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Nicaragua is the largest country in Central America and is the poorest country in the region where 80% of the country's population survives on less than $1 per day. Managua is the capital, but Granada is its oldest city. Despite its coastal beauty and colonial architecture, the picturesque streets of Granada are littered with kids ("chavalos") who have succumbed to the country's economic circumstance. Many are uneducated and addicted to drugs. The drug of choice due to its affordability and accessibility: glue-sniffing. With no means of receiving an education, learning basic job skills, or finding employment, these children are left with no options and no hope.

CAFE CHAVALOS: OVERCOMING THE STREETS follows Orlando, Oscar, Juan Carlos, and Moises as they attempt to rehabilitate their lives through a program called Cafe Chavalos - a culinary school, restaurant, and rehab center. In their young lives, they have endured drug use, gang violence, abuse, and family suicides, but miraculously found hope through this program. They learn to cook, wait tables, and run a business. However, during the course of their own journey, the Cafe runs into financial problems (funded by a non-profit group), lose their head Chef, and is forced to close. How does that affect the boys? Will the cafe re-open? Can they persevere?

Nicaraguan filmmaker, Alberto Chamorro, documents the poverty and the lives of these chavalos with compassion, respect and objectivity. Through his observation, he witnesses a transformation not only of the boys, but of a city that has been defined by its circumstances and not by its beauty.

The End of Poverty? is a daring, thought-provoking, and very timely documentary by award-winning filmmaker, Philippe Diaz, revealing that poverty is not an accident. It began with military conquest, slavery, and colonization that resulted in the seizure of land, minerals, and forced labor. Today, global poverty has reached new levels because of unfair debt, trade, and tax policies -- in other words, wealthy countries exploiting the weaknesses of poor, developing countries.

The End of Poverty? asks why today 20% of the planet’s population uses 80% of its resources and consumes 30% more than the planet can regenerate?

The film has been selected to over 25 international film festivals and will be released in US theatres starting November 13, 2009. Directed by Philippe Diaz, produced by Cinema Libre Studio with the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, 104mins, 2008, USA, documentary in English, Spanish, and French with English Subtitles.

A film written and acted by foster care youth, ripped from the stories of their lives. Five youths' worlds interweave as they deal with loss, heartbreak, and coming of age in this tale about transience and perseverance.

Addie struggles to graduate from high school, while her best friend Marie loses her grandmother. Megan copes with being taken from her abusive family and faces the harsh reality of living in a residential treatment center. Eva works to be mother to her sister while their father falls deeper into a crack addiction. Finally, there's Austin, who's living on the street with his brother, barely able to feed himself. All of them must struggle to survive or else fall victim to a broken system.