Peace - General

2019 Peace Festival Offerings

Accountability

War on Whistleblowers (NR, 67 mins)

War on Whistleblowers highlights the stories of four whistleblowers who noticed government wrong-doing and turned to the media to expose the abuse they discovered. In addition to their personal accounts, the film includes interviews with journalists and legal experts sharing their knowledge of the challenges whistleblowers face today.

Watch the film at Brave New Films.

Citizenfour (R, 113 mins)

CITIZENFOUR is a real life thriller, unfolding by the minute, giving audiences unprecedented access to filmmaker Laura Poitras and journalist Glenn Greenwald’s encounters with Edward Snowden in Hong Kong, as he hands over classified documents providing evidence of mass indiscriminate and illegal invasions of privacy by the National Security Agency (NSA). Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Film.

Watch the trailer and visit the film’s website for more info.

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (NR, 93 mins)

In 1971, Daniel Ellsberg, a leading Vietnam War strategist, concludes that America’s role in the war is based on decades of lies. He leaks 7,000 pages of top-secret documents to The New York Times, a daring act of conscience that leads directly to Watergate, President Nixon’s resignation and the end of the Vietnam War.

Watch the trailer and visit the film’s website for more info.

Brainwashing of my Dad (NR, 90 mins)

As filmmaker, Jen Senko, tries to understand the transformation of her father from a non-political, life-long Democrat to an angry, right-wing fanatic, she uncovers the forces behind the media that changed him completely: a plan by Roger Ailes under Nixon for a media takeover by the GOP, the Powell Memo urging business leaders to influence institutions of public opinion, especially the universities, the media and the courts, and under Reagan, the dismantling of the Fairness Doctrine. As her journey continues, we discover that her father is part of a much broader demographic and that the story is one that affects us all.

Watch the trailer and learn more at the film’s website.

Cuba

Embargo (NR, 85 mins)

Embargo chronicles the journey of American citizen Jeri Rice's quest for truth beginning with a rare meeting with Cuban Premier Fidel Castro in 2002 when the Communist leader tells her the utopia he tried to create had failed, and he was unable to fix it. Rice sets out to find out why her country's unprecedented embargo of Cuba has persisted unabated long after the Cold War decades that marked an era of enmity between the two nations only 90 miles apart.

More info at the film’s website.

Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up? (NR, 80 mins)

In Will the Real Terrorist Please Stand Up? filmmaker Saul Landau chronicles half a century of hostile relations between the United States and Cuba. By telling the story of the “Cuban five,” intelligence agents sent to penetrate Cuban exile terrorist groups in Miami and now serving long prison sentences, the film highlights decades of assassination and sabotage at first backed by Washington and then ignored by the same government that launched a “war on terror.” The film, which features Danny Glover and 84-year-old Fidel Castro in key scenes, seeks to ultimately answer the question: what did Cuba do to deserve such hostile treatment from the American government?

Watch the trailer and learn more at the film’s website.

The film is available on Amazon Video.

Drones

Unmanned: America's Drone Wars (NR, 60 mins)

In Unmanned: America's Drone Wars, the eighth full-length feature documentary from Brave New Films, director Robert Greenwald investigates the impact of U.S. drone strikes at home and abroad through more than 70 separate interviews, including a former American drone operator who shares what he has witnessed in his own words, Pakistani families mourning loved ones and seeking legal redress, investigative journalists pursuing the truth, and top military officials warning against blowback from the loss of innocent life.

Watch at Brave New Films’ YouTube page.

Drone (NR, 79 mins)

The documentary is about the role that drones play in war, showing what really happens and demonstrating how cold drone warfare truly is.

Watch the trailer and learn more at the film’s website.

Available for free streaming on YouTube.

National Bird ( NR, 92 mins)

National Bird follows the dramatic journey of three whistleblowers who are determined to break the silence around one of the most controversial current affairs issues of our time: the secret U.S. drone war. At the center of the film are three U.S. military veterans. Plagued by guilt over participating in the killing of faceless people in foreign countries, they decide to speak out publicly, despite the possible consequences. Their stories take dramatic turns, leading one of the protagonists to Afghanistan where she learns about a horrendous incident. But her journey also gives hope for peace and redemption. Masterminded by filmmaker Sonia Kennebeck, the film gives a rare insight into the U.S. drone program through the eyes of veterans and survivors, connecting their stories as never seen before in a documentary. Its images haunt the audience and bring a faraway issue close to home.

