Crescendo! The Power of Music

by Claudia | Oct 2, 2014

PROUD to announce that the feature documentary: CRESCENDO! THE POWER OF MUSIC won the following AWARDS!

23rd Annual Philadelphia Film Festival – Pinkenson Award

2014 Audience Award Philadelphia Film Festival

Kaiser Permanente Thrive Award 2015

Produced by Elisabeth Kling, Directed by Jamie Bernstein., Cinematography by Claudia Raschke

ABOUT THIS FILM

Since its inception in 1976, El Sistema, Venezuela’s phenomenal youth orchestra program, has brought social transformation to several million disadvantaged children in that country. In addition to producing world class musicians like conductor Gustavo Dudamel, El Sistema is now a rapidly expanding global movement, changing countless young lives worldwide.

CRESCENDO! THE POWER OF MUSIC

Our film is an in-depth, verité based look at three kids — two in West Philadelphia and one in New York City’s Harlem — as they participate in a pair of Sistema-inspired youth orchestra programs. We watch as our kids struggle to master their instruments, confronting their fears along the way, and interacting with their talented, dedicated teachers. We witness the children evolving before our eyes.

In Stanford Thompson’s Play On, Philly! program, 11 year old Raven is a natural on the violin, but her energetic spirit keeps getting her in trouble. We also meet quiet, quirky Zebadiah, 13, whose viola brings him out of his loneliness.

Meanwhile, in Harlem, Anne Fitzgibbon’s Harmony Program nurtures troubled Mohamed, their 11 year old trombone star, whose failing grades are casting a shadow on his music-making.

Surprises, heartbreak and joy come in big doses as we watch our three young people, and the community around them, responding to the mysterious power of music.