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“World Peace Initiative Hamptons” Inaugural Film Festival

theater + film :: World Peace :: The Hamptons


Artisan Festival International’s “World Peace Initiative Hamptons,” is set to debut November 1st – 3rd this Fall. The initiative will showcase artists from around the globe from it’s World Cinema Festival, a fine arts exhibition of master artists such as Kendall Shaw, who will receive the “Life Time Achievement Award in Fine Art.” Additionally, mid-career and emerging artists, will exhibit select collections in an effort to promote peace and cultural diversity.


Over 25 films will exhibit for the community and host international guests which include environmental engineers, diplomats for peace, filmmakers, fine artists, and fashion designers. The Fashion designer segments will be headed up by celebrity fashion icon Christian Ruart. Throughout the week-end, guests will enjoy performances from around the globe in order to promote multi-culture and diversity through the arts.


“Looking outside one’s own culture and being open to accept and learn about others is our primary focal point. From the beginning of civilization, man-kind has utilized the arts as a freedom of expression and preservation. We can utilize the arts to continue legacies of peace and enlightenment. We are an initiative, not just a “film festival” or a “fine arts festival.” We are a combination of ideals that bring people together to realize and appreciate the need for peace is greater than one’s self, and certainly takes working together side by side, hand in hand with other cultural partners to see results on a moment to moment basis. The platform of promoting and expressing peace through select art forms provides a unique and entertaining platform that allows our guests the opportunity to form their own opinions based on the information being presented. We believe this approach allows others to walk away feeling fulfilled,” stated Festival Founder and Executive Director, Multi-Media Talent Princess Angelique Monét. The Cinema division of the World Peace Initiative is supported in part by Suffolk County Office of Film and Cultural Affairs Competitive grant.

Highlighted Films


World Peace Historical Highlight
Heather E. Connell’s “Forget Us Not
Panel Discussion with Heather E. Connell

During WWII Hitler embarked on a systematic campaign to annihilate the Jewish population. But his plans to create an Aryan Nation did not end with the unprecedented persecution of the Jews. From 1933 to 1945, millions of individuals were arrested, shipped to labor and death camps and classified for their various offenses using a color coded system of triangles and other symbols. An estimated 11 million lost their lives. Thousands more survived and bear the scars emotionally and physically of a life brutally lived.

Robert Wagemann, born with a physical disability, finds himself targeted twice. Nearly euthanized for being ‘imperfect’, he is snuck out of the hospital by his mother and spends the war hiding with his parents who have arrest warrants out against them for being Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Ceija Stojka, a Roma girl, sees her father arrested and dragged off to Dachau, where he later dies. Shortly after, she is rounded up with the rest of her family and shipped to Auschwitz.

Vera Young, a Polish Catholic teen is separated from the rest of her family and sent to a concentration camp, where she survives each brutal day by sewing uniforms for her Nazi captors before being sent on a 900 mile death march.

Natalia Orloff, a Ukraine child, is marched with her family to the Polish border before being put on a train and sent to a work camp where sickness and starvation dominates her life and memories.

Forget Us Not is a moving, in depth look at the persecution and subsequent death of the 5 million non Jewish victims of the WWII Holocaust and the lives of those who survived.

Through stories of survivors and historical footage, these lesser known voices are brought to life. From the Roma and Sinti people who were also targeted for complete annihilation to the thousands of Catholic Priests who were killed for speaking out, Forget Us Not strives to educate and give tribute to those who were killed for their religion, ethnicity, political views, sexual orientation and physical handicaps.


Environmental Program and Film “Look Up,”
Followed by Round table discussion with Telly award winner Filmmaker
and SKYDERALERT Founder George Barnes, and Environmental experts

Telly Award winning Director makes a terrifying discovery while testing time lapse camera equipment, and then playing the footage backwards. Look Up! is a new genre of documentary with an integrated Mobile App component – The film addresses the world’s most dangerous environmental program ever – GeoEngineering, SRM (Solar Radiation Management) and Stratospheric Aerosol Spray Programs: The science of using aircraft to spray the sky with toxic metals and particles, with the intention of blocking the sun and forcing climate change while creating unknown consequences. GeoEngineering causes Climate change-by definition. As governments continue to emphasize CLIMATE CHANGE, the experimentation of GeoEngineering, SRM, and Stratospheric Aerosol Spray programs continue over our heads. The film also looks at the relationship of the key GeoEngineering ingredient, as listed on their US patent- also discussed in the film is Aluminum and its relationship to the explosion of uncontrolled Aluminum related diseases such as Autism and Alzheimer’s especially with early onset. As the disease rate increases, it also parallels all evidence of the experimentation ramp-up of the SRM program.

