Cinema for Peace Foundation
Encyclopedia
The Cinema for Peace Foundation is a registered, non-profit organization
based in Berlin, Germany. It supports film-based projects dealing with global humanitarian and environmental issues.
Bosnian Genocide Film Library. The Cinema for Peace Foundation is conducting and archiving video interviews with victims of the Bosnian War, to record their experiences for a publicly accessible library for researchers, students and other interested parties. Hasan Nuhanovic
, a survivor of the Srebrenica genocide, runs the project, which is based in Sarajevo
Safe Keeping Darfur. In 2010, the Cinema for Peace Foundation distributed 200 motion sensitive, mini-video cameras, laptop computers and satellite uplinks, to humanitarian workers in refugee camps in Darfur
to discourage people from committing crimes against refugees, as well as to collect evidence against the perpetrators to be used in criminal trials.
Green Film Online Platform. The Cinema for Peace Foundation hosts a platform on its website to enable access to environmentally conscience films, supported by the foundation and also allow visitors to screen some short films about the environment for free.
Film Against AIDS. In 2010, the Cinema for Peace Foundation organized a screening of the film, Themba - A Boy Called Hope for school children in Cape Town, South Africa, introduced by the Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The screenings of the film were later extended to nine further rural South African provinces to raise awareness about AIDS
prevention. In December 2010, the Foundation expanded the program to 60 German public schools.
Trailer of the Day.The Trailer of the Day is a daily movie recommendation, issued by the Cinema for Peace Foundation, on various current political topics. There are many valuable movies and documentaries listed in the ‘Cinema for Peace Selection’ picking up pressing global issues, which often put easily forgettable short news announcements into a broader context thus offering a new way to approach news stories. Registered persons on the Cinema for Peace mailing list receive the “Trailer of the Day” recommendations as links to short video clips informing about movies and documentaries dealing with acute and long term challenges of our time, which also means in particular for low-budget-productions an interesting way of increasing attention.
Cinema for Peace Foundation Screenings. On a regular basis the Cinema for Peace Foundation arranges for freely accessible special film screenings accompanied by directors and/or actors involved in the production to illustrate and help raise further awareness for areas of need as well as initiate change.
, winner of the International Green Film Award at Cinema for Peace 2010, in his defence against a lawsuit by the Chevron Oil Company. In 2010, a U.S. District Court ordered Berlinger to surrender 600 hours of outtakes from his documentary, Crude
. The film depicts a lawsuit by indigenous people against the Chevron Oil Company for environmental destruction allegedly caused by the company's activities in Ecuador
. On appeal, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately limited the amount of footage that Berlinger was required to provide.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani Awareness Campaign. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
, an Iranian mother of two was convicted of adultery in 2006 and later sentenced to death by stoning. Her execution was postponed, though not commuted. In support of Ms. Ashtiani, the Cinema for Peace Foundation organized a press conference, attended by Ms. Ashtiani's lawyer and human rights campaigners on August 18, 2010, that included a screening of the film, The Stoning of Soraya M.
directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh., winner of the Cinema for Peace Award for Justice 2010. The foundation later mailed DVD copies of The Stoning of Soraya M.
to United States Senators, members of the German Parliament and authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran, demanding the halt of execution by stoning and the immediate release of Ms. Ashtiani.
Burma Petition. In February 2011, the Cinema for Peace Foundation organized a petition together with Burmese human rights activist and Nobel Peace Price laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
to demand the release of the Burmese comedian Zarganar
and the removal of a work ban imposed on actor U Kyaw Thu. Zarganar was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment for speaking to the foreign media and openly criticizing the Burmese government's failute to aid victims of cyclone Norgis. U Kyaw Thu has been banned from acting for openly opposing state censorship in Burma.
, the Cinema for Peace Foundation organized a Special Evening on Justice on the eve of the Review Conference of the International Criminal Court Statute in Kampala, Uganda. Ban Ki-moon recognized the Cinema for Peace Foundation in his remarks, "Let me applaud Cinema for Peace. Every time you and your friends from the creative community reach out to help people to learn about human rights and justice, you help the UN to keep the peace."
