UCLA alum Sara Bareilles' documentary follows hands-on volunteer work in Japan
By Phillip Horlings
Feb. 26, 2012 5:08 p.m.
UCLA alum Sara Bareilles doesn’t just write “Love Song”s any more; “The Sing-Off” judge, Grammy-nominated artist and two-time Spring Sing champ can now add documentarian and philanthropist to her resume.
Bareilles will be premiering her documentary “A Trace of the Sun: Volunteering in Japan” on March 17 at the Troubadour in West Hollywood. Following the screening, she is set to give a rare small-venue concert to the Troubadour crowd. The event has already sold out.
March 11 is the one-year anniversary of the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and following tsunami that ravaged Japan’s coastal cities. The memory of the disaster combined with the promise of an intimate Bareilles concert helped the benefit event to completely sell out within days of its announcement.
The film follows Bareilles on her first trip to Japan, only two months after the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Bareilles and her crew teamed up with All Hands, a non-profit volunteer organization that responds to communities affected by natural disasters internationally (All Hands was formed after the Southeast Asian tsunami of 2004). Together they worked to give relief to the coastal city of Ofunato in Iwate, Japan.
In a letter addressing the film on her website, Bareilles wrote, “Part of our intention of going to Japan and honoring this captivating place was to join with a volunteer organization that was doing hands-on work to help heal and cultivate growth within communities that had been affected. “¦ This film documents our time in Japan, both as musicians and volunteers.”
According to Japan’s National Police Agency, there have been 15,850 confirmed deaths, 6,011 injured and more than 3,000 missing as a result of the tsunami. More than 26,000 people were left without homes.
The premiere and concert are leading up to the film’s March 23 world premiere on popular music video site, Vevo. All proceeds from the benefit event will go to All Hands and continued relief efforts in Japan.
