We are delighted to be able to announce the UP IN SMOKE ROADSHOW starting on 2nd May 2012, Up in Smoke will begin an 8 day tour of Germany, presenting Free screenings of the film award winning film Up In Smoke, in a subtitled German version, supported by Cinema for Peace Foundation, the BMZ and OXFAM Germany.

The Roadshow tour will encompass eight screenings in seven of the biggest cities in Germany. The  screenings are all free and present a unique chance for people to come together and see this important film.

Adam Wakeling, the film’s director, will be on tour with the film and hosting a Q&A session after every screening.

“Driven by the superb efforts of the Cinema for Peace Foundation, UP IN SMOKE is set to go on the road in Germany, on tour in 7 major cities throughout the country.”   Director, Adam Wakeling

THE FILM

Up in Smoke the film is a riveting and striking environmental film about an important environmental issue that few people know much about. The film is proving to be touching the hearts and minds of a great many people.

This is a film about a technique that could save more carbon emissions annually than all global aviation combined. It is a film about one of the biggest contributors to tropical deforestation and global warming: slash and burn agriculture. The film follows British scientist Mike Hands, who has laboured for 25 years to perfect a sustainable farming technique to replace slash and burn farming in equatorial rainforests.

And he’s found it.

For the trailer and FREE Screenings near you,

please click here. http://upinsmoke.tv/

Follow event info on our facebook page here

https://www.facebook.com/CinemaForPeaceFoundation

In a letter and a strong video message and an online petition to the wife of the Syrian leader, Asma al-Assad, the two women along with “women of the world”, urge Asma to speak out for peace and help stop the massacre.

The initiative is the result of a cooperation of Sheila Lyall Grant (UK) and Huberta von Voss Wittig (Germany), both based in New York.  They have also drawn support from the international community from Japan, South Africa, Turkey, Hungary, Philippines, Finland, Lithuania, Netherlands as well from Qatar.

During the Syrian uprising, hundreds of Syrian children have already died, tens of thousands have been injured and displaced, few are getting the medical treatment they need, all of them have been traumatized.

The message speaks out strongly in belief in Asma's responsibility as a woman, as a wife and as a mother. As the vocal female Arab leader that she used to be, and as a champion of female equality, she cannot hide behind her husband.

The message women are sending Asma is that her public voice is needed and will encourage other women to speak out for peace. Many women in Syria have been victims of the ongoing violence. Many of them have taken the risk of speaking out and standing up for their freedom during the year long demonstrations. In a new and radical step, the message directly asks Asma Assad to take a risk too and to say openly: Stop the bloodshed, stop it right now.

The video includes the open letter to Asma al-Assad, that women worldwide do care about the situation of women and children in Syria and are expecting Asma al-Assad to act.

Link to the petition:

http://www.change.org/petitions/asma-al-assad-stop-the-bloodshed-in-syria.

The Open Letter:

Dear Asma...

Some women are for style and some women care for their people.

Some women struggle for their image and some women struggle for their survival.

Some women have forgotten what they preached about peace and some women can only pray for their dead.

Some women pretend that they have no choice and some women just act.

What happened to you, Asma?

Hundreds of Syrian children have already been killed or injured.

One day, our children will ask us what we have done

to stop this bloodshed.

What will your answer be, Asma?

That you, Asma had no choice?

What about this boy, where was his choice?

Every single child had a name and a family.

Their lives will never be the same again.

Asma, when you kiss your own children goodnight,

another mother will find the pace next to her empty.

These children could all be your children.

They are your children.

Stand up for peace, Asma.

Speak out now. For the sake of your people.

Stop your husband and his supporters.

Stop being a bystander.

No one cares about your image.

We care about your action.
Right now.

The trial of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo is the first ever trial before the International Criminal Court, and marks a fundamental step in the fight against impunity.

Congo surrendered Lubanga to the ICC in March 2006, making him the first suspect taken into custody since the tribunal was established in 2002 as a court of last resort for alleged high ranking perpetrators of atrocities in countries unable or unwilling to prosecute them.

Prosecutors say Lubanga led the Union of Congolese Patriots political group and commanded its armed wing, the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo, which recruited children – sometimes by force, other times voluntarily – into its ranks to fight in a brutal ethnic conflict.

