the grassroots level. It serves as a motivational and inspirational story for all social activists. Highly Recommended" —Monique Threatt, Educational Media Reviews Online
DETAILS:
58 min. Color. In English. 2004 release. MPAA--not rated-- (Considered by us to be suitable for all audiences). The included art film, below, contains brief nudity.
Trailer:
através de ti, yo soy (through you, i am)
Screenings:
- Morambeau Theater - International Video Dance Festival, Le Breuil, Burgundy, France March 2009
- Intermedia Arts - Words! Camera! Action! Film/Spoken Word/Dance, Minneapolis, MN December 2005
An experimental piece about love, distance and yearning.
Details:
Length 6:02 min. Color. English. 2005 Release.
Monday, April 13th, 2009 (postponed from March 30th due to blizzard)
Me, You, Them
SYNOPSIS:
ME YOU THEM tells the true story of Darlene Linhares (Regina Casé), a woman with a huge heart and the practicality to deal with it; she has three husbands, each of whom satisfies her desires in his. "ME YOU THEM tells the true story of Darlene Linhares (Regina Casé), a woman with a huge heart and the practicality to deal with it; she has three husbands, each of whom satisfies her desires in his own way. Osias (Lima Duarte) is her rogue of a husband, the owner of a goat farm. The affectionate Zezinho (Sténio Garcia) joins the family when his mother dies; he performs domestic duties. And Ciro (Luiz Carlos Vasconcelos), the sexy hunk Darlene finds at work, is simply hot. Directed by Andrucha Waddington, this film is a provocative work that explores the fantasies a woman has during her marriage. In a way, ME YOU THEM is a fairy tale — the fantasy where love triumphs in the face of adversity. But, because it is based on a true story and because Casé's performance is so earthy and easygoing, the fantasy becomes a reality. All of this takes place in the warm, arid landscapes of Bahia, Brazil, the hometown of Gilberto Gil — the legendary master of traditional Brazilian sounds — who also wrote the soundtrack. Waddington's combines the romance and simplicity of IL POSTINO and the wild sensuality of BELLE EPOQUE". (—Reviewer for Rottentomatoes.com)
OTHER REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"Needs to be seen and savored" —Bob Graham, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"An adroit, beautifully acted, sophisticated film" —Kevin Thomas, LOS ANGELES TIMES
"languidly charming"--Marrit Ingman, AUSTIN CHRONICLE
"An engaging and fascinating tale of life just beyond the edge of society" —Rich Cline, FILM THREAT
"A little gem of a movie"--Chris Ryan, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER
AWARDS:
- 2001: Won ABC Cinematography Award
- 2000: Won Un Certain Regard Special Mention Award, Cannes Film Festival
- 2001: Won Critics Award and Golden India Catalina Award, Cartegena Film Festival
- 2001: Won Cinema Brazil Grand Prize in 4 categories
- 2000: Won Havana Film Festival Awards in 3 categories
- 2001: Won Sao Paulo Association of Art Critics Awards in 4 categories
- 2001: Won Special Jury Award, Marrakech International Film Festival
DETAILS:
Rated PG-13 for sexuality and thematic content. In Portugese with English subtitles. 2001 USA release. 107 min. In color.
TRAILER AVAILABLE:
The Beautiful Country
SYNOPSIS:
Norwegian director Hans Petter Moland tells the story of Binh, a shy Vietnamese man in his 20s who embarks on a personal journey with a beautiful young woman named Ling aboard a refugee ship bound for America. The objective of Binh's quest is to find a better life -- and his estranged American father. Nick Nolte and Tim Roth play supporting roles in this drama exploring the human effects of the Vietnam War.
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"Quiet, moving and beautifully shot drama" — Walter V. Addiego, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"A poignant and affecting portrait of the (Viet Nam) war's lingering consequences" — Terry Lawson, DETROIT FREE PRESS
"It's a heartening, rewarding experience to watch this journey - and, especially, its end" — Michael Wilmington, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"THE BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY conveys something essential about the immigrant experience" — Eleanor Ringell Gillespie, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
"An engrossing, ravishing epic" — Stephen Farber, MOVIELINE'S HOLLYWOOD LIFE
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS:
- 2006: Nominated for Independent Spirit Award
- 2004: Official selection, Berlin International Film Festival
- 2004: Nominated for Golden Bear Award, Berlin International Film Festival
- 2004: Official selection, Tribeca Film Festival
- 2004: Nominated for Amanda Award, Norway
DETAILS:
MPAA-rated R for language and sexual references. 125 min. Color. English subtitles for Cantonese, Mandarin, and Vietnamese passages. 2004 release.
TRAILER AVAILABLE:
Throw Down Your Heart
SYNOPSIS:
World-renowned banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck's curiosity about the origins of his instrument takes him on a quest to Africa, where the film follows his meetings (and jammings) with local musicians. Directed by emerging auteur Sascha Paladino (who is also Fleck’s younger brother), THROW DOWN YOUR HEART is Fleck’s enthralling journey through Uganda, Tanzania, The Gambia, and Mali to uncover the roots of the instrument that is now regarded as quintessentially American. A multiple Grammy-winner for jazz, bluegrass and classical recordings, Fleck suddenly finds himself a wide-eyed novice in nations where the instrument may be fundamentally the same, but the language and rhythm of the music are essentially different. Fleck encounters a dizzying array of musicians who vary in skill and prestige, from superstars like the Malian diva Oumou Sangare, to humble families that make and play their own makeshift banjo, to one who has mastered a 12-foot xylophone. As Henry Wadsworth Longfellow once remarked, “Music is the universal language of mankind,” which rings true for Fleck and his African counterparts. Although they might not find common words, their profound and spontaneous duets speak volumes about music's ability to connect people across superficial divides. THROW DOWN YOUR HEART is an enchanting and ecstatic celebration of music, and indeed makes you want to throw down your heart, get up and dance.REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
". . . a film about the power of music to shatter cultural and historic barriers . . ." —Karina Longsworth, SPOUT.COM "(Fleck and) an ingratiating cast of radiant locals (evoke) tears, laughter, passion and the unalloyed bliss of making music." —Chris Garcia, AUSTIN AMERICAN-STATESMAN "Fleck’s humble demeanor and reverence for his fellow players allows for the honey of the African sounds to seem that much sweeter." —Justin Follin, POPMATTERS.COM "One of our goals was to film what is great in Africa. There are so many films about what's wrong with Africa, which we don't want to deny that exists, but we wanted to show some of the great things in Africa like its music traditions . . ." —Sascha Paladino (the film's director)AWARDS:
- 2008 Silver Docs Music Documentary Award
- 2008 SXSW (South by Southwest music/film festival) Audience Award