By Alex Silverman
From Luis Barreto comes a short documentary about violence, art, peace, and rehabilitation. Manrique chronicles the journey of Yoiner Machado, a teacher and professional dancer who has used his dance academy to help the struggling communities of the city of Manrique in Columbia.
Manrique is a city struggling with gang violence in its neighborhoods and people losing loved ones frequently due to all-out war. Meanwhile, a visionary such as Yoiner Machado has been trying to change that. Yoiner and his dance academy have worked to bring peace and coexistence to the neighborhoods of Manrique for over 13 years. They have been able to change over 1,500 lives through the power of dance. It is people like Yoiner that are making real differences. His community is listening to him and following his motto: “we are a family.”
I give this film 4.5 out of 5 stars
Alex is a recent graduate from Columbia College Chicago with a major in Comedic Writing & Performance and a minor in Writing for Television. Apart from his work as part of the Planet Classroom Network Film Selection team at CMRubinWorld, he served as a screening panelist intern for the International Children’s Media Center, a sketch writer, and an on-set production assistant at the 61st Annual Chicago/Midwest Emmy Awards.
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