Don't Stop Believin': Everyman's Journey is a documentary of the legendary US arena rock band JOURNEY and their new lead vocalist Arnel Pineda. The film shows the band during the Revelation Tour in the United States, and Pineda's homecoming in Manila, Philippines where they performed in front of 25,000 people. The film sees its exclusive premiere at the San Francisco Film Festival on Mat 3rd. More details about the screening can be found at this location.

The film by Ramona S. Diaz is described as follows:

This film transcends generations. On one hand, this is a documentary for the post-YouTube, post-American Idol generation. It is an aspirational, rags-to-riches story set against the backdrop of some of the most anthemic songs of recent rock n’ roll history.  This generation may not necessarily know the provenance of the songs, but they know they’ve heard it somewhere before – at a ball game, as a soundtrack to a movie, TV show (including the last episode of the Sopranos) or a commercial, on their parents’ Ipod.

On the other hand, it is for their elders – their mothers and fathers and aunts and uncles – whose memories dance with images of Camaros, platform shoes, and Miami Vice.

How it started: halfway around the world Journey, the iconic, quintessentially American rock band who recorded 8 platinum-certified albums during their heyday between 1978–1986, has chosen a lead singer in a manner befitting this internet age: they found him through YouTube.

Filipino Arnel Pineda had been singing Journey songs for many years with his cover band Zoo in clubs all over Manila, his hometown, and posting their performances on YouTube.  Arnel grew up in poverty; his mother died when he was 12 years old and he ended up on the streets. “I would hang out with my friends and they would make me sing in exchange for food.  I’d tag along just so I could eat.  Then we would go to the park and I’d sleep there with other homeless kids.”  He worked at the pier in Manila Bay gathering scrap metal, bottles, and newspapers for eight pesos (20 cents) a day.  At night, he would roam the bars in bohemian Manila, singing here and there, meeting other urban nomads with whom he would, over the years, form - and dissolve - bands.  In 1991, he relocated to Hong Kong where he would live and perform for fifteen years.  He lost his voice twice in the intervening years: once in 1995 due to drugs and alcohol and again in 2005 due to exhaustion and TMJ dysfunction.  He decided to move back to Manila in 2006. By then he “had a little dream to make it big in the Philippines, just alone in the Philippines.  Suddenly, I got this call from Neal Schon…and here I am.”

Neal Schon, Journey’s legendary guitarist, was half a world away in Northern California.  He was frustrated about not having found a lead singer.  Since the band’s most famous and distinctive frontman Steve Perry—whose power ballads catapulted the band to super stardom, filling stadiums all over the country — exited the band in the '90’s, it had been a revolving door for Journey vocalists.   “I was pretty much aware of everybody out there.  There’re plenty of guys that you could use to get through a tour.  I was looking for something a little more special than that.”

Schon decided to trawl the Internet for singers and there, after days of looking and almost giving up, he discovered Arnel covering Journey songs with his band in Manila.

“After watching the videos over and over again, I had to walk away from the computer and let what I heard sink in because it sounded too good to be true. I thought, 'he can't be that good.' I tried to get a hold of him and I finally heard from him that night, but it took some convincing to get him to believe that it really was me and not an impostor."

After literally singing for his US visa and a couple of live auditions and recording sessions later, Arnel was offered the gig as Journey’s frontman.

And what of Arnel Pineda himself?  In this age of globalization, how will a non-white foreigner fronting a classic American band change the very nature of the group and possibly expand its fan base?   How will he successfully sell songs about being “born and raised in South Detroit”?  On the eve of the tour, Arnel teeters between being overwhelmed – “Until now, I can’t believe I’m rock and rolling with these legends” – and, like the seasoned professional that he is, being realistic.  “It’s a job that I have to do well.  But everything that has a beginning has an end.  When all this craziness is over, I’ll just go back to the basics.”  And, more urgently, will his voice hold? “I sure hope so,” he reassures himself.

On a more personal end, how long will this dream last and can he live up to expectations?  Right now, he is like a kid in a candy store living out his dream, but he is also weathered and homesick with no real family around him, and even he is not sure how long this will last.  Given the fickle nature of fate, will he able to remain the tremendous source of pride for his country, not to mention his deceased mother and three kids, who are the inspiration behind his hard work?   Or will his superstar status fizzle before it even sizzles?  As the band tries to navigate the difficult task of preserving a legacy and moving on with their new “Thrilla of Manila”at the same time, can they turn this media moment into something more than just a footnote in their thirty-year career? Will Arnel return home with Journey, to the place where it all started, a global superstar?  And just how will his journey affect him and the band?  Only time will tell.