PORTLAND – The Oscar-nominated documentary film “Recycled Life” will premiere in Maine Friday, March 9, as the centerpiece of a tribute evening dedicated to Safe Passage founder Hanley Denning. The film’s director and producer will be joined at Merrill Auditorium by recording artist Kate Schrock and TV anchor Rob Caldwell.

March 9 is the date Denning would have turned 37. She founded Safe Passage as an educational program for Guatemala City’s poorest children, and the organization attracts hundreds of volunteers from Maine each year who travel to Guatemala to do service work. Denning, who served as executive director of Safe Passage, was killed in January in an automobile accident in Guatemala City.

The Oscar nomination for “Recycled Life” caps a period of intensified public interest in Safe Passage, prompted by Denning’s tragic death. Filmed over four years, the documentary chronicles the lives of the thousands of poor people who make a living scavenging at the sprawling Guatemala City garbage dump. This is the community Denning encountered in 1999, when she founded Safe Passage.

The film includes interviews focused on her work.

“Recycled Life” director Leslie Iwerks said in an interview after Ms. Denning’s death that she hoped the film’s nomination would help further “Hanley’s legacy of work on behalf of the poor and suffering.” Producer Mike Glad, an entrepreneur and award-winning photographer, financed and co-wrote the film, which features the narration of actor Edward James Olmos. He has produced a tribute film to Denning that will be shown at the March 9 event.

Schrock’s blending of roots rock, jazz, gospel and pop, has won her acclaim on tour in the United States, Europe and South America. She has shared the stage with international artists Stephen Stills, Taj Majal and Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones, and recently completed a project with Glen DaCosta of the legendary Wailers.

Caldwell will serve as master of ceremonies.

Tickets are $25 for adults, $15 for students. All proceeds from the tribute evening will go to support the work of Safe Passage in Guatemala.

Tickets are available at the Merrill Auditorium box office, via the PortTix Web site www.porttix.com, or by calling PortTix at 842-0800. For more information on Safe Passage, go online to www.safepassage.org.