The Global Peace Film Festival (GPFF) celebrates its annual event from September 16 through September 22 in various locations in downtown Orlando and Winter Park. This unique event draws together filmmakers and filmgoers from all walks of life into a community of people inspired to take action in their daily lives to leave the world a more peaceful place than they found it.
The film program begins on September 17th with a free screening of Mistaken for Strangers on The Green at Rollins College. From Wednesday through Sunday, films will be presented in the Bush Auditorium and the SunTrust Auditorium at Rollins College and at the Winter Park Library in Winter Park. In downtown Orlando, films will be shown at the Cobb Plaza Cinema Café.
OTHER GPFF EVENTS:
Monday, September 16, 5:30 – 6:30pm: Reception/Awards ceremony for the OCPS/GPFF Peace Art Exhibit of work by K-12 students. Selected work will be on display in the Rotunda of Orlando’s City Hall throughout the week. FREE.
Tuesday, September 17, 6 – 8pm: Party at the Winter Park Welcome Center, 151 Lyman Ave., Winter Park. Filmmakers and special guests celebrate the opening of the film festival. Light refreshments
Friday, September 20, 6 – 8pm: Party at Ten Thousand Villages, 346 N. Park Ave., Winter Park. Shopping party with filmmakers and special guests. A percentage of sales benefit the GPFF. Light refreshments. FREE and open to the public.
Panel Discussions: 4pm, Wed., Thurs. and Fri, Sept. 18 – 20 and Sat. at 11am in the SunTrust Auditorium, Crummer Building of Rollins College. Free and open to the public.
Brown Bag Lunch at Urban ReThink: Thursday, Sept. 19 at noon. 625 E. Central Blvd., Orlando. Visiting filmmakers join local cultural creatives for a free-flowing discussion.
FILM PROGRAM:
The Film Festival opens with a free outdoor screening on The Green at Rollins College of Mistaken for Strangers (USA, 2013, 80 mins.) – a funny and touching portrait of two very different brothers; the rock star lead singer of popular indie band The National and his younger brother, at age 30 still living at home before being invited to join the band’s tour as a roadie.
Local issues are covered in Billy & Alan: In Life, Love and Death Equality Matters (USA, 2013, 37 mins.) about Orlando Weekly writer Billy Manes’ deeply personal story of the loss of his partner and how and why it has led him to fight for full equality for gay couples Take Me Home Documentary (USA, 2013, 59 mins.) is a compelling look at homelessness in Orlando, looking at people who find shelter where they can in Downtown Orlando as well as the advocates who work to help them.
Dramatic features include Farah Goes Bang (USA, 2013, 90 mins.), a road-trip comedy about three young women traveling cross country while campaigning for John Kerry in 2004; La Guayaba (Argentina, 2012, 85 mins.) that introduces the audience to 17 year old Florencia and her struggles for freedom after having been trafficked as a sex slave; and the touching story of David (USA, 2011, 80 mins.), an eleven year old son of an Imam who befriends a group of Jewish boys who mistake him for a classmate.
Producer Linda Bloodworth Thomason makes her documentary feature debut with Bridegroom (USA, 2013, 79 mins.), telling the emotional journey of a young gay couple and what happened after the tragic death of one of the partners, the film opens a window onto the issue of marriage equality. In her directorial debut, Whoopi Goldberg explores the life of iconic African-American standup comedienne Jackie “Moms” Mabley, who broke racial and sexual boundaries as a comic pioneering talent in Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley (USA, 2013, 71 mins. An HBO Documentary Film). Femme (USA, 2013, 90 mins.) looks at the Goddess culture, concluding that now is the time for women to step up and guied the way toward a world of caring economics that benefits everyone on the planet. When the Rev. Christopher Fike was ordained in the Episcopal Church, he was a straight married mother of two adorable children: Too Cold Out There Without You (USA, 2012, 80 mins.) looks beyond the act of transitioning and focuses on the transformation that takes place in Chris’ relationships with those closest to him.
