Sara was born deaf and wears cochlear implants in both of her ears. She plays the ‘surdo’ drum which means ‘deaf’ in Portuguese. It is one of the largest drums with a deep sonic beat that Sara can literally feel. Otherwise she watches the other drummers and follows their lead.

Selma was inspired to join FogoAzulNYC after seeing them in the Women’s March. She met Sara in the band and the two began dating. After their trip to Brazil, they got married, and inspired by the community work of Banda Didá, started a Community Fridge in the Bronx.

Velma joined FogoAzulNYC in 2016. She is now one of the leading members and joins Stacy in conducting the band. She is married with a daughter and lives in Brooklyn and drumming gives her a power and a purpose outside of the family.

What an incredible way to end our Dances With Films world premiere in NYC. The audience award for best short doc goes to Living Loud!

Honored and grateful to receive the Dances with Films Audience Award in our category of short documentaries. awardsradar.com/2023/12/08/2nd…

Proud to be an official selection at Winter Film Festival . Stay tuned for ticket sales to give live in mid January, for 2 matinee screenings on February 23rd and 24th (@carinvanderdonk will be there for the QA on the 24th).

TICKETS ON SALE NOW! wfa2024.eventcombo.com WINTER IS COMING! Winter Film Awards International Film Fest - Feb 21-25 - NYC

What Sara Allen said! Winter Film Festival 2024 Previews: "@livinglouddoc", directed by @vanderDonkCarin & Sarah Teale & Isabe... youtube.com/clip/UgkxF-f2U…

One of our filmmakers, @vanderDonkCarin on the red carpet at Winter Film Festival

.Living Loud / Vivendo Ferozmente (USA, 2022) dir. Sarah Teale, @vanderDonkCarin and Isabel Vega prod. Sarah Teale, Carin van der Donk Best International Documentary Finalist at Sundar Prize Film Festival 2024 #sundarprize #spff2024 #filmfestival #livingloud #livinglouddoc #sarahteale

Incredible Sara and Selma, FogoAzulNYC drummers, featured in our film, on #newyorkersoftheweek. We agree Spectrum News NY1 ! ny1.com/nyc/all-boroug…

Proud to announce our West Coast premiere of Living Loud at Dances With Films as part of the Outfest selection, on Thursday, June 27th at 2:45 PM. Tickets here: danceswithfilms.com/living-loud-2/

🎥 Exciting news! Our documentary LIVING LOUD about FogoAzulNYC and Banda Didá is now available to stream for $3.99 on Gathr! 🌈✨ Experience the inspiring journey of resilience, and community. gathr.com/vod/33205af2/l…. #LivingLoudDoc #LGBTQ #Documentary #IndieFilm