Watch the trailer here, and the film will be in theaters this fall!

Demilitarize

F-35, the Jet that Ate the Pentagon (NR, 8 mins)

F-35, The Jet that Ate the Pentagon, was released to draw attention to the massive amounts of money defense contractors are receiving for a jet plane which hasn’t been delivered on time and is $397 billion over budget. In fact, it’s been so poorly designed that the Pentagon has had to temporarily ground the plane no fewer than 13 times since 2007.

Watch at Brave New Films.

Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and The NRA (NR)

Making a Killing: Guns, Greed, and The NRA tells the stories of how guns, and the billions made off of them, affect the lives of everyday Americans. It features personal stories from people across the country who have been affected by gun violence, including survivors and victims' families. The film exposes how the powerful gun companies and the NRA are resisting responsible legislation for the sake of profit - and thereby putting people in danger.

Watch this at Brave New Films.

Egypt

The Square (NR, 108 mins)

'The Square' is an intimate observational documentary that tells the real story of the ongoing struggle of the Egyptian Revolution through the eyes of six very different protesters. Starting in the tents of Tahrir in the days leading up to the fall of Mubarak, we follow our characters on a life-changing journey through the euphoria of victory into the uncertainties and dangers of the current 'transitional period' under military rule, where everything they fought for is now under threat or in balance.

Watch the trailer and learn more at the film’s website.

The film is available for streaming on Netflix.

Guantanamo

Guantanamo: Blacked Out Bay(NR, 27 mins)

Vice News reporter Gianna Toboni is granted a rare tour of the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center (GTMO) in Cuba, offering a look inside the most notorious prison in the world. Intended to home the greatest active terrorist threats, it is instead known for imprisoning foreigners at random and subjecting them to dehumanizing conditions.

Watch at VICE News’ website.

The Road to Guantanamo (NR, 95 mins)

Part drama, part documentary, The Road to Guantánamo focuses on the Tipton Three, a trio of British Muslims who were held in Guantanamo Bay for two years until they were released without charge.

The documentary is available on YouTube.

Iran

Iran is Not the Problem (NR, 79 mins)

This film is a response to the failure of the American mass media to provide the public with relevant and accurate information about the standoff between the US and Iran, as happened before with the lead up to the invasion of Iraq. We have heard that Iran is a nuclear menace in defiance of the international community, bent on "wiping Israel off the map", supporting terrorism, and unwilling to negotiate. This documentary disputes these claims as they are presented to us and puts them in the context of present and historical US imperialism and hypocrisy with respect to Iran. It looks at the struggle for democracy inside Iran, the consequences of the current escalation and the potential US and/or Israeli attack, and suggests some alternatives to consider.

The documentary is available on YouTube.

Iraq

Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers (NR, 75 mins)

Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers, is the story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war. Acclaimed director Robert Greenwald takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children who have been changed forever as a result of profiteering in the reconstruction of Iraq. Iraq for Sale uncovers the connections between private corporations making a killing in Iraq (Blackwater, Halliburton/KBR, CACI, and Titan) and the decision makers who allow them to do so.

Watch for free at Brave New Films.

Uncovered: The War on Iraq (NR, 87 mins)

Uncovered: The War on Iraq is a 2004 documentary film directed by Robert Greenwald that builds the case that the George W. Bush’s administration intentionally deceived the American people in order to justify going to war in Iraq in 2003.

Watch for free at Brave New Films.