Special Evening on Africa. The Cinema for Peace Foundation organized a Special Evening on Africa on September 19, 2010 at the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York
. Supporter Bob Geldof
and MDG Co-Chair and Rwandan President Paul Kagame
spoke at the event to call for adherence to the Millennium Development Goals of 2000.
Green Evening:Into the Cold - A Journey of the Soul Screening. On November 12, 2010 the Foundation hosted a Green Evening with British actor Orlando Bloom
in Berlin to promote Sebastian Copeland
's movie, Into the Cold - A Journey of the Soul. The film retraces two men's expedition to the North Pole
covering over 400 miles on foot, while documenting the rapidly vanishing polar environment.
Nobel Peace Prize Screening. On Human Rights Day
, December 10, 2010, the Cinema for Peace Foundation, Amnesty International
, Movies that Matter and the Human Rights Film Network organized an internationally coordinated screening of Moving the Mountain in honor of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo
. The screenings were scheduled to take place on the day Xiaobo would have personally received his Nobel Peace Prize had he not been in prison in China
. The film was shown in Berlin
, The Hague
, the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo
, and the Human Rights Film Festival
s in Vienna, Warsaw and Amman. Moving the Mountain is a 1994 documentary by Michael Apted
that depicts the student led democracy movement of 1989 in Tiananmen Square
.
Dinner for Tibet. The Cinema for Peace Foundation organized a film program and dinner to support Tibetan culture on the occasion of the last visit of the 14th Dalai Lama in Wiesbaden in August 2011.
Dinner and Symposium on the Issue of Child Soldiers. The Foundation also supported a symposium on the issue of “Child Soldiers” conducted by the International Criminal Court
in The Hague in August 2011 expanding this encounter by film screenings and a charity dinner. The event was to accompany the final declaration of the historically remarkable “Lubanga Case”, in which for the first time that Congolese rebel leader was held accountable for violating the ban on the recruitment and use of child soldiers as formulated in article 8, paragraph 2 of the Rome Statute. Former child soldiers attended the encounter as well a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie
and the UN Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy
. All parties involved phrased a petition in which all UN member states are called upon to condemn the use of child soldiers, to fight the use of sexual violence in war and to make efforts to prevent that schools and hospitals become targets of armed attacks.
Celebration of First Ever Logo for Human Rights The first ever logo for human rights was celebrated at an event in New York hosted by the Cinema for Peace Foundation on Friday 23 September 2011. The new design which brings to mind both a human hand and a bird in flight was created by Serbian designer Predrag Stakic. Stakic's logo is the winner of an online contest, and was chosen from more than 15,000 entries which were submitted by designers in 190 countries. Among the guests were Robert de Niro and the German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and various human rights defenders as the mother and the sister of Mohamed Bouazizi, whose self-immolation brought about the Arab Spring
. In a video message Aung San Suu Kyi said, "I look forward to a time when this logo will be seen all over the world (...). I hope that little children and babies will see it and it will be a sign of happiness, peace and security to them."
Gala and its related charity auction. . The Cinema for Peace Foundation is politically, financially and morally completely independent.
Non-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
based in Berlin, Germany. It supports film-based projects dealing with global humanitarian and environmental issues.
History
The Cinema for Peace Foundation was founded in 2008 building on the successful outcome of the annual Cinema for Peace Gala, which started in 2002. Since then, the Cinema for Peace Foundation has been running internally originated, cinema-based humanitarian projects.Cinema for Peace Foundation Projects
The Cinema for Peace Foundation German School Film Catalogue. The Cinema for Peace Foundation School Film Catalogue covers issues such as war, human rights and discrimination. The Foundation works with teachers and students in German public schools to use the catalogue as a catalyst for further inquiry into the issues covered by the films.Bosnian Genocide Film Library. The Cinema for Peace Foundation is conducting and archiving video interviews with victims of the Bosnian War, to record their experiences for a publicly accessible library for researchers, students and other interested parties. Hasan Nuhanovic
Hasan Nuhanović
Hasan Nuhanović is a Bosniak survivor of the Srebrenica genocide who campaigns "For truth and justice" on behalf of other survivors and relatives of the victims. Hasan, the former U.N. interpreter for Dutch peacekeepers who were stationed in Srebrenica in 1995, at the end of the Bosnian war, has...
