FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Resurrection School
CONTACT: Angelica Figueroa, Principal
(323) 261-5750
Film features interviews with the students!
In 2011, students of Resurrection Catholic Elementary School in Boyle Heights, Mrs. Figueroa, Principal and their pastor, Monsignor John Moretta, took part in a documentary produced by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD). On Wednesday they will view a special screening of the 21-minute film, “The Right to Breathe.”
“Our mission,” said AQMD Chairman William Burke, Ed.D., “is to clean up Southern California’s air pollution and make it the most healthful air people can breathe. This documentary is part of our call to action.”
“Our students were thrilled when the AQMD invited them to be filmed and interviewed as they drew and colored images of unhealthy air and what it means to have clean air,” said Angelica Figueroa, school principal. “And now they’re excited to see themselves in this documentary.”
In addition to being interviewed for the documentary, some of the students’ artwork was featured in animations in the film.
The video, produced by the award-winning production firm Cinema Vertige, presents compelling stories and interviews with individuals from many walks of life. They include a blunt-spoken West Long Beach community activist, and a young man who suffers from asthma as well as Resurrection students and pastor.
“We wake up in the morning and usually in California there is a blue sky,” remarks Monsignor Moretta in the film. “But we don’t really understand that there are places — (air pollution) hot spots in Southern California — and where I am at right now in Boyle Heights is one of those places where the air is not that good.”
The filmmakers explored the issue of air quality from a personal and human perspective that dramatizes the serious health effects of the air we breathe while inspiring us to engage in practical solutions.
The film is being made available for free to community groups, health and environmental organizations, schools and universities, libraries and other public agencies.
“The Right to Breathe” may be viewed at AQMD’s website www.aqmd.gov/. DVD copies of the documentary may be obtained free of charge by contacting Sam Atwood at satwood@aqmd.gov or 909-396-3456.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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