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. The film takes us from the battle-scarred 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. 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. —mostra.org