My Country, My Country (NR, 90 mins)

Filmed over the course of 8 months in Baghdad by famed filmmaker Laura Poitras, My Country, My Country tells the story of Dr. Riyadh, an Iraqi doctor, father of six and Sunni political candidate. An outspoken critic of the U.S. occupation, he is equally passionate about the need to establish democracy in Iraq, arguing that Sunni participation in the January 2005 elections is essential. Yet all around him, Dr. Riyadh sees only chaos, as his waiting room fills each day with patients suffering the physical and mental effects of ever-increasing violence. Dramatically interwoven into the personal journey of Dr. Riyadh is the landscape of the US military occupation, private security contractors, American journalists and the UN officials who orchestrate the elections.

Watch the trailer here or purchase the documentary on Amazon.

Voices of Iraq (NR, 80 mins)

The people of Iraq tell their amazing stories in this fascinating and important documentary which gives Iraqi men and women the chance to describe in their own words their years under Saddam Hussein and their struggle to create their own stable society in a period of appalling violence. Producers Eric Manes Archie Drury and Martin Kunert distributed 150 digital video cameras to Iraqis all over the country and the resulting 400 hours of footage includes powerful testimony from sheiks and insurgents mothers and children and everyday workers each discussing their perspective, hopes, and daily lives.

Watch the documentary for free at Daily Motion.

Local Peace Economy

Documentary Archive from CommunityWealth.Org

An exciting movement towards new cooperative business models and community wealth building strategies is gaining momentum and recognition, and there is a veritable bumper crop of recent documentary films testifying to this new interest in the new economy. As communities throughout the country innovate and cooperative businesses develop and flourish despite a struggling economy, these films offer a compelling portrait of an alternative vision. Community-Wealth.Org provides an archive of compelling documentaries about the cooperative movement.

Access the archive to view available documentaries here.

The Economics of Happiness (NR, 68 mins)

The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, people around the world are resisting those policies – and, far from the old institutions of power, they’re starting to forge a very different future. Communities are coming together to re-build more human scale, ecological economies based on a new paradigm – an economics of localization.

Watch the trailer, learn more, and purchase an online version of the documentary here.

A Tribute to Famed Peace Activist Jay Marks

This compilation shows famed peace activist, Jay Marks, over the course of his final days. The first to accept the World Peace Challenge, Jay was an inspiration to peace activists all over the world with his sense of humor, spirit, and incredible activism. This short film is a tribute to his life, in hopes that his legacies will continue to sow seeds of peace in the world.

Watch the film here.

Nuclear Disarmament

Command and Control (NR, 92 mins)

A chilling nightmare plays out at a Titan II missile complex in Arkansas in September, 1980. A worker accidentally drops a socket, puncturing the fuel tank of an intercontinental ballistic missile carrying the most powerful nuclear warhead in our arsenal, an incident which ignites a series of feverish efforts to avoid a deadly disaster. Directed by Robert Kenner (FOOD, INC.) and based on the critically acclaimed book by Eric Schlosser (FAST FOOD NATION), COMMAND AND CONTROL is a minute-by-minute account of this long-hidden story. Putting a camera where there was no camera that night, Kenner brings this nonfiction thriller to life with stunning original footage shot in a decommissioned Titan II missile silo. Eyewitness accounts — from the man who dropped the socket, to the man who designed the warhead, to the Secretary of Defense— chronicle nine hours of terror that prevented an explosion 600 times more powerful than Hiroshima.

Learn more, watch the trailer, and find a screening near you.

Palestine/Israel

Where Should the Birds Fly(NR, 58 mins)

Where Should the Birds Fly is the first film about Gaza made by Palestinians living the reality of Israel’s siege and blockade of this tiny enclave. It is the story of two young women, survivors of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead. Mona Samouni, now 12 years old and the filmmaker, Fida Qishta, now 27, represent the spirit and future of Palestinians.The film is a visual documentation of the Goldstone Report. But it is so much more. It reveals the strength and hope, the humanity and humor that flourishes among the people of Gaza. Few films document so powerfully and personally the impact of modern warfare and sanctions on a civilian population.The film itself breaks the blockade. Filmmakers in Gaza have never had the opportunity to make a full-length, professional documentary of their reality. Fida Qishta, born and raised in Rafah, Gaza, began her filmmaking career as a wedding videographer, and soon moved on to working with international human rights observers in Gaza, documenting day to day life under siege. Her commentary on the siege was published in The International Herald Tribune. Her video reports of Operation Cast Lead were published widely including in the UK newspaper The Guardian and in their weekly news magazine, The Observer.

Learn more, watch the trailer, and purchase an online version of the film at the film’s website.

5 Broken Cameras (NR, 94 mins)

5 Broken Cameras is a first-hand account of protests in Bil'in, a West Bank village affected by the Israeli West Bank barrier. The documentary was shot almost entirely by Palestinian farmer Emad Burnat, who bought his first camera in 2005 to record the birth of his youngest son. In 2009 Israeli co-director Guy Davidi joined the project. Structured around the destruction of Burnat's cameras, the filmmakers' collaboration follows one family's evolution over five years of turmoil.

Watch the trailer here.

This film is available for streaming on Hulu and Netflix, and can be purchased on iTunes and Amazon Video.

The Occupation of the American Mind(NR, 85 mins)

Narrated by legendary musician and activist Roger Waters of Pink Floyd fame and featuring leading experts on American media, the film looks at efforts by the Israeli government, the U.S. government, and pro-Israel pressure groups to shape positive news coverage of Israel and deflect attention away from its prolonged military occupation of Palestinian territory.

Learn more, watch the trailer, and purchase the film online at the film’s website.

Saudi Arabia

Bitter Lake (NR, 140 mins)

Bitter Lake is a new, adventurous and epic film by Adam Curtis that explains why the big stories that politicians tell us have become so simplified that we can’t really see the world any longer.

The narrative goes all over the world, America, Britain, Russia and Saudi Arabia - but the country at the heart of it is Afghanistan. Because Afghanistan is the place that has confronted our politicians with the terrible truth - that they cannot understand what is going on any longer.

The film reveals the forces that over the past thirty years rose up and undermined the confidence of politics to understand the world. And it shows the strange, dark role that Saudi Arabia has played in this.

Watch online at BBC iPlayer (The UK only) or Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

The Real House of Saud (NR, 27 mins)

In this episode of The Empire Files, host Abby Martin turns a sharp eye towards the United States' relationship with Saudi Arabia and delivers an alarming overview of the country's poor track record with regards to human rights violations.

Watch for free online.

Stop U.S. Military Bases

Standing Army (NR, 78 mins)

Over the course of the last century, the US has silently encircled the world with a web of military bases unlike any other in history. No continent is spared. They have shaped the lives of millions, yet remain a mystery to most. Standing Army explores historical displacement of native populations, including Italy, on Diego Garcia (an Indian Ocean island) and the Middle East. The film posits that while the traditional definition of the term empire means possession of colonies, the foundation of an "American empire" is based on a worldwide network of military bases. Featuring Gore Vidal and Noam Chomsky.

Watch for free online.

The Afterburn (NR, 148 mins)

Directed by American John Junkerman, long-term resident of Japan and Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker, the brand-new Okinawa: The Afterburn is a sweeping, in-depth look at the wartime and postwar history of Okinawa and the massive American military presence on the island. Consisting of interviews and rare archival footage on the 1945 Battle of Okinawa, the 27-year American occupation and the ongoing struggles of the local people up until the present, the film is a powerful statement on the historical background and complex reality of US bases on Okinawa, an issue that remains highly controversial on both the island itself and in mainland Japan. Screened three times daily at Jinbocho's Iwanami Hall, the film offers a through introduction to one of modern Japan's most pressing political issues.

Learn more and watch the trailer here.

Syria

Unclassified

The Boys Who Said No (In Production)

Over the past 200 years, nonviolent direct action movements in the United States fought to abolish slavery, win women’s rights, and advance civil rights, equality, disarmament, and peace. In that tradition, tens of thousands of young people during the 1960s and 70s followed their consciences and actively refused to cooperate with the draft and the Vietnam War. The government sentenced 3,200 draft resisters – who publicly refused to register, or to go when drafted — to prison for up to five years. What impact did the sacrifice and imprisonment of these young men have on their lives, on society, and on the war, and what are the lessons for today? We tell their stories in The Boys Who Said NO! through interviews, re-creations, and archival footage.

Watch free clips.