Hearing is Believing By Lorenzo DeStefano

VENTURA, Calif. - Aug. 19, 2016 - PRLog -- About:

In a world filled with Noise, there is another Sound worth Hearing, and her name is Rachel Flowers

Rachel Flowers was born 15 weeks premature, at a body weight of one pound five ounces, Rachel lost her eyesight due to Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP).

When she was two years old Rachel's mother, Jeanie Flowers, a longtime musician herself, showed her daughter how to play "Twinkle Little Star" on the piano. Rachel picked up the melody immediately and was soon playing every song she heard by ear. The child had perfect pitch.

"I wasn't much of a talker when I was very little. I kinda talked a little, but I wasn't really into talking a lot. I was always into listening to music, but I never really understood how to socialize and be around people, stuff like that."

Rachel started her formal musical education at the age of four, spending ten years at the Southern California Conservatory of Music, where she studied piano, flute and adaptive music programs for the blind. In 2005 & 2008 Rachel was featured in two segments of "60 Minutes", about the Music Academy for the Blind in Los Angeles. On the verge of a major musical career, Rachel is currently preparing for her first European tour, is doing piano concerts and recitals, and is a very active part of several Southern California jazz lineups. She is also busy creating original compositions as immensely accomplished as they are uniquely her own.

"Composing music is like learning how to plant a seed. You sort of feel it grow."

Many attitudes about people with disabilities require redefinition. It will be critical to deal with Rachel's blindness in fresh and un-clichéd ways that will connect the audience to the visual & tonal dreamscapes that inspire Rachel's compositions. Despite and because of the challenges she has faced, Rachel is very much an advocate for universal arts & music education, believing that these avenues of expression should be available to everyone. The film will show her as a living example of the benefit of maintaining and expanding programs of this kind. A powerful story element in the film is the onset of blindness affecting Rachel's father, Dan Flowers.

"My dad, he's starting to lose his vision. He used to drive a lot. Now he can't do it. I'd like to help him with certain things."

A hereditary condition unrelated to Rachel's prematurity-caused blindness, Dan is relying on his highly attuned daughter as well as counseling from Carlo Logan of the Braille Institute in Santa Barbara, for 2 help in adapting to this new challenge in his life.

Among the incredible musicians appearing with Rachel in the film are the legendary Stevie Wonder, Grammy winner rocker Dweezil Zappa, the late Progressive Rock icon Keith Emerson, Grammy winning jazz trumpeter Arturo Sandoval, the young Bay Area jazz pianist Taylor Eigsti, and 50 members of the Santa Barbara Youth Symphony performing Rachel's original composition, "At The End Of The Day".

Award-winning producer/director Lorenzo DeStefano is among a growing number of appreciators of Rachel's story and her music.

"Making a film about someone's life, even a short period of that life, is not something to enter into lightly, for filmmaker or subject. It is a bond that must hold for a very long time before fruition, and a lifetime afterwards. When I first heard Rachel perform in Ventura, California on January 18th, 2014, I had to adjust my working plans to include the story of this remarkable young woman."

DeStefano and his collaborators have created a dynamic and engaging portrait of a year and a half in the life of a tight knit American family, a single mom and her two kids living paycheck to paycheck in working class Oxnard, California, with Rachel's stunning music as the soundtrack. Hearing is Believing revels in Rachel's joyous and free-flowing love of song, illuminating in the process the bonds of family, the divine mysteries of creativity, and the great that exists in the small.

The Hearing is Believing team has accomplished a great deal since starting production in March, 2014. With 53 days filmed over a 21 month period, editing is completed for a 2016 festival and commercial release. We have raised over $115,000 in seed money from 150 contributors worldwide. Additional completion funds are being sought to cover final post-production, music, marketing, and pre-distribution expenses.

Rachel being invited to perform @ the 2016 Havana International Jazz Festival this December 15-18, where we'll also be screening the film.

With Just 17 days left in this campaign,your support is urgently needed! Please look at all the rewards they have for those who make a contribution.  Please consider getting involved, at whatever level you can, and help "Hearing is Believing" get funded!

We need your help:

If you can't afford to donate, don't worry - there are plenty of other ways you can help. Please take some time to share our campaign across your social networks and encourage your friends and family to donate.

For more information, contact us on: info@rachelflowersfilm.com

Link to the project: https://www.seedandspark.com/studio/hearing-is-believing#...