, a survivor of the Srebrenica genocide, runs the project, which is based in Sarajevo
Sarajevo
Sarajevo |Bosnia]], surrounded by the Dinaric Alps and situated along the Miljacka River in the heart of Southeastern Europe and the Balkans....
Safe Keeping Darfur. In 2010, the Cinema for Peace Foundation distributed 200 motion sensitive, mini-video cameras, laptop computers and satellite uplinks, to humanitarian workers in refugee camps in Darfur
Darfur
Darfur is a region in western Sudan. An independent sultanate for several hundred years, it was incorporated into Sudan by Anglo-Egyptian forces in 1916. The region is divided into three federal states: West Darfur, South Darfur, and North Darfur...
to discourage people from committing crimes against refugees, as well as to collect evidence against the perpetrators to be used in criminal trials.
Green Film Online Platform. The Cinema for Peace Foundation hosts a platform on its website to enable access to environmentally conscience films, supported by the foundation and also allow visitors to screen some short films about the environment for free.
Film Against AIDS. In 2010, the Cinema for Peace Foundation organized a screening of the film, Themba - A Boy Called Hope for school children in Cape Town, South Africa, introduced by the Nobel Peace Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The screenings of the film were later extended to nine further rural South African provinces to raise awareness about AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
prevention. In December 2010, the Foundation expanded the program to 60 German public schools.
Trailer of the Day.The Trailer of the Day is a daily movie recommendation, issued by the Cinema for Peace Foundation, on various current political topics. There are many valuable movies and documentaries listed in the ‘Cinema for Peace Selection’ picking up pressing global issues, which often put easily forgettable short news announcements into a broader context thus offering a new way to approach news stories. Registered persons on the Cinema for Peace mailing list receive the “Trailer of the Day” recommendations as links to short video clips informing about movies and documentaries dealing with acute and long term challenges of our time, which also means in particular for low-budget-productions an interesting way of increasing attention.
Cinema for Peace Foundation Screenings. On a regular basis the Cinema for Peace Foundation arranges for freely accessible special film screenings accompanied by directors and/or actors involved in the production to illustrate and help raise further awareness for areas of need as well as initiate change.
Cinema for Peace Foundation Awareness Programs
Berlinger Petition. The Cinema for Peace Foundation initiated a petition to support filmmaker Joe BerlingerJoe Berlinger
Joseph "Joe" Berlinger is an American documentary film-maker who, in collaboration with Bruce Sinofsky, has created such films as Paradise Lost about the West Memphis 3, Brother's Keeper, Some Kind of Monster, and Crude....
, winner of the International Green Film Award at Cinema for Peace 2010, in his defence against a lawsuit by the Chevron Oil Company. In 2010, a U.S. District Court ordered Berlinger to surrender 600 hours of outtakes from his documentary, Crude
Crude
Crude can refer to:* Petroleum in its unprocessed form , including:** Brent crude oil** Heavy crude oil** Light crude oil** Sweet crude oil*** Pennsylvania Grade Crude Oil, a type of sweet crude** Synthetic crude oil**Crude jokes...
. The film depicts a lawsuit by indigenous people against the Chevron Oil Company for environmental destruction allegedly caused by the company's activities in Ecuador
Ecuador
Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...
. On appeal, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals ultimately limited the amount of footage that Berlinger was required to provide.
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani Awareness Campaign. Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani
Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani , is an Iranian woman who has gained the attention of human rights groups and people throughout the world for a conviction of adultery and accompanying sentence of death by stoning. Since 2006, she has been imprisoned and under a death sentence in Tabriz, Iran after being...
, an Iranian mother of two was convicted of adultery in 2006 and later sentenced to death by stoning. Her execution was postponed, though not commuted. In support of Ms. Ashtiani, the Cinema for Peace Foundation organized a press conference, attended by Ms. Ashtiani's lawyer and human rights campaigners on August 18, 2010, that included a screening of the film, The Stoning of Soraya M.
The Stoning of Soraya M.
