When Voices Meet | Documentary Review

by Sandy
(Portage, Indiana, USA)

Reunion of the Peace Train Youth

Singing in the village

Chicago Film Festival 9.15

I watch documentaries every chance I get. "When Voices Meet" met all my expectations and MORE.

Expectation 1: Telling a unique story.....when voices meet is literally the journey of music maker, Sharon Katz, and her partners in peace reaching out to South Africans of all colors and cultural backgrounds so that their children could sing together in a youth choir. 400 performed together for the first time ever in the history of the country and over 100 of those took the bold and brave step of traveling on a train throughout South Africa during the turbulent times after Mandela was released from prison and before he was elected President.

Expectation 2: Historical.....much of the footage of the times of apartheid is woven into the documentary so that the viewer gets accurate picture of 1992 South Africa as well as the years after their journey, both personal and political, as you hear from the adults the children have become and what impact the tour in South Africa and America had on their lives.

Expectation 3: A timeless story of human courage....it took so much to stand for peace and sisterhood/brotherhood, not only for those organizing the choir including Sharon Katz, Marilyn Cohen (producer/manager) and Nonhlanhla Wanda (co-founder of the Peace Train), but for all the parents, extended family AND the children, whose lives were changed forever by the experience....and experience that brought them for the first time in contact with children of another color and culture to realize by singing and living together on the train that they are from the a single humanity and were all citizen of South Africa.

Brave they were, with death threats and discouraging decisions by those in power that were only roadblocks in the way of a Peace Train traveling through the cities and villages of early 90's South Africa.

It is said of many documentaries that they are a "labor of love".

When Voices Meet is a labor of peace across a divide, and since its world premier in Durbin, South Africa and Washington DC, it has garnered awards (Best Documentary, Best Director and Best Original Soundtrack)and invitations to 18 film festivals and counting.

Coming up in 2015 are viewings at film festivals in Nova Scotia (Oct 24th), Yonkers, NY (Oct 24th), Philadelphia, PA (Oct 25th and Nov 1st) Rt 66 Springfield, IL (Nov 6-7), St Louis (Nov 7), Teaneck, NJ (Nov 8), Ft Lauderdale (Nov 19-21), Hawaii (Jan 1-9), Fresno (Ap 29), Monterey and Santa Cruz, CA (Ap 30 and May 1st).

When Voices Meet | Documentary TRAILER: