Small Wonders

Part of The Walter Scheuer Film Festival: A Celebration

1996. Produced by Susan Kaplan, Directed by Allan Miller. 77 min. Color.

Academy Award Nominee

Panel discussion with: 
Roberta Guaspari, Allan Miller and Susan Kaplan.

"Here's the real, Mr. Holland's Opus." - The Boston Globe

"A Must-see!" - New York Daily News

"Magical, moving and inspirational!" - New York Post

Filmed over a period of two years, Small Wonders follows Roberta Guaspari and her students from the schools and streets of East Harlem, to Madison Square Garden, and ultimately to the stage of Carnegie Hall where they perform with Isaac Stern, Itzhak Perlman, Midori, Arnold Steinhardt and great violinists from the classical, jazz and country music worlds.

In 1980, Roberta Guaspari began the East Harlem Violin Program in three alternative elementary schools with a vision of inner-city youngsters developing self-esteem and discipline through rigorous instruction and uncompromising standards. When her position was suddenly eliminated by the Board of Education during the budget cuts of 1990, Ms. Guaspari set out to raise her own funds to keep the program going. Small Wonders follows her in her single-minded efforts on behalf of the East Harlem Violin Program.