Above the Alley, Beneath the Sky

Sometimes sport mirrors life, and that’s the case for a determined group of youth growing up in Rocinha, the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro. Disadvantaged in circumstances but not in spirit, some of the boys from the favela begin rock climbing with Americans Asa Firestone and Andrew Lenz. This film follows the spark and the struggle of climbing — up the granite walls that soar above the city and against the conditions of the favelas that have been constructed so rapidly that proper sanitation and infrastructure lag behind. Two boys in particular, Jonas and Patrick, expand their conception of the possible through their upward ambitions.