"In Vigario Geral, one of the 600 slums in the vicinity of Rio de Janiero, Anderson Sa was just another kid who dreamed of becoming a drug lord. Without positive black role models, that was as far as he could dream. Then, when 21 innocent people [including his brother] were murdered by the police in the massacre of August 1993, he started looking for a way out of the violence. Under the tutelage of Jose Junior, the executive director of Grupo AfroReggae, an organization using music as an instrument of change, Anderson transformed himself into a leading voice for non-violence...Favela Rising is an inspirational portrait of an unwanted kid who brought culture to a world that had known only violence. The music is raw, and the ghetto voices real. Unlike the commercialized gangsta rap of the American music industry, theirs is a shout out from a war zone where complacency is death. Anderson proves a heroic figure, as he battles both police and criminals in his crusade to save the children." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) Winner of close to a dozen festival awards and one of the films short-listed for last year's Best Documentary Feature Oscar. more at favelarising.com
2006, color, 1 hour 23 minutes, USA