Event

To Be Heard

Directed by Edwin Martinez, Roland Legiardi-Laura, Deborah Shaffer, and Amy Sultan
Run time: 87 minutes
Sponsored by the Teaneck Rotary Club
Panel discussion and poetry slam to follow film

To Be Heard is the story of three teens from the South Bronx whose struggle to change their lives begins when they start to write poetry. As writing and reciting become vehicles for their expressions of love, friendship, frustration, and hope, we watch these three youngsters emerge as accomplished self-aware artists, who use their creativity to alter their circumstances.

A verité film, intimately shot over four years, To Be Heard is the story of three friends and the love that develops between them as they evolve as artists. This "tripod," as they call it, is bound by proximity, circumstance, and poetry. To Be Heard is also the story of how language links people. Pearl is the support and soul of the three; Karina is the passion and heart; and Anthony is the energy and physicality. In a community where friendships are kept tenuous for many reasons, these three build a bond based on language, respect, and the need to survive.

"A topnotch testimonial to the transformative power of the penWhat could have been a by-the-numbers inspirational lesson is transformed by the brilliance of collaborative filmmaking, the weight of time, the vitality of the kids and the power of their poetry into an exemplary work. Reminiscent of the years-spanning intimacy of Love and Diane or Hoop Dreams, the docu plays like a three-pronged, true-life version of Precious, but studded with pithy, evocative verse and without that film's ingrained sense of otherness." Ronnie Scheib, Variety