2010 Peace On Earth Film Festival Outreach Programs

Both Programs are vested in the following Intention and Goals

INTENTION: To create dialogue, starting with our youth, on peace, nonviolence, social justice and an eco-balanced world.

GOALS: To stimulate youth, as well as people of all ages, to tell their own stories, while at the same time, honoring another’s story. In this way they begin to own and respect their stories – even those that are difficult, embarrassing, confusing and perhaps tragic – and free themselves from the burden of isolation.

• In so doing, they will begin to see that their personal stories have qualities that are universal. We believe this universality is at the heart of learning and tolerance, and opens channels of greater communication and dialogue.
• To see and hear another’s story, yet know it is your own, awakens understanding and leads to dialogue. This is the beginning of peace.

You can't hate the one whose story you know.
– Margaret Wheatley

PROGRAM ONE: Student Voices for Peace Showcase

Friday, February 26, 2010:
Chicago Cultural Center, Claudia Cassidy Theatre

• AM Session (9:30am – 11:30am) and PM Session (12:00pm – 2:00pm) for approximately 300 students and staff in each session.
• Target Grades: 6th through 12th.
• 3 – 5 selected films in competition at the festival will be shown, followed by an interactive discussion of each film with the audience. The discussion will include POEFF Directors, as well as filmmakers in attendance whose films were selected for the Showcase.
• Films for the student audience will be selected on relatable themes specific to young people on peace, nonviolence, social justice and an eco-balanced world. Dialogue and discussion will encourage the sharing of challenges to peace in the students’ own lives, and will include examining assumptions and attitudes, best practices of listening to and honoring another’s story, and creating a safe environment for sharing one’s own experience.
• In order to empower the students to share their voices on the films they screen, each member of the student audience will be provided a voting/comment card and pencil. After seeing the films and participating in the discussion panels, the students will be given time to consider the films and discussions and then make their vote (along with any personal comments on the films/discussions that they wish to make) for the following award: “Student Voices for Peace’ Award for the Most Inspiring Story”
• This special award, voted on solely by the students and staff attending the two Friday sessions, will be presented to the winning filmmaker along with the other festival awards at the gala closing ceremony on Sunday evening.

PROGRAM TWO: POEFF Dialogue for Peace Outreach

• POEFF Dialogue for Peace Outreach brings the Peace On Earth Film Festival into diverse communities and economically challenged neighborhoods of Chicago.
• This culturally rich program uses films that competed in the POEFF, and with the filmmakers’ approval, selected films are brought into Chicago communities, along with tested programming to stir dialogue on peace, nonviolence, social justice and an eco-balanced world. Dialogue for Peace Outreach has been piloted in over 6 Chicago Public Schools between April and June 2010, covering grades 7th – 12th, and has also been tested at the college level.
• The program was initially piloted in the schools because the POEFF Directors envision schools as the center of an ever widening circle of the festival serving the whole community. This dialogue-focused outreach programming begins with young people, who are often the most affected by neighborhoods rife with violence, and communities where poverty is most prevalent. The mission of the Dialogue for Peace Outreach is to stir interest in films set in the various modalities of peace, engaging Chicagoans of all ages in dialogue on alternatives to violence, creating an environment of listening, sharing and honoring each others’ stories; in turn breaking down the walls of isolation, mending conflicting beliefs of dissimilarity, and creating harmonious classrooms, homes and communities.