[Scpg] A SMALL ACT/ NEW FILM

Wed Jan 5 06:22:46 PST 2011

A SMALL ACT/NEW FILM

http://www.asmallact.com/film.php

When Hilde Back sponsored a young, rural Kenyan student, she thought 
nothing of it. She certainly never expected to hear from him, but 
years later she does. Now a Harvard graduate and a Human Rights 
Lawyer for the United Nations, Chris Mburu decides to find the 
stranger that changed his life. Inspired by her generosity, he starts 
a scholarship program of his own and names it for his former 
benefactor.

The top students in Mukubu primary school are in the exact same 
situation as Chris once was. They are bright, but can't afford to pay 
school fees. With the creation of Chris' fund, these students have 
new hope. But the program is small; how many will qualify for a 
scholarship?

Using a strong narrative, the film interweaves seemingly separate 
lives into a cohesive whole. With clarity and grace, A SMALL ACT, 
bears witness to the ripple effect a single action can create.

One day in the mid 1970s, a pre-school teacher living in Sweden named 
Hilde Back decided to sponsor an African student. Hilde, a Holocaust 
survivor whose parents were killed in the camps, lived modestly as a 
refugee in the safe haven of Sweden. Every month she put a few 
dollars in an envelope and sent it to a Kenyan boy named Chris Mburu. 
This was enough to get Chris through school. (In Kenya, at the time 
Chris was in school, students had to pay for their primary and 
secondary school education. Today, primary is free in Kenya, but 
secondary still costs.) Chris was inspired by his mysterious 
benefactor who lived so far away. Not only did he become a star 
student, he moved on from his village to eventually graduate from 
Harvard Law School. He became a United Nations human rights advocate, 
a post he holds today.

A Small Act Can Change the World
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lee-schneider/a-small-act-can-change-th_b_634064.html
One small act -- a couple of bucks -- changed his life. But it gets 
better. Chris decided to honor the benefactor he had never met. He 
established the Hilde Back Education Fund to sponsor more Kenyan 
students, to improve more young lives. Eventually, he tracked down 
the 80-year-old Back and brought her to Africa to see the results of 
her generosity.
It sounds a little like fiction, but this is the true story told in A 
Small Act, a documentary directed by Jennifer Arnold. Jennifer 
attended the University of Nairobi with Chris's cousin, and 
experienced firsthand what Kenya was like. She wanted others to have 
the experience of a prosperous Kenya with a sizable middle class. She 
set out to make a film about that and discovered even more.

"My mom was Peace Corps. I come from a long tradition in my family 
of, 'just do what you can to help other people.' We all believe in 
that in my family. Small actions totally make a difference." - 
Jennifer Arnold
Her film was initially intended to simply show a balanced view of 
Africa. Along the way, she discovered Chris and Hilde. As their story 
unfolded before her lens, Jennifer filmed in villages without 
electricity, using only battery power for the camera, and sometimes 
couldn't understand what was being said. (She speaks some Swahili, 
but many of the people she filmed spoke Kikiuyu.)
A Small Act was accepted at Sundance, and while it screened there 
with Chris and Hilde in attendance, Jennifer tells this remarkable 
story: "At Sundance, audience members started handing Chris and Hilde 
and us checks and cash. They were all donations to the fund. They 
donated $90,000 over the course of 10 days at Sundance. Then a 
philanthropist who saw the film just donated a quarter million 
dollars, just based off seeing the film," she told me.
What the film has taught her is this simple truth: If you feel like 
you can make a positive change once, you will do it again.

Even the Tiniest Actions Can Change Entire Lives
By NEIL GENZLINGER
Published: October 28, 2010

http://movies.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/movies/29small.html?scp=1&sq=a%20small%20act&st=cse
"A Small Act" would have been a pretty good documentary even if 
things had merely gone the way the filmmakers probably envisioned at 
the start of the project. But when unforeseen developments rewrote 
the script, as it were, the film took on a depth that made it all the 
more remarkable.

Jennifer Arnold, the director, sets out to tell the story of Chris 
Mburu, who as a child in a poor village in Kenya was probably 
destined for a life of hardship until a woman in Sweden named Hilde 
Back, participating in a sponsorship program, provided the modest 
amount of money needed to keep him in school. Mr. Mburu ended up with 
a degree from Harvard and a job with the United Nations investigating 
human-rights abuses.

The film cuts between two stories: Mr. Mburu's attempt to find Ms. 
Back and his efforts to start his own sponsorship fund for Kenyan 
youths and choose the first beneficiaries. Ms. Back turns out to have 
an unexpected personal story that makes their connection that much 
more stirring. But Mr. Mburu's philanthropic plan, which is pegged to 
students' performance on a nationwide test, is dealt a setback. And 
while all this is going on, Kenya erupts in violence after the 
disputed 2008 elections.

The film couldn't be more heartening - yes, individual actions do 
make a difference. But it's bittersweet as well. You can't help 
wondering about all the children who don't get tapped on the shoulder 
by the hand of fate.
A SMALL ACT
.
Written and directed by Jennifer Arnold; director of photography, 
Patti Lee; edited by Carl Pfirman and Tyler Hubby; music by Joel 
Goodman; produced by Ms. Arnold, Ms. Lee and Jeffrey Soros; released 
by HBO Documentary Films.

Jennifer Arnold

>WRITER / DIRECTOR / PRODUCER
>
>Jennifer graduated from UCLA and University of Nairobi with a B.A. 
>in African History and returned to UCLA for a MFA in Film. Her 
>award-winning film, MAID OF HONOR screened at Sundance before airing 
>on HBO/Cinemax and Film 4. Jennifer returned to Sundance with her 
>internet series, "The Mullet Chronicles," which was developed into 
>the documentary, AMERICAN MULLET and released by Palm Pictures and 
>Lionsgate. Jennifer also co-directed a documentary for Ethan Coen 
>and wrote a motorcross script, SPEEDWAY, which was selected for 
>Berlin Talent Campus' script clinic, IFP's No Borders and FIND's 
>Directors Lab / Fast Track Program.
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