United States Institute of Peace Joins Silverdocs Film Festival
For the first time, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is participating in the AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival. The two organizations have teamed up to present a thematic strand of six films that explore the human side of conflict. The strand is called "Peacebuilding on Screen."
For the first time, the United States Institute of Peace (USIP) is participating in the AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival. The two organizations have teamed up to present a thematic strand of six films that explore the human side of conflict. The strand is called "Peacebuilding on Screen."
The film festival runs from June 21-27. There will be panel discussions following each film. Learn more about the films and discussions.
The six films in the "Peacebuilding on Screen" strand and post-screening panel discussions with USIP experts include:
- BUDRUS
Israel/Palestinian Territories/USA, 2009, 82 minutes (Director: Julia Bacha)
This rousing film about one Palestinian village and its unlikely hero—humble family man turned activist Ayed Morrar—reveals the power of ordinary people to peaceably fight for extraordinary change. - FOUND
Canada, 2009, 6 minutes (Director: Paramita Nath)
For Laotian-Canadian poet Souvankham Thammavongsa, a discarded scrapbook sheds light on a harsh infancy in Southeast Asia emphasizing how family memory is often an aggregation of disparate pieces. The film will preceed both screenings of GRACE, MILLY, LUCY...CHILD SOLDIERS. - GRACE, MILLY, LUCY...CHILD SOLDIERS
Canada, 2010, 73 minutes (Director: Raymonde Provencher)
Grace Akallo is one of many northern Ugandan women attempting to live a normal adulthood after being forced as children to fight for the Lord's Resistance Army, a notoriously brutal rebel group. Akallo and several others have become activists, striving to help female ex-rebels find a voice in the world, acceptance at home and forgiveness from one another.
Post-screening discussion
Friday, June 25 | 1:45 pm
- Raymond Provencher
Filmmaker - Raymond Gilpin
Associate Vice President, Sustainable Economies Center of Innovation - John Prendergast
Co-founder of the ENOUGH Project and former USIP executive fellow - Grace Akallo
Film subject - Kathleen Kuehnast, Moderator
Gender Adviser, Gender and Peacebuilding Initiative Center of Innovation
- Raymond Provencher
- LA ISLA—ARCHIVES OF A TRAGEDY
Germany/Guatemala, 2010, 85 minutes (Director: Uli Stelzner)
Guatemala’s violent history of repression at the hands of extremist political regimes is laid bare following the discovery of a vast archive of secret police documents. As a team of dedicated forensic specialists sort through the files, the voices of the disappeared challenge the culture of impunity that plagued the nation.
Post-screening discussion
Thursday, June 24 | 1:45 pm
- Uli Stelzner
Filmmaker - Tani Adams
Former USIP senior fellow and research director at the Institute of Learning for Social Reconciliation (Guatemala) - Ambassador Francisco Villagrán de León
Embassy of Guatemala - Tom Gjelten, Moderator
NPR senior correspondent
- Uli Stelzner
- MY SO CALLED ENEMY
USA, 2010, 87 minutes (Director: Lisa Gossels)
Filmed over a seven-year period, the film follows a group of teenage Israeli and Palestinian girls committed to mutual understanding and a just solution to the conflict that continues to rage in their homeland.
Post-screening discussion
Wednesday, June 23 | 7:15 pm
- Lisa Gossels
Filmmaker - Manal Omar
Director of Iraq programs, USIP - Robin Wright
USIP Senior Fellow - Tara Sonenshine
Executive Vice President, USIP
- Lisa Gossels
- WAR DON DON
Sierra Leone, 2010, 85 minutes (Director: Rebecca Richman Cohen)
Is Issa Sesay a war criminal guilty of crimes against humanity? Or a reluctant fighter who protected civilians and played a crucial role in forging peace in Sierra Leone? A trial in the United Nations’ “special court” in the heart of Freetown attempts to reveal the answer to this question.
Post-screening discussion
Tuesday, June 22 | 4:15 pm
- Stephen Rapp
U.S. ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues and former chief prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone - Alpha Sesay
Trial Monitor for the Open Society Justice Initiative - Roy Gutman, Moderator
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and former USIP Senior Fellow
- Stephen Rapp