As defined by the United Nations, the Culture of Peace consists of a set of values, attitudes and behaviours that reject violence and endeavour to prevent conflicts by addressing their root causes with a view to solving problems through dialogue and negotiation among individuals, groups and nations.

FESTIVAL START AND REGISTRATION UPDATE
- The Festival begins September 29th, 2008!
- Sign up and Registration is open until December 5th
- All films must be uploaded to our website by December 15th, 2008

FESTIVAL RULES AND GUIDELINES
- Please remember to treat other cultures, individuals and groups with respect.
- Will will not accept films that promote violence, hatred, intolerance, sexism or discrimination in any way!
- The use of "Copyrighted" material is not allowed without written consent.

The Easy and simple to follow "The How to create a short film" 2 page guide and storyboard templates are available for download in the materials and links section."

AWARDS will be given in the following areas:Best Film, Best Original Idea, Best Cinematography, and five (5) Best in Category awards.

FILM CATEGORIES to choose from:
Celebrating Culture (religion, language, customs, traditions, Native Peoples), Economics (Fair Trade, Free market, Global Debt, Sustainable Tourism), Environment (Global Warming, Sustainability, Water Resources, Environmental Justice, Energy),
Peacemakers (Conflict Resolution and Mediation, NGO´s, Craig Kielberger, Mahatma Gandhi, Bertha Von Suttner, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Wangari Matthai , Martin Luther King Jr., Hildegard Goss-Mayr, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Thich Nat Hahn, Richard Deats and others),
Social Justice (Civil Rights, Racism, Discrimination, Diversity, Equality, Gender, Xenophobia, Xenophilia).

Creating a short film is really easy for students and a great way for them to express themselves. They also will learn a great deal in the process and connect with other youth from many countries. Our main goal is to learn, to grow, to express, to connect, to foster dialogue and to build peace, friendship and respect between Jewish, Christian, Muslim and other young people interested in creating. "Cultures Of Peace".

We hope you will join us to create something powerful and memorable.Also wanted to take this moment to say thank you to Kimi Gilbert, Shaista Drabeck, Maria Neustätter and Kyle for all of their assistance with getting us to this point.

Why a “Culture of Peace” online film festival? Why in English? Who can participate in the Festival or is it open to everyone?

Our aim is to raise awareness and foster intercultural dialogue across a wide range of topics. The fact is that we are living in a more inter-connected world and young people have a voice and a desire to use new media and creative means in order to get involved and EXPRESS their feelings, thoughts and ideas concerning their futures. After decades of declining youth engagement in civic and social issues, technology is presenting a potential solution. Takingitglobal, Youtube, MySpace, Facebook, Ning and other sites have begun to connect youth to elections, global issues, and causes. Most importantly the voluntary sector around the world is using the Internet to inform and involve young people to much success and has changed the way that adults view the Internet and the power of inspired youth.

The festival has two age categories.

The first category is for all teenagers between the ages of thirteen (13) to eighteen (18) years old who want to creatively express themselves. Ideally we would like to have engaged teachers working with their high school students or youth involved in youth organizations or youth clubs, but the festival is open to any teenager who wants to send their message to the world.

The second category is for young people between the ages of eighteen (18) to thirty (30) years old. In this category we would prefer to have youth who are no longer in high school and who currently involved in a youth organization or club or those who have a desire to actively get involved in youth work.

You have more power then you realize and when you make the decision to do something and are supported you can gain confidence and change the world. One way to gain confidence is to read about other teens who decided to make a difference, like Craig Kielberger and his friends who started “Free The Children.” www.freethechildren.org Craig and 11 of his 12 year old friends decided to change the world in 1995, today “Free The Children” is the largest child labor organization in the world.

In 2001, IFOR initiated the UN Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World. These efforts culminated with an appeal by several Nobel Peace Prize laureates. With the Decade’s end soon approaching and 2009 being the UN Year for Reconciliation a couple of IFOR Austria volunteers decided to embark on creating a “cool” active citizenship-based new media project. Our goal is to creatively raise public awareness concerning conflict resolution and peace related issues between young people from various cultures. With English being a major language in international communication, the ability to communicate effectively is highly beneficial for young people interested in increasing their opportunities in their local and the global workforce.

