Only When I Dance

Director: Beadie Finzi
Length: 78 min.
Released: 2009

This documentary from Brazil focuses on the lives of two young dancers from a dance academy in Rio de Janeiro.  Their mentor believes students from poorer families should also be able to participate in the traditionally upper-class-only world of classical ballet.  She does everything she can to acquire scholarships and funding for her students.  Dance could be their ticket out of poverty, and they all know it.  Their motivation to work hard keeps them practicing long hours every day.  The documentary follows two students, Irlan and Isabela, both highly-skilled dancers hoping to make ballet a successful career.  Their mentor helps coordinate the high cost of traveling abroad and makes sure their families are prepared and can provide what is needed.

The camera follows Irlan and Isabela, along with other students from their dance school to the All-Brazil ballet competition, in which 200 dancers from the entire country will be chosen to attend an international competition held in New York, where they will compete for spots in elite dance companies from around the world.  When Irlan is selected for a prestigious competition in Switzerland, he is escorted by the film crew.  

The documentary features candid interviews and conversations with Irlan and Isabela's families, and Irlan and Isabela share hopes and fears about the future.  Dance may take them away from home, which both thrills and worries them.  Life in other countries and cultures can be cold (as Irlan finds out in Switzerland, where he discovers snow) or unfriendly (as Isabela is told she does not conform to the ballet standard; white and thin).  Their families and their school provide strong support for them.  

The film conveys the dedication and sacrifice ballet dancers make for their art and their dreams.  The stress of a competitive selection process is difficult in any discipline, but dancers form a close-knit family, and hugs abound when things don't go as hoped.   

Several full-length dance scenes show the talent of both Irlan and Isabela.  Their emotion, grace and strength captivate even those with no knowledge of ballet.  They make their dancing look so effortless: Irlan leaps high and bares his soul, Isabela flows gracefully from one difficult pose to another.      

    

It's rewarding to see where Irlan and Isabela are now, to continue to track their success through dance.

There is a website for the film:  www.onlywhenidance.com  

The Singing Revolution

Director: James Tusty, Maureen Castle Tusty

Length: 94 min. 

Released: 2007 

Most people haven't even heard of Estonia, and if they have they don't know much about it.  The small country (population: 1.34 million) is one of the Baltic States, along with Latvia and Lithuania, and is the northernmost of the three.  Just across the Baltic Sea lies Sweden and Finland, and to the east, Russia.

Like many countries in central and eastern Europe, Estonia was occupied first by the Nazis and later by the Soviets.  There was a brief period between World War I and II when they were fully independent.  In 1989, the Estonians began a peaceful revolution against their aggressors along with the Lithuanians and Latvians, which successfully freed them from occupation and led to the collapse of the U.S.S.R. in 1991.

Music has always been important in Estonia.  Pre-occupation, community music groups and festivals flourished.  Then, for decades, they were required to sing propagandist songs.  Finally, gathering at the summer music festival, a few people began to sing Estonian songs.  These demonstrations of national pride rallied all Estonians, and led to a complete revolution.  The story is amazing, and surprising in its success in the modern trigger-happy world.

Estonia is now one of the most prosperous countries from the Eastern Bloc.  It has been a member of the European Union since 2004 (with the euro), and places a strong emphasis on democracy, freedom and education.  Tallinn, the capital and largest city, has been named the European Capital of Culture for 2011.  If you are interested in visiting Estonia or want to learn more about upcoming musical events and festivals, visit the country's website:

Official website for the film

Paper Clips

Director: Elliot Berlin
Length: 82 min.
Released: 2004


Comprehending the scale of huge numbers is difficult for anyone.  When students at Whitwell Middle School in Tennessee were told during a unit on the Holocaust that six million people perished, students had trouble visualizing that quantity.  They were shown pictures of shoes piled up, representing lives lost.  Someone suggested gathering six million objects to best understand what six million of anything looks like, and the classes decided to use paper clips.  A small object, ordinary, but symbolic

They embarked on their project, seemingly simple.  Students brought in paper clips, and teachers turned aspects of it into academic tasks.  Waves of students over several years participated in "The Holocaust Project", as the boxes piled up and filled rooms at the school.  People sent paper clips in the mail with letters attached telling their personal stories.  Their paper clips represented real people, and the project was a chance to honor them.

This documentary takes you to the heart of Whitwell: its teachers, its students, its residents.  Rural Tennessee doesn't get much national coverage, but Whitwell became familiar to many from its request for paper clips.  It's great to see a project bring students and the community together to learn history.

When the six million paper clips were all present and accounted for, the need arose for a fitting memorial to store them.  (The final count was actually 11 million, which included children.)  The solution was a boxcar which had actually transported prisoners to camps, abandoned and for sale in Germany.  Funds were donated, journalists came, and a documentary was made.  The boxcar was carefully transported to sit permanently in Whitwell.  The Children's Holocaust Memorial is now a museum, and Whitwell students lead tours to students from Tennessee and other states.  What a powerful way to make learning real.

Parallel Lines

Director: Nina Davenport

Length: 98 minutes 
Released: 2004

Nina Davenport, a New Yorker displaced to California for work, finds herself homesick and deeply saddened on September 11, 2001.  Several months later, when it is time to return to New York, she decides not to fly, but instead to drive.  As she’s a filmmaker, she decides to document the journey with her videocamera strapped to various parts of her rental car. 

Her adventure takes her across the southern United States during the three-week window she has before she must be in New York.  Her inquisitive nature makes her stop anyone she comes across to ask questions and opinions.  Her lack of enthusiasm to get home encourages her to follow small roads and intriguing signs, which leads to an 8000-mile journey.  The initial premise is to document reactions to the terrorist attacks, but she discovers that New York is a distant place from small town America, and everyone has a story of hardship and sacrifice.      

Davenport uses post-production voice-over to tell her story and narrate her emotions and concerns.  Her camera becomes her fellow passenger, strapped onto the seat beside her, on the dashboard and even on the roof of her car (which causes a problem in Washington, D.C., in the new, post-9/11 world of heightened security).    

One of Davenport’s major concerns throughout the film is the new view from her apartment window in New York, now void of the twin towers.  Through listening to other people’s stories, she begins the process towards acceptance.  When she does arrive back home, she carries with her an invisible support group.  

Not everyone has Davenport’s persistence, but we are all rewarded because of her efforts.  The film is thoroughly captivating: you feel part of the journey.  You know neither you nor Davenport will ever likely see the people she met again, which makes the encounters all the more bittersweet and profound.  The people presented in the film may not have an emotional attachment to New York, but they represent what it means to be American, which is what Davenport realized was the true story she wanted to tell and needed to hear herself.  

The film was shown at a range of festivals throughout the world.
(Click here for the complete list.)