Memories of Brazil

Brazil is one of the most amazingly beautiful countries that I have traveled through. The landscape goes from one extreme: waterfalls, high deserts to beautiful beach's. I spent time on an island of Salvador call Moro de Sao Paulo. Met two wonderful girls and their families. Our guide Joel took my fiend Heidi and I on quite an adventure. But even with all the amazing beauty there is still the extreme poverty. Brazil has more children on the streets than any other SouthAmerican country. There are many children born into family's with alcohol and drug addicted parents. In many cases these children are forced into selling themselves on the street, steeling money and anything else they can grab. These children really need any help that they can get.

Sights & Sounds of Brazil

I fist visited Brazil in 1992. I joined friends one hour south of Florianopolis. The beaches are like no others I've seen. The sound of the waves and seagulls, people laughing, children screeching with joy. The smells of grilling fish and shrimp assaulting your senses. It's a 10 hour drive from there to Sao Paulo. The scenery is amazing, from beauty to down right poverty. Favela's lining the landscape.

My friends Ruth & Karsten decided to move back to Brazil and several years later had a large wedding on the beach two hours out side of SaoPaulo. On this trip I decided to travel around Brazil. I went to Rio de Janeiro, Salvador Bahia, Forte de Iquacu and the ancient city of Manaus.

The poverty in Sao Paulo was bad, but it paled in comparison to Rio's massive hillsides of favela's. Hundreds of children begging on the streets doing what ever they could to make money for food. Children sleeping in doorways with ragged clothing and if they are lucky have shoes on their feet. These children are known as urchins by the locals. Many of these children have run away from abusive parents or the parents are drug addicts or alcoholics. You see many of these children huffing glue, a cheep high or pick pocketing and trying to steel purses.

Capriole Productions Inc Staff

I met my partner John Scheifele in 1998 and then two months later left for Brazil for 6 weeks. Upon my return we decided that we would give it a go. It has now been twelve years and we're still together. John spent 30 years in high tech, so when the bottom fell out I convinced him to join my company Capriole Productions Inc as Executive Producer. John having no knowledge of film has learned quickly and is now an incredible asset to the company and the production in Brazil we are undertaking. I am very grateful to have John work with me.

How we got started

I became interested in film at the age of 12. I would sneak into the movies when I was not riding my horse. I loved the movies as much as I loved riding horses. At the age of 16 I decided that I wanted to be a film editor and work with horses. I graduated from Princeton High School in three years and took a year off to attend Morven Park International Equestrian Institute. I received my instructors certificate and went on to film school at The American University. I worked for the Smithsonian Institute upon graduating from AU. One year later I landed a job at WMDT-TV in Salisbury, MD. This ABC affiliate was a start up station. What a great learning experience. One year later I landed another editing job at WPVI-TV in Philadelphia. Within 8 months I moved to the number one station in New York. WABC-TV was very good to me and I was blessed to be able to work on every show. In 1986 I decided to start my own company and produce a documentary on Dressage. By 1987 Capriole Productions Inc was formed as a non-profit 501c3 corporation. I left WABC-TV in January of 1987 to start shooting my first documentary entitled: Dressage: The Horse With Airs. In 1995 Dressage: The Horse With Airs won a finalist award at the New York Festivals. I also won a Bronze Award for D-Day (Good Morning America) for editing. In the spring of 1990 I joined ABC News as a freelance editor. I also worked for the BBC and Reuters for several years. I've been blessed to have worked on the following shows: Night Line, World News Tonight, 20/20, Prime Time Live, Good Morning America, Like It Is and many other shows at ABC. I also worked for the BBC show News Night. In 1997 I won an EMMY for "Dianna Princess of Wale, The Final Farewell" World News Saturday/Sunday.

Over the last 20 years I've traveled to Brazil and fell in love with the country. But I also have become very disturbed about the plight of the street children. I became aware of Phillip Smith and his organization Hope Unlimited and the great work he is doing to help these children. I've done extensive research and decided to make a documentary about the plight of these children. We are in the process of looking for funding for this film and hope to start generating some donations soon,

City of Hope: A Children's Story (No Slate)

CITY OF HOPE: A CHILDREN'S STORY