Films from around the world include A2-B-C (Japan, 2013, 71 mins.) documenting the impact of the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, Japan, on the area’s children. In The Iran Job (Germany/Iran, 2012, 90 mins.), American basketball player Kevin Sheppard who accepts a job to play on a team in Iran. Expecting the worst, he finds a country brimming with generosity, acceptance and sensuality. Forgive Me Mother (UK/Uganda, 2013, 50 mins.) looks at the fierce debate between forgiveness and justice in Northern Uganda, an area that has been tormented by war for two decades. In 1999, an invisible aircraft was shot down during the war in Bosnia. The Second Meeting (USA/Serbia/Montenegro, 2012, 86 mins.) captures the meeting in Serbia twelve years later between the American pilot of Yugoslav origin and the Hungarian missile officer who shot down his plane. Issues of faith and modernity are examined in Lone Samaritan (Israel, 2009, 50 mins.) and a small handicraft business in Angkor Wat, Cambodia, is studied in Social Business: A New Path for Capitalism? (France, 2013, 50 mins.).
Rafea: Solar Mama (Jordan/India/USA, 2013, 76 mins.) follows a Bedouin woman from one of Jordan’s poorest villages on the Iraqi border to India to attend the Barefoot College to learn to be a solar engineer. Hit television shows to raise awareness of social issues? Poor Consuelo Conquers the World demonstrates how telenovelas (soap operas) that introduce social issues are both entertaining and educational. Six Americans set out to run 129 miles across the West Bank of Palestine in The People and the Olive (USA/Palestinian Territories, 2012, 70 mins.) to raise awareness of Palestinian fair trade olive farmers. The Revolutionary Optimists (India/USA, 2013, 95 mins) are tween and teen activists in the slums of Kolkata map their un-mapped community and convince their local government to give them a tap for clean drinking water.
Films on the environment include Elemental (USA, 2012, 92 mins.) that follows three unique pioneers working on the front lines of diverse aspects of the environmental movement; in 1958, the people in a small Inuit village in Alaska fought to prevent nuclear tests nearby in Project Chariot (USA, 2013, 75 mins.); and Scarred Land, Wounded Lives: The Environmental Impact of War (USA, 2010, 68 mins.) explains that the consequences of war are not just felt where and when it is fought but also in its preparations and aftermath.
Urban environments are the subject of Electric Signs (USA, 2012, 57 mins.) that makes connections between light, perception and the culture of attractions in today’s consumer society. Between Dreams and History: The Making of Shimon Attie’s Public Art Projects (USA, 37 mins.) profiles the American artist whose work aims to make human memory visible in the present and a group of renegade Chinese artists who painted forbidden images during the Cultural Revolution reunite in The No Name Painting Association (USA/China, 2013, 23 mins.)
The American health care system is the focus of Remote Area Medical (USA, 2013, 80 mins.) that follows a group of volunteer healthcare providers who organize a pop-up clinic at a NASCAR speedway in Bristol, TN. University students plunge headlong into the world of the American prison system and learn about life and survival in Prison Through Tomorrow’s Eyes (USA, 2013, 56 mins.). Academy Award® winning filmmaker and lifelong activist Haskell Wexler casts his eye on the media coverage of the demonstrations in Four Days in Chicago (USA, 2013, 82 mins.) during the NATO summit in May 2012 and Forward (USA, 2013, 77 mins.) gives an activist-level view of the Wisconsin uprising that swept state senators out of office, triggered the third governor recall election in American history and was an inspiration to the Occupy movement.
Tickets to GPFF screenings are $8 each, and are on sale now. Tickets may be purchased online
at http://globalpeace.festivalgenius.com/2013/schedule/week or at each venue during festival hours. Patrons may purchase a Silver Pass for $99 or a Gold Pass for $199 that are good for admission to all screenings and events. A Weekday Pass and a Weekend Pass are also available for $50 each. Passes are available http://peacefilmfest.org/.
