Cinema for Peace


Cinema for Peace is a Berlin-based organization that claims to raise awareness for the social relevance of films. Since 2002, the group has been inviting film makers, humanitarian and human rights activists, and public figures to its annual awards ceremony in Berlin to honor a selection of cinematic works on humanitarian and environmental issues. The event occurs at the same time as the Berlin International Film Festival.

History

Following the September 11 attacks in 2001, Jaka Bizilj launched the Cinema for Peace initiative with the annual gala as a platform for communicating humanitarian, political and social issues through the medium of film. Bob Geldof described the awards gala as "the Oscars with brains".

Activities

Cinema for Peace organizes an annual Gala in Berlin each year. The Gala has been repeatedly criticized by Berlinale Director, Dieter Kosslick as being a "new standard of idiocy " and about financial arrangements. The Gala for Peace organizer has replied that all financial arrangements had been made transparent and audited by an independent authority Further criticism of Cinema for Peace has come from a variety of sources, including Stern, Die Tageszeitung, Frankfurter Rundschau,.
The Cinema for Peace Foundation organizes various monthly screenings, mainly through partnering cinemas, such as the Schikaneder in Vienna
Cinema for Peace distributed the Bosnian Oscar-winning war satire No Man's Land by Danis Tanovic.
In 2014, Jaka Bizilj as the Founder of Cinema for Peace invited Pussy Riot to the Olympic Games in Sochi and brought them to Hollywood and to Washington in order to promote global human rights responsibility and advocate a global Sanction List for human rights offenders.

Committee and supporters

Among the Cinema for Peace speakers have been: Buzz Aldrin, Antonio Banderas, Deepak Chopra, George Clooney, Catherine Deneuve, Leonardo DiCaprio, Bob Geldof, Richard Gere, Dustin Hoffman, Elton John, Nicole Kidman, Sir Christopher Lee, Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Susan Sarandon, Hilary Swank, Wim Wenders, Ban Ki-Moon, Luis Moreno-Ocampo and Fatou Bensouda as well as Mikhail Gorbachev.

Award winners 2002–2019

2002