E.J. Bonilla and Angelic Zambrana hosted a special advanced screening of their new film, MUSICAL CHAIRS, for the Leadership in Entertainment and Media Arts program at Abraham Lincoln High School (LEMA) in Los Angeles last Thursday.

More than 300 students and faculty at LEMA, which has high Latino student enrollment, enjoyed an early look at the inspirational film. The screening was followed by a Q&A session in which students from the program had the opportunity to ask E.J. and Angelic about their involvement in the film.

“Any opportunity to give back and to be real with an audience like this is great,” said Bonilla about the experience. “The idea of telling kids to follow their dreams is great but it’s more than that; it’s good for them to see someone who is from their neck of the woods doing something that they haven’t seen before.”

Musical Chairs is being distributed by Paladin and is in select theaters now in Los Angeles and Chicago. The film opened in New York and Miami on March 23, 2012.

About Musical Chairs
Set against the exciting backdrop of competitive ballroom dancing, MUSICAL CHAIRS is about Armando (E.J. Bonilla) a Bronx-bred Latino who aspires to be a dancer but whose only way in is as handyman at a Manhattan dance studio, and Mia (Leah Pipes), an Upper East Side princess who is the studio's star performer. Though worlds apart, their shared passion for dance promises to bring them together until a tragic accident changes Mia's life forever, and she finds herself wheelchair-bound at a rehab facility, with her dreams of a dance career shattered. Fortunately, Armando has enough dreams for both of them and, when he hears about a wheelchair ballroom dance competition that will soon be held in NY, he sees a way to return something to Mia that she thinks is lost forever.  At first she is reluctant--wheelchair dancing, though highly popular overseas, is something she never even knew existed. But, with the help of several other patients at the rehab center, Armando organizes an intense training program that will bring them all center stage and in the spotlight. The prize is irrelevant; what they really stand to win back is their zest for life. http://www.musicalchairsthefilm.com

About LEMA
Located in Los Angeles, LEMA is a new, independent Pilot High School where students can learn to create Movies, TV Shows, Animation, Reality Shows, Commercials, Music Videos, Websites, Webcasts, Podcasts, and design Theme Parks and Video-games. LEMA encourages students to learn about themselves, each other, academic and career activities.

From left to right: Angelic Zambrana, Joey Dedio (Musical Chairs producer) and Mareo Mukes (Co-Producer)

One of the students from LEMA (far left) asking a question during the Q&A session. 

After the Q&A session students from LEMA took pictures with Angelic and E.J. (center).

The high school students had more questions for the stars of Musical Chairs.