The protagonists of "Goals for Girls: The Movie" with TV star Soledad Silvera.
For many girls on the Villa 31 soccer team, “Las Aliadas” (the allies), last Saturday night was the first time they saw a movie in a movie theater. It was a great experience: they loved the movie, the romantic comedy “Igualita a mi”, and even got their photo taken with Argentine television star Soledad Silvera.
Taking the girls to the movies reminded me how important it is to be exposed to art and beauty, and have a chance to relax. We also saw first hand the discrimination that the girls face everyday for being slum dwellers. Everywhere we went, the police looked at them and would tell them to behave, and many of the girls don’t know how to travel around the city. This is because the girls are left alone by the cops when they are in the slum, so they prefer to stay there where they feel safe. They are just a few subway stops away from Corrientes Avenue, the “Broadway” of Buenos Aires, and most have never gone.
The girls in the lobby, with filmmakers Ginger, Gabriel and Corcho.
The outing was full of magic–we first had a snack at a cafe in the San Martin Theater and listened to a bit of music from Australia because a band was playing live in the lobby. We then talked to the girls and they said they really want to film a horror film (why not? why do ghosts always have to haunt mansions and castles?) and the started taking photos with our camera.
This Saturday we are going to have the first official class where we will start by showing parts of the Brazilian classic “City of God” which is a about a favela, but tells a violent story with humor and humanity. Also, the protagonist of the story is able to escape the cycle of poverty and violence by becoming a photographer: there is no better metaphor for us to show!
