We Are Together - Special preview feature
Preview by Jack Foley
EVERY so often a documentary film comes along that truly inspires. We Are Together, from director Paul Taylor, is one of those films.
This award-winning film follows a group of orphans in South Africa, many of whom have lost their parents to AIDS, who form a choir at their orphanage.
They have the most incredible voices, and realise they can inspire people with their music and escape some of their personal tragedy through song. The choir ends up recording a CD, which makes its way to New York – and on discovering their talent they’re invited across to sing with Alicia Keys, and appear on US TV to raise awareness of the impact of AIDS and funds for their orphanage.
The film won several awards at festivals last year, including the Audience Awards and special jury prizes at Edinburgh and Tribeca (where Bono attended the premiere), and is a hugely inspirational and uplifting film.
It’s by a young British filmmaking team – director Paul Taylor and producer Teddy Leifer – who are donating all the profits from the release to charity. They’re aiming to raise around £500,000 in total for AIDS-related charities.
We Are Together is released in UK cinemas on Friday, March 7, and is a certificate PG. It runs for 83mins.
Critical praise for We Are Together
We Are Together has won glowing reviews from almost every critic that’s seen it.
Wendy Ide, of The Times, wrote: “We Are Together is a spiritually uplifting documentary about the children of the Agape Orphanage in KwaZulu-Natal… The director, Paul Taylor, has done a remarkable job in winning the confidence and trust of the children; the result is a joyfully life-affirming film.”
Total Film, meanwhile, stated that “limited resources make for a no-frills film, but you’ll be hard pushed to find a more honestly spirit-lifting show of triumph over adversity in current cinema”.
Variety referred to it as “a celebration of resilience”, while David Edwards, of the Daily Mirror felt it represents “cinema at its most inspirational”.