Holla the Movie, is coming to the Rebuilding Center.
Holla chronicles the organization of the same name, founded by African-American Pastor, Eric Knox, to mentor kids of color in predominantly white and white-taught schools.
The film explores the lives of three young women on the Holla basketball team, as mentorship subtly transforms their experience. Through tough love and tenderness the kids learn to hurdle obstacles and adversity in a system biased against them. But learning is a two-way street—the viewer also sees the educators and mentors in the organization changing and growing through their work.
Featuring straight talk from notable intellectuals Robert Munoz of Portland State University and Diane Watson of Lewis & Clark College, as well as raw testimonials from mentors and mentees, Holla is an informative, humorous, and heartbreaking look at the issues that face our city and our nation, as we struggle to fulfill the promise of integration and equal opportunity.
Holla features select tracks from Portland’s nationally recognized music scene, including songs from Tre Hardson (Pharcyde), rising star Liz Vice, Catherine Feeny & Chris Johnedis and the band Joseph.
Stay tuned to hear more about the Holla girls and film. A follow-up project is currently being made following-up with the girls seven years later. ReBuilding Center intends to feature both documentaries on their touch-screen kiosks in the Commons on their property on N. Mississippi Ave.
“Holla Mentors is a culturally responsive mentorship organization. Since it’s inception, it has built a community of socially active neighbors, local entrepreneurs and committed professionals who are willing to foster healthy relationships with economically challenged and at risk children and teens within the structures of the educational system. ”