African American Documentary Program


Lesson of Hayti narrated by Dougie Doug
Followed by Round Table Discussion with Filmmaker Byron Hunter, Actor – Comedian Dougie Doug

A 1- hour documentary that examines the unique history of Black self-sufficiency and political power in the United States from it’s origins just following President Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 up to the second inauguration of America’s first Black President 150 years later, and how that power has eroded since the Civil Rights era, leaving Black America in a current state of economic turmoil.

As told by prominent historians, scholars, former Hayti residents, and a survivor of the Tulsa Riots of 1921, “The Lessons of Hayti,” details a history of Black success in America. including the creation of 100 independent Black communities, nearly 100 Black Colleges and Universities, and wielding massive political power in the former Confederate States, all within 50 years of the end of slavery.

” The Lessons of Hayti” also examines the demise of these historic Black Communities over the last 100 years due to both racial violence and political backstabbing triggered by pivotal historic events including the landmark case “Plessy vs. Ferguson” in the 1898, the end of World War 1 in 1918, and the civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 60’s.

Celebration of National American Indian Heritage Month


Chasing Shakespeare
Starring Danny Glover and Graham Greene,
with dance performances by InterTribal Dancers at the event

In its purest form, Chasing Shakespeare is a love story for all time. Told in flashback from his wife’s deathbed, William Ward’s story traces his first meeting of the beautiful Venus who is from the Lightning Clan, a mystical Native American family living in Arkansas. We see William and Venus meet and fall in love, challenging her deceased father’s vision for her true love, a meeting during a performance of The Tempest that he has envisioned in New York. After William’s father is stricken ill, William cannot follow her to Broadway so Venus strikes out on her own, believing that she will find true love on a magical night in the city. But soon after she arrives, that she is ill and that her life could be in danger. William’s father passes and William now travels to New York to find his Venus. A wild storm, an impromptu play on a city building and an eventual reunion all bring them together. All of this in memory as William, now without his wife, believes he is going insane, seeing visions of someone in his home. His son also believes his father is mentally ill but they both are witness to a miracle on earth and the heart pounding conclusion of this magical story.

Spotlight on the Middle East


Egypt Through The Glass Shop
Followed by Filmmakers Next Anyextee and Jay Andreozzi

DJ Next, the visionary CEO behind pioneering Hip Hop label Amalgam Digital, branches into film-making under the moniker Anyextee. He travels to Cairo, Egypt and delivers a powerful first-hand account of the Egyptian Revolution–an event which provided crucial inspiration to the Occupy movement begun in New York. The film is experienced through the journey of a young entrepreneur and talented glass blower who set up a shop and, using new techniques, provide an update to the original method of glass blowing. Before long, they find themselves trapped in the country during the civil unrest that sparked the Arab Spring. After his business partner is hit in the head with a rock, the glass blower’s shop falls into disarray and he finds himself displaced from the enterprise. A year later, he returns with Next to reclaim his life’s work. A compelling story of challenge, change, and triumph, “Egypt Through The Glass Shop” not only tells the story of the revolution of a country in turmoil, but also of the revolution of an entire cultural art form.

Healing Beyond The Years of September 11th


Goodmen
Short Film

Good Men is a 12 minute short film starring Ed Asner and Mark Rydell as two elderly Jewish men who are long time friends and colleagues. On an afternoon before an Oscar party, Asner and Rydell get into a serious argument about The Holocaust, Conspiracy Allegations and The 9/11 attacks on The World Trade Center. Sean Tracey Associates is co-producing the film with writer/director Brian Conners.


16 Acres
Documentary Feature Film

New York Post “Riveting and Emotional,” The dramatic inside story of the monumental collision of interests at Ground Zero in the decade after 9/11. The rebuilding of the World Trade Center is the most architecturally, politically and emotionally complex urban renewal project in American history. From the beginning, the rebuilding effort has been fraught with controversy, drama, delays and politics. To date, the struggle has encompassed ten years, nineteen government agencies, a dozen projects, and over $20 billion and counting.

Aside from the staggering engineering challenges of the site itself, a major complicating factor is the sheer number of interested parties. Politicians, developers, architects, insurance companies, local residents, and relatives of 9/11 victims all profess a claim to the site and are often in conflict with one another. According to The New York Times, “Where some saw lucrative real estate, others saw a graveyard. Where some saw Rockefeller Center or Lincoln Center or Grand Central Terminal, others saw Gettysburg.”

