films4peace

Hundreds of cultural institutions worldwide, from Australia to Zimbabwe, are supporting films4peace to celebrate World Peace Day—an international UN day of ceasefire, and a day for individuals, organizations and countries to demonstrate acts of peace.

films4peace, an annual short film commission by PUMA.Peace, curated by Mark Coetzee, features 21 of today’s most innovative contemporary artists visually interpreting the subject of peace. These art films will be released at cultural venues globally and online on World Peace Day on 21 September 2012. Launched through the dedicated films4peace.com website, the initiative encourages the films to be screened and shared across the world, through social networking websites, blogs and media channels.

“Artists confront us with the challenges of our time,” said Mark Coetzee, films4peace curator. “films4peace are both disturbing and inspiring, responsive to the reality of our time but they also ask us to be responsible for our actions. PUMA.Peace wishes to contribute to making the world a better place. A world that is safer, more peaceful and more creative. We are honoured that so many amazing and high profile museums, galleries and online partners have joined us in this important initiative.”

Curator Mark Coetzee has invited 21 artists to create 17 works:
Janet Biggs (USA), Ergin Çavu!o"lu (Bulgaria), Magali Charrier (France), Gregory Crewdson and Costanza Theodoli-Braschi (USA and UK), Yang Fudong (China), Tom Gran and Kayleigh Gibbons (UK), Max Hattler (Germany), Isaac Julien (UK), Peterson Kamwathi (Kenya), Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy (Ireland), Nandipha Mntambo (Swaziland), Michael Nyman (UK,) Noriko Okaku (Japan), Jacco Olivier (Netherlands), Bill Porter (UK), Levi van Veluw (Netherlands), Hank Willis Thomas and Terence Nance (USA).

The films will be screened at the Design Museum in London, as well as West Midlands Human Rights Film Festival in Birmingham and other cultural venues worldwide. Online screenings include Blink Video Art, Creative Art Network, Dailymotion, MiShorts, MTV Voices, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Shooting People, Streaming Museum, Vimeo and YouTube.

In keeping with the spirit of the commission, these films will be gifted to the world, within public domain and free from screening fees, as tools for peace. By releasing these short films as broadly as possible, on multiple live and virtual platforms, the aim is to effect positive social change and broaden the discussions around peace globally.