Nobel Peace Season: June 2005

"All it takes for evil to prosper is when good men do nothing." Winston Churchill

Films that celebrate the difference that one person can make; that analyze the role of propaganda, that equip the viewer with a profound understanding of the historic and current issues that lead to war and to peace.

Guest Speaker Biographies

Film Details

Hope
Trust Engagement

...are the keywords of the new Nobel peace Centre, Oslo.

Download Peace Season Flyer - pdf

Filmhouse
Glasgow Film Theatre

Nicholas Winton: The Power of Good
dir: Matej Minac Slovakia 2002, 1h2m, U

In 1939, Nicholas Winton personally and by his own initiative saved the lives of 669 children, most of them Jewish, from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia and brought them across Hitler's Germany to his native Britain. For nearly 50 years, he kept secret how he rescued these children, but now he is often known as "Britain's Schindler." The Power of Good describes how the caring of one man can make a difference to the lives of others. Winner of the International Emmy for 'Outstanding Documentary'

Electronic Press Kit-Peace One Day

Screening with the powerful Scottish tribute Women In Black and the clever Contempt of Conscience.

Contempt of Conscience
dir: Joe Jenkins UK 2003, 5 mins
We used to be conscripted through our bodies but in 2005 we're happy to settle for money instead. Seven conscientious objectors face prosecution for refusing to foot the bill for warheads.

Women in Black
dir Nick Higgins, UK 2004, 5 mins
On streets all over the world, groups of women dressed in a uniform of black gather to make a silent non-aggressive protest against injustice, war, violence and militarism. This is a moving film about the courage to make a stand. One Edinburgh woman tells the story behind her silence.

Screenings:

Filmhouse:
June 9th, 16th, 18th

Glasgow Film Theatre: June 4th, 14th (intro), 23rd, 27th

Peace One Day
dir: Jeremy Gilley UK 2004, 1h20m, U

Peace One Day charts the remarkable five-year journey of the filmmaker Jeremy Gilley as he meets heads of state, Noble Peace Laureates, aid agencies, freedom fighters, media moguls, the innocent victims of war and, eventually, everyone who was anyone at the UN. An individual genuinely can make a difference: the film documented and inspired the establishment of the United Nations International Day of Peace as a day of global ceasefire and non-violence, now 21st September annually.

Electronic Press Kit

Screening with the Glasgow mother's appeal Dear Mrs Blair

Dear Mrs Blair
dir: Camcorder Guerillas, UK 2004, 5 mins
When Rose Gentle lost her eldest son to a roadside bomb in Basra, she realized that something had to be done. This is a video letter from one mother to another, an appeal to bring the troops home. Mrs Gentle seeks a meeting with Mrs Blair - she sleeps with him, doesn't she?
Soundtrack by Belle & Sebastian.

Screenings:

Filmhouse:
June 8th (intro), 20th, 30th
Glasgow Film Theatre: June 6th (intro), 11th, 22nd, 28th

Hearts and Minds
dir: Peter Davis USA 1974, 1h52m, 18

"If I were to pick the one film that inspired me to pick up a camera, it is 'Hearts and Minds'." Michael Moore

How does the self-proclaimed emblem of democracy, the U.S., lie to its populace, and what do they gain from the lies? Using interviews, newsreels and shocking documentary footage, the Oscar-winning Hearts and Minds holds a mirror up to America's involvement in the Vietnam war. It shows how ordinary Vietnamese and American people suffered alike, humanizing the enemy through a shared grief. As relevant and controversial now as when it was originally released.

Writer A L Kennedy introduces the classic documentary about America's involvement in the Vietnam War.

Screenings:

Edinburgh Filmhouse June 21st (intro), 23rd, 29th and 30th. Glasgow Film Theatre June 8th (intro), 16th, 20th, 25th.

Control Room
dir: Jehane Noujaim USA 2004, 1h27m, 12A

Military propaganda has to be the key priority for any invader. Herald Foreign Correspondent David Pratt presents the heart-breaking story of the independent TV network Al Jazeera which put itself in the firing line to get beyond the spin.

Control Room challenges assumptions by showing a side to the last Iraq war that most Westerners didn't see. Award-winning director Jehane Noujaim uses footage from the Arab news network Al-Jazeera to analyse the role of propaganda, media manipulation and free speech in 21st century conflict. Featuring harrowing scenes of American POWs and innocent civilians caught in the crossfire, it shatters the lens that helps us keep war at a distance.

Screening with Edinburgh young people's smarting lesson on media bias:


Old Enough to Know Better
dir: Joel Venet, UK 2003, 5 mins
In March 2003 the biggest youth movement ever in Scotland took place when thousands of teenagers walked out of school in protest against the war, suggesting that the youth of today are smarter and more politicized than the media gives them credit for.

Screenings:

Filmhouse: June 18th (intro), 28, 29th
Glasgow Film Theatre: 9th (intro), 15, 18th, 30th