Documentary screening coming to Fort Scott

The Christian Foundation for Children and Aging is bringing a concert documentary filmed in the Philippines to Fort Scott viewers.

The CFCA, founded in 1981 and based in Kansas City, Kan., is a nonprofit international sponsorship organization working in 21 countries around the world. The screening of "Rise and Dream," produced by the CFCA, is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the Liberty Theatre, 113 S. Main St.

"Rise and Dream" tells the story of 13 teenagers who accept a challenge to learn their own cultural instruments to perform on the biggest stage of their lives. The documentary takes the viewer through the rigor of their rehearsals and into the homes and hearts of this most unlikely student band. The featured teens and families participate in CFCA's sponsorship or scholarship programs, according to www.riseanddream.com.

The concert to celebrate peace was born in a volatile region of the Philippines. Home to one of the world's oldest documented conflicts, the southern Philippines is also a place of tremendous religious and cultural diversity. In the film, people of diverse religious backgrounds gather to help pull off an unprecedented concert in a community whose voice is often muffled by the enduring grip of poverty, the website said.

Erica Braker, marketing manager for the CFCA, said the documentary was made in the Philippines, the CFCA's second largest sponsorship project with about 44,000 children, youth and elderly sponsored.

"They put on a concert on the edge of a jungle," Braker said. "Ten thousand people showed up for it ... it was the first concert they've ever done."

Braker said the "Rise and Dream" film tour is currently in the Kansas City area and will come through Fort Scott before heading on Tuesday to New York for a week for various screenings through Sept. 30. Traveling on the tour is one of the students from the film, who is from the Philippines and is visiting the U.S. for the first time, Braker said.

Also going along on the film tour will be other cast and crew members from the documentary, including the film's music composer and director, and CFCA representatives. There will be a meet and greet as well as a question and answer session following the film screening.

The CFCA has a sponsorship program called Hope for a Family that provides basic necessities such as food, education, clothing and access to medical care to children and elderly in some of the world's poorest communities. Today, CFCA sponsors support more than 300,000 children, youth and elderly in 21 countries, according to the CFCA's website, www.hopeforfamily.org.

Braker said Guatemala is the organization's largest project. Families apply to be in the program, which involves sponsors in the U.S. providing $30 per month in sponsorship fees that are used to help fund basic necessities and livelihood programs to help families become self-sustaining.

Sponsors also have the opportunity to offer encouragement and support for their sponsored friends through the exchange of letters and photos, Braker said. They may also choose to travel on CFCA mission awareness trips to meet their sponsored friends, learn about their lives and see how their contributions are used.

Tickets to the screening are free but are required for admission. Tickets are available at the Fort Scott Area Chamber of Commerce office, 231 E. Wall St., and online at www.riseanddream.com/tour2013. Refreshments will be provided and a cash bar will be available.