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A youth makes music in the streets of Brazil in “Favela Rising.” The documentary foll

Rio de Janeiro consists of 600 “favelas” – the Brazilian word for an urban slum or ghetto with illegal squatter settlements.

Anderson Sá is native to the Vigário Geral favela, which, controlled entirely by an underworld society of teenage drug armies and policemen, is considered the most dangerous of them all. In the midst of such conditions, Sá, along with the other members of his anti-violence movement, has made a name combating brutality, using music and art as his weapons of choice.

Directors Jeff Zimbalist and Matt Mochary follow Sá’s story in their upcoming documentary “Favela Rising,” which Melnitz Movies screens tonight at 7:30 as part of its Documentary Salon Series. Both directors will be available after the film for a Q&A.

Sá, a former drug trafficker himself, led those wanting to bring change in their favela to band together and form the “AfroReggae Cultural Group” in January of 1993. As the group continued to grow, it received a multi-year project grant from a major U.S. foundation in 1997 and went on to create job opportunities in addition to an extensive community center. The group’s band, “Banda AfroReggae,” was signed to Universal in February of 2001. Other members of the group went on to join Cirque du Soleil and Barnum & Bailey. In his documentary, Zimbalist aims to portray this success story as a model for other communities.

“Instead of seeking revenge against the drug lords, this film tells the story of a community using media and art to mobilize change as an alternative to violence,” Zimbalist said. “We hope to follow screenings of the film with concerts and workshops that help people change their own communities. The idea is to present a model for change – it worked in Brazil, maybe this can work for you. It is an ambitious political mission. I see the film less as a form of entertainment, and more as a tool for change.”

Spending two and a half years filming, Zimbalist and Mochary used footage from various sources to put their documentary together. In fact, they taught members of AfroReggae and any interested children how to film and edit.

“We shot the majority, but some of the most powerful or shocking footage is what kids shot,” Zimbalist said. “We’d leave them with cameras and then watch the seven or eight hours of footage they’d have. We also did the editing down there to make sure the voice wasn’t an outsider’s interpretation, but consistent with the AfroReggae members.”

Zimbalist became interested in the group because of its struggle to create a functioning society in the most adverse of circumstances.

“What works is the idea of creating something out of nothing, an inside-out model of community development,” Zimbalist said. “They are asking, ‘What do we have already that we can use?’ AfroReggae found used tins in the street and turned them into drums to create music. Through that, they found a model customized to their community.

“Missionaries might come in to help, but it is hard for them to identify with the teen drug lords. But Sá or (fellow activist) José Junior are former drug traffickers and can relate to them. They are proof that you can get out of the drug army and make it past 25, and change.”

Despite the group’s impressive accomplishments, the directors still managed to underestimate Sá and company when it came time to talk business.

“We felt like we had a strong vision; the proceeds were going to go to AfroReggae, but they didn’t want money back, they wanted part ownership,” Zimbalist said. “They played the business ball with us, and we didn’t expect that, because we had some preconceptions about the third world ourselves, so this was an eye-opener, not a conflict.

“For them, it wasn’t about profiting, it’s about the concept of who is responsible for this. Junior and Anderson grew up in a system that tried to take advantage of them and they learned from it, and learned to make demands. What they did here was symbolic.”

“Favela Rising” has won awards at film festivals all over the world, was recently named “Film of the Year” by the International Documentary Association, and has made the short-list of the top 15 documentaries up for Oscar nominations. But to Zimbalist, the acclaim is a means to a greater end – portraying the struggles of AfroReggae as universal.

“Winning awards creates momentum, but the greatest satisfaction is when you have teachers or activists come up to you after the film and say, ‘Let’s try this out, let’s take this to the other side of the tracks, to the slums, and show it there,’” Zimbalist said. “People ask, ‘How can I donate to AfroReggae?’ and we just say, ‘Don’t donate to them. Find a group in your community and help them instead.’”