Film News: Peace on Earth Film Festival Opens in Chicago on March 7, 2013

CHICAGO – The Chicago Cultural Center, located downtown across from Millennium Park, will be the scene for the fifth annual Peace on Earth Film Festival, a free, open-to-the-public event from Thursday, March 7th through Sunday, March 10th, 2013. All films will be shown at the Claudia Cassidy Theater within the Cultural Center, with films shown all day on Saturday and Sunday.

The film festival, presented by Transcendence Global Media, NFP, in partnership with the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, will feature documentaries, features, shorts and student films on subjects of nonviolence, tolerance, sustainability and social justice. On March 7th, the festival kicked off with two Midwest Premiere documentaries – “A Whisper to a Roar” and “Pad Yatra” – and will continue on March 8th with Latino Night (full schedule below).

Scene from ‘The Second Cooler,’ featured at the Peace on Earth Film Festival Photo credit: TheSecondCooler.com

The Peace on Earth Film Festival began in 2008, and spotlights the filmmaker perspective on peace issues including human rights, war, world politics, the gun debate, the environment and implications of world economies. The festival’s goal is to put Chicago at the forefront for international efforts for peace and environmental recoveries. Throughout the festival weekend, there will be appearances by the filmmakers, as well as panel discussions with social activists and academics.

The schedule for the weekend is as follows…

FRIDAY, MARCH 8: LATINO NIGHT
6:00pm – Festival Opening
6:11 – The Second Cooler (Ellin Jimmerson, USA, 87 min.) World Premiere *filmmaker Ellin Jimmerson will be in attendance
8:14 – Historias (Gloriana Fonseca-Malavasi, USA, 20 min.) World Premiere
8:35 – 180 Grados (Fernando Kalife, Mexico, 105 min.) U.S. Premiere
 
SATURDAY, MARCH 9
10:00am – Festival Opening
10:11 – The Skin That Burns (Nargas Bajoghi, Iran/USA, 21 min.) World Premiere

10:33 – Children of Kabul   (Jawad Wahabzada and Jon Bougher, Afghanistan, 25 min.) World Premiere
10:59 – House Devil, Street Angel (Fivel Rothberg, USA, 30 min.) World Premiere
11:30 – Dream Chasers (Free Spirit Media, USA, 8 min.) World Premiere
11:38 – The Catalyst (Rachel Pontbriand, USA, 8 min.) World Premiere
12:06pm – Dancing Salmon Home (William Doolittle, USA/New Zealand, 67 min.) Midwest Premiere
1:14 – Parrot   (Craig Foster, Australia, 24 min.) Midwest Premiere
4:01 – The Other Side of the Mountain (Hak Jang, North Korea, 106 min.) Mainland U.S. Premiere
6:09 – TRUST Alaska  (Kelly Matheson, USA, 8 min.) Midwest Premiere
6:18 – Raising Resistance (Bettina Borgfeld and David Bernet, Germany/Switzerland, 85 min.) Midwest Premiere
7:01 – Parallax (Paul DeNigris, USA, 22 min.) World Premiere
7:24 – Liberty Road (Jason Fraley, USA, 17 min.) Midwest Premiere
7:42 – Amazon Gold  (Reuben Aaronson, USA, 53 min.) Chicago Premiere
8:44 – Uprising (Fredrik Stanton, Egypt/USA, 85 min.) Midwest Premiere
 
SUNDAY, MARCH 10
11:00a – 778 Bullets (Angela Aguayo, USA, 18 min.) Chicago Premiere
11:19 – Ru (Water is Life) (Shawn Small, USA, 19 min.)
11:39 – The Miracles on Honey Bee Hill (Rob Pondillo, USA, 23 min.) World Premiere
12:11pm – Right There (Florence Buchanan, USA, 17 min.) Midwest Premiere
1:28 – Child 31 (Charles Kinnane, United Kingdom, 31 min.) Midwest Premiere
3:55 – La Decima Onda (Francesco Colangelo, Italy, 15 min.) U.S. Premiere
4:11 – The Suffering Grasses (Iara Lee, USA, 52 min.) Chicago Premiere
6:15 – Not Today (Jon Van Dyke, India/USA, 105 min.) Midwest Premiere
8:16 – Awards Ceremony

[14]	By PATRICK McDONALD [15] Senior Staff Writer HollywoodChicago.com pat@hollywoodchicago.com [14]