The Stoning of Soraya M. is a 2008 American drama film adapted from French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam's 1990 book La Femme Lapidée, based on a true story...
directed by Cyrus Nowrasteh., winner of the Cinema for Peace Award for Justice 2010. The foundation later mailed DVD copies of The Stoning of Soraya M.
The Stoning of Soraya M.
The Stoning of Soraya M. is a 2008 American drama film adapted from French-Iranian journalist Freidoune Sahebjam's 1990 book La Femme Lapidée, based on a true story...
to United States Senators, members of the German Parliament and authorities in the Islamic Republic of Iran, demanding the halt of execution by stoning and the immediate release of Ms. Ashtiani.
Burma Petition. In February 2011, the Cinema for Peace Foundation organized a petition together with Burmese human rights activist and Nobel Peace Price laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi
Aung San Suu Kyi, AC is a Burmese opposition politician and the General Secretary of the National League for Democracy. In the 1990 general election, her National League for Democracy party won 59% of the national votes and 81% of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained...
to demand the release of the Burmese comedian Zarganar
Zarganar
Maung Thura "Zarganar" Maung Thura "Zarganar" Maung Thura "Zarganar" (also called Zaganar is a popular Burmese comedian, film actor, and a film director as well as a fierce critic and often political prisoner of the Burmese military government...
and the removal of a work ban imposed on actor U Kyaw Thu. Zarganar was sentenced to 35 years imprisonment for speaking to the foreign media and openly criticizing the Burmese government's failute to aid victims of cyclone Norgis. U Kyaw Thu has been banned from acting for openly opposing state censorship in Burma.
Cinema for Peace Foundation Special Initiatives
Special Evening on Justice. Together with the Trust Fund for Victims and the International Criminal CourtInternational Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
, the Cinema for Peace Foundation organized a Special Evening on Justice on the eve of the Review Conference of the International Criminal Court Statute in Kampala, Uganda. Ban Ki-moon recognized the Cinema for Peace Foundation in his remarks, "Let me applaud Cinema for Peace. Every time you and your friends from the creative community reach out to help people to learn about human rights and justice, you help the UN to keep the peace."
Special Evening on Africa. The Cinema for Peace Foundation organized a Special Evening on Africa on September 19, 2010 at the United Nations Millennium Development Goals Summit in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
. Supporter Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
and MDG Co-Chair and Rwandan President Paul Kagame
Paul Kagame
Paul Kagame is the sixth and current President of the Republic of Rwanda. He rose to prominence as the leader of the Rwandan Patriotic Front , whose victory over the incumbent government in July 1994 effectively ended the Rwandan genocide...
spoke at the event to call for adherence to the Millennium Development Goals of 2000.
Green Evening:Into the Cold - A Journey of the Soul Screening. On November 12, 2010 the Foundation hosted a Green Evening with British actor Orlando Bloom
Orlando Bloom
Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Bloom is an English actor. He had his break-through roles in 2001 as the elf-prince Legolas in The Lord of the Rings and starring in 2003 as blacksmith Will Turner in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series, and subsequently established himself as a lead in Hollywood...
in Berlin to promote Sebastian Copeland
Sebastian Copeland
Sebastian Copeland is an award winning photographer, author, lecturer, extreme outdoor adventurer and environmental activist. He has led numerous expeditions around the globe to photograph and film endangered environments...
's movie, Into the Cold - A Journey of the Soul. The film retraces two men's expedition to the North Pole
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is, subject to the caveats explained below, defined as the point in the northern hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface...
covering over 400 miles on foot, while documenting the rapidly vanishing polar environment.
Nobel Peace Prize Screening. On Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day
Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December.The date was chosen to honor the United NationsGeneral Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights , the first global enunciation of human rights...
, December 10, 2010, the Cinema for Peace Foundation, Amnesty International
Amnesty International
Amnesty International is an international non-governmental organisation whose stated mission is "to conduct research and generate action to prevent and end grave abuses of human rights, and to demand justice for those whose rights have been violated."Following a publication of Peter Benenson's...
, Movies that Matter and the Human Rights Film Network organized an internationally coordinated screening of Moving the Mountain in honor of Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo
Liu Xiaobo is a Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist who called for political reforms and the end of communist single-party rule in China...
