Description:
This heartening, inspiring 1993 documentary by Emma Joan Morris makes a strong case for synergy between a child's education in the arts and his or her facility with the classic three R's. Morris—who won three awards from the Sundance Film Festival for this work—introduces us to St. Augustine's, a grammar school in New York City's South Bronx neighborhood where children were failing miserably at rudimentary academics. School administrators decided to take a new, radical approach at bringing students to life by placing musical instruments in their hands and introducing them to drama, opera, dance, jazz, and even guided meditat
This heartening, inspiring 1993 documentary by Emma Joan Morris makes a strong case for synergy between a child's education in the arts and his or her facility with the classic three R's. Morris—who won three awards from the Sundance Film Festival for this work—introduces us to St. Augustine's, a grammar school in New York City's South Bronx neighborhood where children were failing miserably at rudimentary academics. School administrators decided to take a new, radical approach at bringing students to life by placing musical instruments in their hands and introducing them to drama, opera, dance, jazz, and even guided meditation. The plan worked spectacularly well: the kids found inspired applications for math and reading in their creative endeavors, while their direct participation in performance arts increased confidence and excitement about school. Morris knows that her film's point is clearly made within the first 10 minutes, and rather than pound the same pro-arts drum for an hour, she introduces us to a handful of delightful young people and their imaginative, committed educators. Happily, if predictably, Morris ends the film with a school-wide performance for family members, and the success and spirit of this innovative institution becomes absolutely infectious.
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Release date: 8 September 1993
UPC: 658769016833
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