In the mid-1990s, the Abell Foundation in Baltimore,
in its typical thinking-out-of-the-box style, had the idea that
boarding school might have the same positive impact on talented
students from tough Baltimore neighborhoods as it has had on talented
students from other neighborhoods. After some talks with boarding
schools in the US, the Baraka School was established in rural Kenya.
The teacher ratio was 1 to 5, and discipline was strict.
Did the experiment work? This remarkable film, an award-winner
from this year’s South by Southwest festival, introduces us
to Devon, Montrey, Richard and his brother Romesh
and their families and friends. We start in the world they have
known their whole lives, and are comfortable in, some of the toughest
streets of Baltimore. Then we go with them to the strange world
of zebras and Masai. It is a remarkable journey, and the students
learn lessons they could not have learned at home, though much of
that education has little to do with the classroom.
The experiment is over now; the Baraka School was closed in 2003.
The film wisely leaves the viewer to decide how effective the experiment
was. What is unarguable, though, is that young people from any neighborhood
are capable of rising to challenges in ways that are hard to predict,
and they learn from everything they do. You can’t help but
hope that more bold experiments happen.
--Jed Dietz
Presented By: Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady, and
the boys of Baraka
Biography: Heidi Ewing, a founding partner of
Loki Films, has produced and directed numerous projects on subjects
ranging from ritual body modification in Sri Lanka and Ethiopia
to the criminal justice system in the Bronx. Her acclaimed short
documentary, Dissident, about Cuban activist Oswaldo Paya, screened
at MFF 2003.
Partial funding for this screening provided by:
