El Sistema is a network of childrens and youth orchestras, music centres and workshops in Venezuela, in which more than 250,000 children and young people are currently learning to play an instrument. It was set up over thirty years ago by José Antonio Abreu, who was driven by the utopian vision of a better future. In the dangerous and poverty-stricken shanty towns of Caracas, Abreu lifts children out of poverty through music, changing both people and structures. The film El Sistema shows how Abreus astonishing ideas have led the way out of the vicious circle of poverty - and how the power of music has been able to change the lives of hundreds of thousands of young people.
Direction
Two female directors capturing masculine spaces with radical empathy.
Production
Access to Caracas barrios no Western crew had before.
Editing
Cuts between filthy streets and pristine concert halls gut you.
Director
Paul Smaczny
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Gustavo Dudamel, featured as a young conductor, later became music director of the LA Philharmonic—Hollywood's adopted Venezuelan son.
Chávez's government heavily promoted El Sistema as socialist propaganda; critics now debate whether it was empowerment or exploitation dressed in tuxedos.
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