TO PLAY AND TO FIGHT / TOCAR Y LUCHAR

Origin Country: Venezuela
Runtime: 70 MIN
Presentation Format: Digibeta

DIR Alberto Arvelo SCR Carlos Díaz, Alberto Arvelo PROD Nestor L. Lopez-Duran, Pedro Mezquita, Gerardo Montilla EXEC PROD Igor lanz DP Cezary Jaworski, John Márquez ED Nascuy Linares, Juan Carlos López-Duran

Short Note:
Once a modest plan to expose rural children to the wonders of music, the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra System has become one of the most remarkable social experiments in Venezuela, linking musicians in many of the country's towns and villages. Among the featured guests are Placido Domingo, Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle, Giuseppe Sinopoli and Eduardo Mata.

Long Note:
TO PLAY AND TO FIGHT is a transcendent journey that showcases the power of music and its ability to promote positive social change. In a place of relative poverty, thousands of children have overcome their hardship through music. As music programs for youth across the United States are gradually disappearing, quite the opposite is happening in Venezuela. TO PLAY AND TO FIGHT follows the story of the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra System, a once modest program that teaches youths in the towns and villages across Venezuela classical music and how to play in an orchestra. It is a nationwide phenomenon that has changed the fabric of Venezuelan society and has influenced similar programs in other South American countries.

With so many social programs that do little more than offer a handout, the inspiring tale of the Venezuelan Youth Orchestra System offers an alternative vision and in the process creates something truly beautiful.
-Darren Hinton

Biography:
Born in Caracas, Venezuela in 1966, Alberto Arvelo graduated in art history and beganhis filmmaking career at the age of 17 with an experimental feature, SONG OF THE MOUNTAIN (1983), which he followed two years later with CANDLES IN THE MIST. Others films: ONE LIFE AND TWO TRAILS (1997, presented at the Montreal World FilmFestival), LA HOZ Y EL FORASTERO (1998), A HOUSE WITH A VIEW OF THE SEA (2000, also shown at the MWFF), HABANA, HABANA (2004).

The Venezuelan Youth Orchestra System is a network of orchestras linking musicians inmany of the country's towns and villages. Once a modest plan to expose rural children to the wonders of music, the program has become one of the most remarkable social experiments in Venezuela. This documentary recounts the inspirational stories of world-class musicians trained by the Venezuelan system, including the Berlin Philharmonic's youngest player Edicson Ruiz and renowned conducter Gustavo Dudamel. Among the interviewees featured in the film are Placido Domingo, Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle, Giuseppe Sinopoli and Eduardo Mata.