Synopsis

‘El Sistema’ is a network of children’s and youth orchestras, music centers 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 30 years ago by José Antonio Abreu, a conductor, composer and economist who was driven by the utopian vision of a better future. He developed the idea of combining social work with classical music, in order to offer children from poor neighbourhoods an alternative to life on the streets. In the dangerous and poverty-stricken shanty towns of Caracas, Abreu lifts children out of poverty through music, changing both people and structures. The story, which has all the makings of a fairytale, is the extraordinary account of a vision that has become reality. Several of the system’s young graduates now rank amongst the most coveted young talent in Europe - the most prominent being the 28-year-old conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the double bass player Edicson Ruiz, who at the age of 17 became the youngest musician ever to join the Berlin Philharmonic. The film El Sistema shows how Abreu’s 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.

감독

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  • 마리아 슈토트마여
  • 1979년생인 마리아 슈토트마여는 포츠담과 부다페스트에서 공부했으며 다양한 음악 및 문학 프로젝트들을 제작했다. 2006년부터 영화 프로듀서로 활동하고 있으며 시몬 볼리바르 청소년 오케스트라, 베네수엘라 관악 앙상블, 오케스트라 모차르트, 루체른 페스티벌 오케스트라의 연주 레코딩 책임을 맡기도 했다.​