FLTfilms – for the love of tomorrow,
24 Greencoat Place, London SW1P 1RD, UK
www.fltfilms.org.ukwww.anafricananswer.org
PRESS RELEASE
PRESS RELEASEMultimedia training package based on An African Answer to be launched in New York, Washington DC, Ottawa and Montreal
LAUNCH SCHEDULE
The USA launch of An African Answer - and the multimedia package for conflict resolution that goes with it - will take place 25-31 October. The film’s Nigerian protagonists Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye, British film director Dr Alan Channer and Kenyan production consultant Joseph Karanja will attend a series of events and screenings in New York and Washington DC.
Pre-premiere screenings will take place on Tuesday 25 October at United Nations Headquarters (hosted by the Inter-Agency Framework for Coordination on Preventive Action) and then at New York University, in collaboration with the Tanenbaum Center for Inter-religious Understanding (and NYU Wagner’s IPSA and WSAFA student groups).
The official launch will be held at the United States Institute of Peace, Washington DC at 10.00am on Wednesday 26 October. The event will be chaired by Dr David Smock, Senior Vice President of the Institute’s Center for Mediation and Conflict Resolution. Maureen Fiedler, host of the public radio show Interfaith Voices, will moderate the event, which is open to the public The Office of International Religious Freedom, State Department is co-sponsoring the launch. Daniel Baer, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, will speak.
http://www.usip.org/events/interfaith-peacemaking-in-nigeria-and-kenya-l...
The School of International Service, American University, will host a screening at 4pm on Thursday 27th.
On Friday 28 October at 7pm the film will screen at Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, Harrisonburg, Virginia.
Events are planned on Capitol Hill.
The launch schedule in the United States is being organized jointly by the United States Institute of Peace and Initiatives of Change.
The Canadian launch, hosted by Initiatives of Change, will take place from 1-3 November. A screening and panel discussion will be held at St Paul University Auditorium, Ottawa at 7pm on 1 November and on 2 November, the world premiere of the French version of the film will be held in Montreal – venue to be announced.
FILM BACKGROUND
An African Answer (38 minutes) depicts a dramatic bid by Pastor Wuye and Imam Ashafa - former militia leaders turned peace-makers from Nigeria - to bring reconciliation in Kenya’s Rift Valley Province, following communal killings. It is filmed in the district of Kenya worst hit by the post-election violence of early 2008, when around 1000 people were killed and tens of thousands were displaced from their homes and farms.
Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations, describes it as ‘A very important film. We need to learn, indeed, from Imam Ashafa and Pastor James’ says Annan, ‘and multiply in a thousand places their experiences of healing and reconciliation.'
An African Answer comes with Bonus Features: Two years later (8 minutes), which tracks the impact of An African Answer in Kenya two years after the film was shot and Inside the Process (19 minutes), a studio conversation with Imam Ashafa, Pastor James, American academic Dr Margaret Smith and Palestinian film-maker Dr Imad Karam.
An African Answer is produced by For the Love of Tomorrow Films (FLTfilms), the film-making division of UK charity Initiatives of Change. It follows an earlier, award-winning film* about the two men, The Imam and the Pastor, shot in Nigeria. This depicted the astonishing reconciliation between the former enemies, showing that it is possible for perpetrators of inter-religious violence to become instigators of peace.
An illustrated Resource Guide for Grass-roots Practitioners authored by Imam Ashafa and Pastor James and edited by Alan Channer accompanies the films. Also available is a detailed Manual on using the films to facilitate dialogue and peace-building by Dr David Steele.
Production of both An African Answer and The Imam and the Pastor was supported by the United States Institute of Peace.
* First Prize, Short Documentary Section, Africa World Documentary Film Festival, St Louis, USA & Lagos, Nigeria; Official Selection, Cinema Verité, Paris & Geneva; Official Selection, International Festival of Muslim Cinema, Kazan, Russia.
PRODUCTION TEAM:
Narrator -- Kathleen Openda-Mvati
Camera – Robinson Malemo & Tony Biwott
Producer – Imad Karam
Director – Alan Channer
FLTfilms – London, UK
An African Answer (with Bonus Features) and The Imam & the Pastor + Resource Guide
are available on DVD.
For further information, see: www.anafricananswer.org
STORY BEHIND THE FILM
‘After the global impact of The Imam and the Pastor, we wanted to make a film that depicts the peace-building methodology of Pastor Wuye and Imam Ashafa,’ says director Dr Alan Channer. ‘We were ready to follow them to any conflict in the world where they were invited to mediate. Then the post-election violence erupted in Kenya. We followed them to Kenya, they were invited back there a second time, and we followed them again. We found ourselves witness to Africans from one country working to help those in another, in a highly effective way.’
An African Answer had its Kenyan premiere in Nairobi in May 2010, in the same venue where Kofi Annan brokered the National Peace Accord. Chief Guest Francis Kimemia, Permanent Secretary for Internal Security, said ‘There are no permanent angels or permanent devils in any community. Peace needs to be deepened.This film is a resource of best practice…. It reflects the indomitable spirit of the Kenyan people.’
Looking back on the process, Imam Ashafa says: ‘This work is about helping people take charge of their own destiny. Solutions can come from the grass-roots. We touched a spirit of reconciliation that was there in the Kenyan people.’
PASTOR JAMES WUYE & IMAM MUHAMMAD ASHAFA
Imam Ashafa and Pastor Wuye are the recipients of several awards for peace-making, including the Peace Activist Award of the Tanenbaum Center of Interreligious Understanding, New York; a Heroes of Peace Award from Burundi; the Search for Common Ground on Interfaith Cooperation Award, Washington DC; the Bremen Peace Award from the Threshold Foundation on interreligious understanding, Germany, the ADYAN award, Lebanon, Honorary Doctorate degrees from Glasgow University, UK, and Kolkata, India and the inaugural Fondation Chirac award for Conflict Prevention, presented to them by former President Jacques Chirac of France.
FLTfilms – for the love of tomorrow
Over a period of almost 50 years, FLTfilms has established itself as a world-class documentary film unit specialising in films which foster reconciliation and peace-building. Its name derives from a documentary film on Franco-German reconciliation, For the Love of Tomorrow. Previous films have screened at the New York Museum of Modern Art, the Kennedy Center and the Palace of Westminster in London, amongst many other venues across the world. FLTfilms is an autonomous division of Initiatives of Change in the United Kingdom, co-directed by Dr Alan Channer and Dr Imad Karam. http://www.fltfilms.org.uk/
INITIATIVES OF CHANGE
A global network of people from many cultures and nationalities who are committed to building trust across the world’s divides, starting with change in their own lives. IofC runs programs for social and economic justice which encourage participants to find their own path to building trust in their community and country. http://www.us.iofc.org/
UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE An independent, nonpartisan, national institution established and funded by Congress. Its goals are to help prevent and resolve violent international conflicts, promote post-conflict stability and development and increase conflict management capacity, tools, and intellectual capital worldwide. The Institute does this by empowering others with knowledge, skills, and resources, as well as by directly engaging in peacebuilding efforts around the globe. www.usip.org
ENQUIRIES & FURTHER INFORMATION – contact Charles Aquilina