But what was once ground zero is now a frenzied construction site. Three thousand workers are building four of the tallest skyscrapers in America, an iconic – and complicated – train station, a performing arts center and a sacred memorial and museum. What will emerge in downtown Manhattan over the next few years will redefine the city – and the country – for generations.

16 ACRES is the story of how and why this historic project got built. At the heart of the story is the dramatic tension between noblest intentions, the desire of everyone involved to “get it right,” and the politics, hubris, ego and ideology that is the bedrock of New York City. What does it say about us as New Yorkers, as Americans?

As with all great urban projects, from the Pyramids to Rome’s Coliseum to Rockefeller Center, a small group of powerful people will dictate the outcome. With inside access to the project and these key players, 16 ACRES will tell the story behind the headlines. Who are these men and women? What motivates them? How will their personalities shape the project? And, ultimately, will it succeed?

Latin Diaspora


Crisålida
Directed by Esther de Rothschild, Alejandro Emmanuel Alonso
Estrella, Rosanna Mendez Gonzalez, Laura Contal

Crisalida was made by four directors with six passports- from Cuba, Brazil, France, Spain, the U.S. and the Dominican Republic. Crisalida, which means ‘cocoon of an incubating butterfly,’ is the name of an 86-year-old woman who watches the world through her bedroom window. Over the course of a Sunday in her small Cuban town, her past and present converge in ironic, unsettling ways.

Spotlight on Africa, South Africa and Apartheid


Elegy for A Revolution by Paul Van Zyl

Based on a true South African story (of Paul Van Zyl) about the African Resistance Movement (ARM) in which a group of young white South Africans, despairing of peaceful opposition to a government prepared to use all means to retain it’s grip on power, embark on a program of sabotage that would not entail the loss of human life. Amateurish in their organization they are soon tracked down by the police and put on trial for acts of terrorism. The story uses the underground political action in South Africa during the ’60’s – ’80’s.

During Apartheid in South Africa, DONALD and JEREMY are best friends. Donald is a journalist, but struggles with his identity because the media is controlled by the government and Donald must write what he is told. However, he is quickly tiring of this and feels he must be true to himself. Unfortunately, he’s not quite sure what that means yet. His friend and roommate, Jeremy, is a member of a revolutionary group of white South African students at the University of Cape Town. Together they decide to join the African National Congress (ANC) to help change apartheid’s unfair laws and create effective change in South Africa, but on the grounds that they will not be involved in any violence and that no one is harmed. HUNTER, an ex-mercenary from Rhodesia, becomes their instructor in explosives. As the group executes their plans of sabotage, SERSANT, head of the Security Branch, is on their trail. During an attempt to blow up a railway pylon, a black NIGHT WATCHMAN is killed. Although Hunter sees the man’s death as justifiable, Donald is extremely upset and questions his involvement. Due to their remorse, both Donald and Jeremy attend the funeral where they are noticed by Sersant Van Der Post. They are both arrested and tortured. Jeremy finally caves in and becomes a state witness against Donald as part of the deal for his release. Because of this testimony, Donald is jailed and Jeremy goes free. Jeremy then devises a new plan. He’ll place an explosive concealed in a bag in the charge office when he goes in for his weekly check-ins, as long as someone calls from an outside pay phone to warn everyone to evacuate the building. In spite of his betrayal, Donald concedes to help and provide information as to the whereabouts of a hidden cache of explosives. But the plan goes horribly wrong, killing three more people. Under threat of the death penalty, Donald is now forced to double-cross Jeremy and becomes a state witness against him to save himself. His testimony results in Jeremy’s death. Donald is forced into exile. The question at the end of it all is — who is the real traitor?


NATSANAT (Ethiopia)
by Cheryl Halpem

‘Natsanat’ (freedom) documents the the heroic stories of young female freedom fighters in Ethiopia during the 20th century. These women left their families and homes to join the struggle to bring freedom, peace and democracy to their country. They serve as role models for leadership and courage for women.

About World Peace Hamptons Initiative Film Festival

ALL FILM SCREENINGS TAKE PLACE AT
158 Main Street – Guild Hall (John Drew Theatre)

Tickets can be purchased online or on-site at the Guild Hall box office.

Screening Blocks: $15
Day Pass: $35
Children Under 15: $10 Screening Blocks
Senior Citizens: $12 Screening Blocks
Day Pass for Senior Citizens: $30

Artisan Festival World Peace Initiative is a New York State fiscally sponsored 501c3 organization, and in order to promote cultural diversity and peace, Day Passes have been reduced to allow family and community involvement. For a complete line up of films please visit afiworldpeaceinitiative.org


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October 25th, 2013 Posted by | theater & film | no comments