. The screenings were scheduled to take place on the day Xiaobo would have personally received his Nobel Peace Prize had he not been in prison in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. The film was shown in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
, The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, the Nobel Peace Center in Oslo
Oslo
Oslo is a municipality, as well as the capital and most populous city in Norway. As a municipality , it was established on 1 January 1838. Founded around 1048 by King Harald III of Norway, the city was largely destroyed by fire in 1624. The city was moved under the reign of Denmark–Norway's King...
, and the Human Rights Film Festival
Human Rights Film Festival
Human Rights Film Festival is an annually-held Zagreb-based film festival founded in 2003. The festival is run by two prominent Croatian independent cultural organizations - the Multimedia Institute and Culture Development Association ....
s in Vienna, Warsaw and Amman. Moving the Mountain is a 1994 documentary by Michael Apted
Michael Apted
Michael David Apted, CMG is an English director, producer, writer and actor. He is one of the most prolific British film directors of his generation but is best known for his work on the Up Series of documentaries and the James Bond film The World Is Not Enough.On 29 June 2003 he was elected...
that depicts the student led democracy movement of 1989 in Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square
Tiananmen Square is a large city square in the center of Beijing, China, named after the Tiananmen Gate located to its North, separating it from the Forbidden City. Tiananmen Square is the third largest city square in the world...
.
Dinner for Tibet. The Cinema for Peace Foundation organized a film program and dinner to support Tibetan culture on the occasion of the last visit of the 14th Dalai Lama in Wiesbaden in August 2011.
Dinner and Symposium on the Issue of Child Soldiers. The Foundation also supported a symposium on the issue of “Child Soldiers” conducted by the International Criminal Court
International Criminal Court
The International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .It came into being on 1 July 2002—the date its founding treaty, the Rome Statute of the...
in The Hague in August 2011 expanding this encounter by film screenings and a charity dinner. The event was to accompany the final declaration of the historically remarkable “Lubanga Case”, in which for the first time that Congolese rebel leader was held accountable for violating the ban on the recruitment and use of child soldiers as formulated in article 8, paragraph 2 of the Rome Statute. Former child soldiers attended the encounter as well a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie
Angelina Jolie is an American actress. She has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards, and was named Hollywood's highest-paid actress by Forbes in 2009 and 2011. Jolie is noted for promoting humanitarian causes as a Goodwill Ambassador for the...
and the UN Special Representative on Children in Armed Conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy
Radhika Coomaraswamy
Radhika Coomaraswamy is the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed her to the position in April 2006...
. All parties involved phrased a petition in which all UN member states are called upon to condemn the use of child soldiers, to fight the use of sexual violence in war and to make efforts to prevent that schools and hospitals become targets of armed attacks.
Celebration of First Ever Logo for Human Rights The first ever logo for human rights was celebrated at an event in New York hosted by the Cinema for Peace Foundation on Friday 23 September 2011. The new design which brings to mind both a human hand and a bird in flight was created by Serbian designer Predrag Stakic. Stakic's logo is the winner of an online contest, and was chosen from more than 15,000 entries which were submitted by designers in 190 countries. Among the guests were Robert de Niro and the German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle and various human rights defenders as the mother and the sister of Mohamed Bouazizi, whose self-immolation brought about the Arab Spring
Arab Spring
The Arab Spring , otherwise known as the Arab Awakening, is a revolutionary wave of demonstrations and protests occurring in the Arab world that began on Saturday, 18 December 2010...
. In a video message Aung San Suu Kyi said, "I look forward to a time when this logo will be seen all over the world (...). I hope that little children and babies will see it and it will be a sign of happiness, peace and security to them."
Funding
The Cinema for Peace Foundation is funded through private donations and from parts of the proceeds of the annual Cinema for PeaceCinema for Peace
The Cinema for Peace initiative aims to raise awareness for the social relevance of films and to make active use of the influence of movies and documentaries on the perception and resolution of global social, political and humanitarian challenges of our time...
Gala and its related charity auction. . The Cinema for Peace Foundation is politically, financially and morally completely independent.