• Have the chance to work on a global teamwork-based project in English.
• Refine their research and writing skills
• Gain increased foreign language confidence and competency.
• Connect with other students from all over the world.
• Have the chance to dialogue with genuine Peacemakers
• Gain new technological skills
• Be creative – and express their own ideas
• Take part in a newly developed unique programme
• Acquire knowledge on media and copyright laws and how to get around them by utilizing creative commons licensing, royalty-free photos, and music and open source software
• Get public recognition for their efforts
• Learn about the importance of non-governmental organizations.
• Enjoy taking part in the process.
•Be able to choosee from a pool of interesting issues and topic categories such as: Celebrating Culture (religion, language, customs, traditions, Native Peoples), Economics (Fair Trade, Free market, Global Debt Sustainable Tourism), Environment (Global Warming, Sustainability, Water Resources, Environmental Justice, Energy), Peacemakers (Conflict Resolution and Mediation, NGO´s, Craig Kielberger, Mahatma Gandhi, Bertha Von Suttner, Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Wangari Matthai , Martin Luther King Jr., Hildegard Goss-Mayr, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Thich Nat Hahn, Richard Deats and others), Social Justice (Civil Rights, Racism, Discrimination, Diversity, Equality, Gender, Xenophobia, Xenophilia).

Anyone can make a movie, as long as they have access to a camera and a computer. Young people from all over the world are making movies today. Many are motivated to tell a story concerning a topic that is meaningful to them and students have a unique perspective to offer to us all. By creating short films about important topics, students can spread awareness about the issues that are important to them and to the world. For educators, the Internet presents a viable and interesting opportunity to combine engaging social networking technologies with active citizenship and global education. Educators will also benefit because there is the opportunity to link up with other school subjects and topics discussed in History, Geography, Biology and more. We will also provide teachers and students with well-researched links to great sources of information which can help teachers and students who are working on important end of school projects.

“Media such as film provide engaging methods to introduce students to complex issues. Giving your students the opportunity to create this kind of media forces them to understand both content (issues) and technique (technology) at a deeper level. It also provides students with the opportunity to co-create their learning experiences and work in active collaboration with a public audience helping them to take ownership of their learning” -Jennifer Meagher Toronto Canada teacher of 30 years, who created the Globalize This online film festival.

The film festival would run from September until December 2008. All final film materials will be uploaded to our Youtube site by the deadline for submissions. The materials would be judged by the public with a jury panel who will review and tally the final results for the online awarding of the “Laurel" (Dove wrapped in a laurel wreath). We have received a lot of input from educators concerning this idea and have included their input in this overview. Gregory from IFOR Austria has been experimenting with Global Issues short film creation workshops in high schools in Austria with 13-16 year olds during the past month and a half to test the viability of such an idea. His students had only 5 lessons to choose a theme, brainstorm, storyboard and edit their films and they produced excellent results within five 50 minute lessons “They were highly motivated, enthusiastic and stated that they loved it”. The Culture of Peace students will have 8 weeks+ to work on their films

Generally the students will need some type of camera that can record video. Most every digital camera will record video however they can also use a good quality mobile phone to create their film. Although having access to a true video camera and a microphone is ideal it does not necessarily mean that you will produce a better video than someone with a regular digital camera. The planning, original idea, and creativity are the most important aspects to making a good film. The school would need to allow the students access to a computer that at least has Microsoft Windows Movie Maker installed and working. Windows Movie Maker is an easy and free application that came standard with Windows XP. Students are also free to of course use another video editing program if they have access to them. Each team of students would need an approximate minimum of 10 - 15 hours of computer room time to research and edit their films in addition to approximately 10 – 15 hours of pre-planning, storyboarding and film shooting time. Complete step by step details will be posted online or available via email

IFOR Austria is a very small branch of IFOR and youth projects such as this are facilitated entirely by dedicated, passionate and hard working volunteers. IFOR Austria’s volunteers will offer technical support in the form of easy to follow video tutorials and tips in English. We will provide a downloadable simple project outline and storyboard templates for the students to print out. We have provided well-researched links to information and materials connected to the film topics which teachers can also easily use. We are also working to receive sponsorship from various sponsors in order to hold an awards ceremony in February 2009 (proposed for February 5-9, 2009) and to bring the award winners to Vienna for the ceremony. Stay tuned and stay positive:-)

If you are interested in possibly participating in our project please email Gregory Kennedy-Salemi from I.F.O.R Austria office@versoehnungsbund.at (Internationaler Versoehnungsbund) or gregorykennedysalemi@ifor.at.

or you can simply join by clicking the become a member button.

Peace

Gregory Kennedy-Salemi -Project Coordinator

Brief Bio: I am a multi-cultured (mixed salad) very active born in the USA citizen. I am of African American, Native American (Black Foot & Itakapa, which is an extinct tribe), French and Spanish decent.

Studied Computer Science and Liberal Arts (International and Peace Studies) at Depaul University Chicago where I was a National Collegiate Scholar. Worked as a Unix and Linux Computer Systems Manager for MTI Technology. Worked for the American Friends Service Committe (AFSC) on their Africa Life Over Debt Campaign. Have worked for IFOR in Holland as a web developer and for IFOR Austria as a Youth Project Coordinating, English Global Education teacher, Volunteer, Web Developer and Systems Manager. I also conduct Global Issues English project weeks and truly love working with engaged teachers and students.

“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and import information and ideas through any media.”

Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).