"A guilty verdict in the case will send a powerful signal to all those who recruit and use child soldiers around the world," said Prof. Michael Scharf, director of the International Law Center at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. "It will make it clear that the use of children under age 15 as soldiers is a serious war crime."

On the occasion of the final statement in the trial in late August, the Cinema for Peace Foundation started a petition in order to "Stop the Use of Child Soldiers". In the petition all UN member states are asked to denounce the use of child soldiers and combat the use of sexual violence during wartime, as well as make efforts to ensure that schools and hospitals are not targeted during armed attacks.

The petition was inaugurated by UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie, the former child soldiers Ishmael Beah (author), Emmanuel Jal (musician) and Kon Kelei (lawyer), as well as the  and UN Under Secretary General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict Radhika Coomaraswamy.

“We monitor a list of shame with the UN Security Council and have secured 13 further countries to sign the Optional Protocol” Coomaraswamy said in her speech. This is another step forward to stop the use of child soldiers which has to be continued by further missing states signing the Optional Protocol.

Lubanga has pleaded innocent to charges of using child soldiers to fight in eastern Congo in 2002-2003. For more information on the trial against Thomas Lubanga, we recommend you to watch the following  video.

The Trial of Thomas Lubanga

February 13, 2012 Berlin – "In the Land of Blood and Honey", the directorial debut of Angelina Jolie, will be honored with this year’s "Honorary Award for Opposing War and Genocide" at the Cinema for Peace gala taking place February 13th, 2012 at Berlin’s Gendarmenmarkt concert hall. The film tells the story of the love between a Serbian man and a Muslim woman, who realize, upon the outbreak of the Bosnian war, they not only stand on opposing sides, but the man is now a solider and the woman a prisoner of war. "In the Land of Blood and Honey" depicts the horrific violence of the civil war and makes a call for peace. Although today, the situation in Bosnia-Herzegovina has been rectified, the film sends a powerful message. The cast of the film are a carefully selected team of Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian actors; they will also be honored at the gala.

„I wanted to make a film that would express, in an artistic way, my frustrations with the international community’s failure to intervene in conflicts in a timely and effective manner. I also wanted to explore and understand the Bosnian War, as well as broader issues such as women in conflict, sexual violence, accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and the challenge of reconciliation“, Angelina Jolie states. „It was the deadliest war in Europe since World War II, but sometimes people forget the terrible violence that happened in our time, in our generation, to our generation.”

Emphasis will be placed on Bosnia at this year’s Cinema for Peace gala as it has been a main focus of the Cinema for Peace Foundation. In November 2011, the foundation opened an office in Sarajevo in Bosnia Herzegovina, as recognition of the 1995 Srebrenica genocide, which is the primary focus of the foundation. The foundation hopes to conduct over 10,000 interviews with witnesses and survivors of the massacre in order to bring clarity to the horrific event. The interviews will be made available in an online library and eventually the subject of documentary. Students, scientists and non-government organizations will provide detailed insight regarding the event of the massacre in Srebrenica during the war in former Yugoslavia. The international criminal court for former Yugoslavia has placed 161 accused war criminals before the court, these crimes included: crime against the humanity and genocide, for the first time however rape was seen as a separate crime against humanity.

Berlin, February 13^th, 2012 – This year’s Cinema for Peace Gala taking place on February the 13th at the Gendarmenmarkt concert hall in Berlin, honours Burma as one of the night’s central themes. In association with Universal Film, the Cinema for Peace Foundation brought further recognition to Burma by showing esteemed French film director, Luc Besson’s, most recent work „The Lady“, representing the life Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The film as well as lead actress Michelle Yeoh will receive the “International Human Rights Film Award’’ at this year’s Gala. Amnesty International, Cinema for Peace, and the Human Rights Film Network present the award.

