Tocar y Luchar de Alberto Arvelo

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“ Tocar y Luchar ” es el nuevo filme dirigido bajo la batuta de Alberto Arvelo. Un documental que toca las entrañas del proyecto orquestal y social más importante de las últimas décadas, la Orquesta Infantil y Juvenil de Venezuela (FESNOJIV) encabezada por el presidente de la Fundacion Frank Di Polo. Es la historia de un sueño musical que actualmente agrupa sin distinciones, de ningún tipo, a más de 250 mil niños y jóvenes de toda Venezuela y a otros miles en otros países de América latina.

En esencia la historia es dirigida por las batutas experimentadas de los más celebres directores y músicos de nuestros tiempos y que han tenido la dicha de escuchar a esos jóvenes: Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, Plácido Domingo, Guiseppe Sinopoli, Eduardo Mata, así como del creador de este hermoso proyecto musical José Antonio Abreu. Seguidamente algunas de sus impresiones recogidas en el documental:

- “Pensé que había entrado el Teatro Teresa Carreño, pero entré en el paraíso”, Placido Domingo.

- “Puedo decir que nada es tan importante en la música clásica como lo que está ocurriendo en Venezuela” Sir Simon Rattle

- “El mundo debería tomar a Venezuela como ejemplo”, Claudio Abbado

El tono especial y emotivo que el cineasta Alberto Arvelo, ha logrado transmitir a cada uno de sus espectadores que hasta ahora han visto “ Tocar y Luchar, ”quizás se deba a los siete años que perteneció a la Orquesta Juvenil mientras tocaba el violonchelo. Seguramente esta es una etapa de la vida de este cineasta que muy pocos conocen.

To Play and To Fight

To Play and To Fight is the captivating story of the Venezuelan Youth and Children’s Orchestra System, an incredible network of hundreds of orchestras formed within most of Venezuela’s towns and villages. Once a modest program designed to expose rural children to the wonders of music, ‘El Sistema’ has evolved into what has been called “one of the most important and beautiful social phenomena in modern history.”

Close to half a million students have participated in the program, which was founded in 1975 by musician and former government minister Jose Antonio Abreu as a social program to improve the lives of the country's underprivileged youth.

"As a Venezuelan musician, I proposed to make my art an instrument of authentic social development, an instrument to build citizens, a powerful vehicle to achieve an integral education for children, compensating in this way the traditional deficiencies of the continent's education system," says Abreu.

There were only two symphony orchestras in Venezuela when Abreu started El Sistema. Now there are about 200, with at least one professional orchestra in every state. Venezuela's orchestra program has inspired more than 20 other countries in Latin America to create programs of their own. Teaching musical harmony is also a means of educating people in human harmony, building community and spirit. This inspiring film weaves together impressive performances and interviews with renowned musicians such as Placido Domingo who reflect on the impact of this remarkable social project.

Director Alberto Arvelo says, "This film is about much more than music. To Play and To Fight is a film about hope, about the power and the importance of hope in our every day lives. This documentary not only changed the life of all of us [filmmakers], but is also changing the life of many people from all around the world...people who find in the message of these kids a deep inspiration. To Play and To Fight is a film about the resurrection of hope."
www.tocaryluchar.com