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10 March - 27 April 2006
Following
the Afro-Reggae performances at the Tropicália
Festival at the Barbican Centre the ICA is releasing
the documentary Favela Rising
Short-listed
for Film of the Year 2005, International Documentary
Association; Winner, Best Emerging Documentary Filmmaker,
Tribeca Film Festival 2005. A pulsating documentary
that tells a powerful story of redemption, re-invention
and revolution.
Set
in Rio de Janeiro's most feared and violent favela (slum),
the film follows the story of Anderson Sa, a former
drug-trafficker who turned his back on crime to re-connect
with his community.
Having seen friends and family members murdered, Sa
decided to fight back against the teenage drug armies
and corrupt police force turning everyday life into
a never-ending cycle of violence and tragedy.
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Bringing
together a group of like-minded social revolutionaries, Sa
created 'AfroReggae', a movement as well as a live act that
mixes hip-hop, Afro-Brazilian dance and the rhythms of the
street.
The band become a positive force for change, creating cultural
programmes to inspire favela youth who would otherwise join
the ever-growing armies of drug-dealers.
However, things take an unpredictable turn when a tragic accident
threatens to throw the AfroReggae bandwagon off course.
Directors Zimbalist and Mochary tell this memorable, exciting
story with great skill, allowing the protagonists, locations
and music full expression as the narrative powers to a tense
conclusion.
The sheer energy on display here perfectly reflects the life
force of the film's remarkable subjects - Anderson Sa and
AfroReggae - making for one of the most important, emotive
and entertaining documentaries in years.
An ICA Projects release
Favela
Rising
Fri 10 Mar - Thu 27 Apr 2006
The
ICA Box Office is open daily 12 midday - 9.15pm
Booking
Tickets
By
telephone: 020 7930 3647
Please
note, due to the nature of the ICA's programme, the Box Office
is very busy between 6pm and 9.15pm. You may find it more
convenient to either call before 6pm or email us with your
ticket requirements
Time
Out Review - London Issue 1855: March 8-15 2006
Favela Rising
2005, United States, 80 mins, Colour
Genre: Documentaries
Releases: Mar 10 2006, (GB)
Cast & crew
Director - Jeff Zimbalist, Matt
Mochary
Producer
- Jeff
Zimbalist, Matt
Mochary
This
arresting documentary tells of the rise of AfroReggae, a Brazilian
band with a conscience born of violence and drug-running in
the Rio favela of Vigário Geral in the early ’90s.
Anderson Sa, the band’s founder and the focus of this
film, dreamt of being ‘a revolutionary druglord’
when he was a kid, which speaks volumes about his neighbourhood.
As this fast-paced but well-informed film tells us, 3,937
minors died as a result of violence in the city between 1987
and 2001, and the directors of ‘Favela Rising’
give us a taste of the situation by presenting ample TV footage
of bodies, blood baths, drug stashes and firearms (usually
an ugly combination of all four). But music and performance
take centre-stage too, and Anderson himself offers a story
of hope; a former drug dealer, he’s now a community
leader and a local icon.
Both
Anderson and this film pin the rapid rise of AfroReggae –
now as much a social movement and a local education project
as a music group – to one particular event that took
place in Vigário Geral in August 1993: the murder of
four policemen by drug dealers, which in turn prompted the
police to enter the favela and ‘massacre’ 21 inhabitants.
The ‘Grupo AfroReggae’ began to publish a radical
local newspaper, AfroReggae News, and the lyrics of its band
– now signed to Universal Music – dealt directly
with the community’s history and problems. ‘What
do you want to be when you grow up?’ Anderson asks one
local kid. ‘An outlaw,’ the boy replies. ‘Favela
Rising’ credits art with changing lives (it cites a
dramatic drop in drug crime in Vigário Geral), but
doesn’t lose sight of its limitations either. Dave Calhoun
Source
: http://www.timeout.com/film/83372.html
FURTHER
INFO: http://www.favelarising.com/
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