Over the past ten years, through the medium of film, Cinema for Peace has supported the struggle for human rights, social justice, humanitarianism, and environment protection; this year, Burma is of particular importance. In 2011, with a petition of over 12.000 signatures, Cinema for Peace demanded the release of activist and comedian Zarganar, after Aung San Suu Kyi’s urgent appeal to support human rights activists in Burma through the Cinema for Peace Gala. On October, 12th, 2011 Zarganar and 200 prisoners were released. In more recent development, Burma has seen additional release of captive prisoners, and the announcement of political elections, of which Aung Sann Suu Kyi will likely support. Since his release, Zarganar has organized his own film festival in Burma greatly intriguing the people of the nation with these serious issues.

Cinema for Peace also initiated the documentary film “The Prison Where I Live’’, with funding donated by Rex Bloomstein and the German comedian Michael Mittermeier. The film shows Rex Bloomstein’s interview with Zarganar under the military junta prior to his being held captive. Two years after the interview, Bloomstein and Mittermeier travelled to Burma to collect additional footage about Zarganar. Zarganar’s declaration as a voice for the Burmese, points out how his humour remains alive even under the rule of dictatorship.

Cinema for Peace will continue to take a stand for democracy, freedom of opinion, and human rights, through its fight for Burma.

Today the Cinema for Peace Foundation and ONE sent out an appeal to all Members of the German parliament urging them to invest funds that could be generated through a financial transaction tax in development aid. So far Germany has not honoured the obligations laid down by the MillenniumProject satisfactorily.

"The UN Millennium Project's analysis indicates that 0.7% of rich world GNI can provide enough resources to meet Millennium Development Goals, but developed countries must follow through on commitments and begin increasing ODA volumes today. If every developed country set and followed through on a timetable to reach 0.7% by 2015, the world could make dramatic progress in the fight against poverty and start on a path to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and end extreme poverty within a generation.

The UN Millennium Project's costing shows that a comprehensive package to meet the Millennium Development Goals would cost about $75-$150 US per person per year over the period, and that less than half of this would need to be financed by ODA.

To achieve the Goals, aid from industrialized countries should rise to 0.44 percent of the industrialized nations' GNP in 2006 and reach 0.54 percent of GNP by 2015- less than the global target 0.7 percent of GNP reaffirmed by world leaders at the Monterrey conference on financing development in 2002 ." (source: http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/press/07.htm)

Actor and activist Sean Penn personally committed to the reconstruction of Haiti pointing out that considerable efforts are still necessary as the people continue to suffer under the consequences of the earthquake. The country is still dependent on donations from abroad. "Many people are still homeless, there is not enough clean drinking water and the living conditions for children are beyond bad.” Foreign minister Laurent Lamothe appointed Penn “Ambassador of Large"- special envoy to Haiti, for his efforts in the Caribbean country.

 Another highlight of the evening was the auctioning of a guitar from U2 front-man Bono, which was purchased by Irish singer-songwriter Damien Rice, who also gave a stunning musical performance. A particularly exciting moment came when Oprah Winfrey delivered a video message declaring that the generous talk show host would double the donations that had been collected that evening, pledging 2.5 million dollars.

 Further messages followed from Haiti's President Martelly, former President Bill Clinton and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton whose Chief of Staff and Haiti manager Cheryl Mills was awarded along with mobile entrepreneur Brad Horwitz and Canadian band Arcade Fire (Grammy Award for best album of the year 2011), who donated a percentage of ticket sales for the people of Haiti. Singer Win Butler and his wife Régine Chassagne, whose parents had fled Haiti while under rule of dictator Doc Chevalier, concluded the evening with an impromptu appearance, which included the singer performing atop the dinner tables.

Hollywood made a strong appearance with a list of stars in attendance including Leonardo DiCaprio, Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Mel Gibson, Hilary Swank, Salma Hayek with Francois-Henri Pinault, Orlando Bloom, Melanie Griffith, Demi Moore, Kim Kardashian, Jeremy Irons, Luc Besson, Josh Brolin und James Gandolfini, just to name a few.  The event was hosted by comedian and actor Bill Maher, who brought the audience to tears more than once – sometimes in laughter, and sometimes out of sympathy.

In his opening speech, founder Jaka Bizilj announced the establishment of Cinema for Peace USA. The annual Cinema for Peace Gala celebrates its anniversary on February the 13th, 2012 in Berlin with Honorary Guest Angelina Jolie.