Vote for "Can't Hold Me Back" as the 2013 People's Choice Winner

I had the honor of befriending Betty Bastidas when I was a Peace Corps volunteer in Ecuador. She was filming "DreamTown," a piece that speaks to how Afro-Choteño youth rely on fútbol ("soccer" for you crazy Americans,) a one in a million opportunity, as their only way out of poverty. I admired her talent for capturing the voices of people who were often overlooked by society. Her new piece, "Can't Hold Me Back" is yet another reflection of this talent.

Set in Detroit, MI, this documentary "follows Fernando Parraz as he becomes the first in his family to earn a high school diploma — his ticket out of the struggles of inner-city poverty and violence. With a mountain of roadblocks stacked against his educational achievement, Fernando finds support from an unlikely figure: his father — a former gangster who has suffered the costs of his own mistakes."

I hope you enjoy this piece and vote it as 2013 People's Choice Winner at http://www.pbs.org/filmfestival/vote/

Watch 2013 Festival | Can't Hold Me Back on PBS. See more from PBS Online Film Festival.