PEACE WORKS! FILM SERIES 08
Presented as a community service for all who want to explore issues of social justice through film and informal discussions led by guest teachers.

DOWNLOAD THE LIST HERE: 09-peace-works-schedule

Time: 7 p.m.
596 East 900 North; Logan, Utah
Unitarian Universalist Church
Free – (Donations are welcome)

January 9 - Constantine’s Sword
Director: Oren Jacoby - 2007 - U - 96 m
Academy Award-nominated director Oren Jacoby helmed this documentary adaptation of former Catholic priest James Carroll’s nonfiction book of the same name. An anti-war activist, Carroll delves into Christianity’s history to learn how a faith founded on peace could come to be used as a tool for war-mongers. Jacoby follows Carroll as he explores the phenomenon from its origins in ancient times up through the modern-day U.S. military.  - Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

February 13 - FLOW: For Love of Water
Director: Irena Salina - 2008 - U - 93 m
With an unflinching focus on politics, pollution and human rights, this film ensures that the precarious relationship between humanity and water can no longer be ignored. - Sundance Review
Guest: Kayo Robertson experienced mercury poisoning from eating fish caught in local waters. His research & his experiences with Idaho and Utah public officials bring global questions close to home.

March 13 - A Soldier’s Peace
Directors: Kristen & Marshall Thompson - Mar 08 – U - 87m
A Soldier’s Peace, documenting Iraqi War veteran Marshall Thompson’s 500-mile walk through Utah, includes interviews with peace activists Martin Sheen, Cindy Sheehan, Daniel Ellsberg, M.C. Hammer, Rocky Anderson, and many more. The film explores the cost and effectiveness of peace activism, apathy regarding the war, and the role of women in the movement, among other things. You can check out the trailer at  www.soldierspeace.com - Cache Valley Peaceworks Review
Guests: Marshall Thompson, Iraq War veteran; Kristen Marshall, wife and co-director

April 10 - Paperclips
Director: Elliot Berlin, Joe Fab - 2004 - U - 87 m
Whitwell Middle School in rural Tennessee is the setting for this documentary about an extraordinary experiment in Holocaust education. Struggling to grasp the concept of six-million Holocaust victims, the students decide to collect six-million paper clips to better understand the extent of this crime against humanity. The film details how the students met Holocaust survivors from around the world and how the experience transformed them and their community.  - Yahoo Movie Guide
Guest: Mike Rigby teaches history and government at Sky View High School. Mike is originally from Panama Canal Zone; he has 
taught in Utah, Ohio, South Korea, and Thailand.

May 8 -  Mother Teresa
Director: Fabrizio Costa  - 2003 - U - 110 m
This movie is set in 1940s India, after the British influence had ended and at a time when civil war broke out between Hindus and Muslims. The most intense area was in Calcutta and in the midst of all this misery was one nun who was dedicated to helping the poor, Mother Teresa. The film continues to show her struggles and her success in founding her own missionary order.
Guest: James Miller, Deacon of St Thomas Acquinas

June 12 - The Northwestern Shoshone
A  documentary, produced by the American Indian Institute, University of Oklahoma, looks at the contemporary history of the Northwestern Shoshone Tribe, headquartered in Brigham City, Utah.
Guest:Patty Timbimboo Madsen, Cultural and Natural Resources Director of the Northwestern Shoshone.

July 10 - Fuel
Director:  Joshua Tickell - 2008 - U - 112 m
Most Americans know we’ve got a problem: an addiction to oil that taxes the environment, entangles us in costly foreign policies, and threatens the nation’s long-term stability. But few are informed or empowered enough to do much about it. Enter Josh Tickell, an expert young activist who, driven by his own emotionally charged motives, shuttles us on a revelatory, whirlwind journey to unravel this addiction.  - © Sundance Film Festival
Guest: Jack Greene, founder of Utah Bioneers, science teacher and environmental activist.

August 14 – For The Bible Tells Me So
For the Bible Tells Me So is a compassionate and insightful documentary about the contemporary face of an old conflict between Christian fundamentalists and gay and lesbian people. The film looks deep into the hearts of several families–a few of them quite famous–that have struggled with making sense of having a homosexual son or daughter in the fold  - Amazon.com review
Guest: Maure Smith, Program Coordinator of USU GLBTA (Gay Lesbian Bisexual Trans-Sexual Alliance)

September 11 - The Day After Peace
Director: Jeremy Gilley - 2008 - U - 82 m
The Day After Peace charts the remarkable 10-year journey of award-winning filmmaker Jeremy Gilley to establish an annual Peace Day on 21 September.   But even after the member states of the UN unanimously adopt Peace Day, the struggle isn’t over. As the years pass, there’s not a single ceasefire. The voices of the cynics are growing louder – and now Gilley’s non-profit organization, Peace One Day, is in dire financial straits. But he can’t let it fail. The film’s breathtaking conclusion finds Gilley joined by Jude Law in Afghanistan, attempting to spearhead a massive vaccination against polio on Peace Day. Will peace prevail?
Guest: Brenda Chung.  Since becoming a member of the Logan Friends Meeting (Quakers) in the early 1990s, Brenda has been active with various Quaker organizations including the national board of the American Friends Service Committee

October 9 - Reserved to Fight
In May 2003, Fox Company of Marine Reserve Unit 2/23 returned home from front-line combat in Iraq.  Reserved To Fight follows four Marines of Fox Company for four years through their postwar minefield of social and psychological reintegration into civilian life.  - PBS Review
Guests: Aaron Davis (who served in the SLC Marine Reserve Unit that the documentary focuses on) and Kent Young, Salt Lake City, a Vietnam War veteran who will add generational perspective to the post-war challenges of PTSD.

November 13 - Taxi to the Dark Side
Director: Alex Gibney  - 2007 - R - 106 m
A stunning inquiry into the suspicious death of an Afghani taxi driver at Bagram air base in 2002, the film is a fastidiously assembled, uncommonly well-researched examination of how an innocent civilian was apprehended, imprisoned, tortured, and ultimately murdered by the greatest democracy on earth. Intermingling documents and records of the incident with candid testimony from eyewitnesses and participants, the film uncovers an inescapable link between the tragic incidents that unfolded in Bagram and the policies made at the very highest level of the United States government in Washington, D.C. -  THINKFilm review.
Guest: Dr. Veronica Ward, Associate Professor in Political Science

December 11 - Beyond Our Differences
Director:  Peter Bisanz  - 2008 - U - 74 m
Beyond Our Differences calls upon key religious leaders, politicians, and luminaries in their fields to tackle the toughest and most complex issues in the modern age, and it asks what it is that inspires them to affect positive change. “Beyond Our Differences” shares their personal experiences and each person provides a unique perspective on how to support and strengthen compassionate and non-violent activism when resolving difficult disputes.
- Entropy Films
Guest: Herm Olsen, Logan City Council member and has served in various LDS leadership positions

January 8, 2010 - War Dance
Director: Andrea Nix & Sean Fine - 2006 - R - 107 m
Set in war-ravaged Northern Uganda, the award-winning War Dance will touch your heart with a real-life story about a group of children whose love of music brings joy, excitement and hope back into their poverty-stricken lives. Three children who have suffered horrific brutalities momentarily forget their struggles as they participate in music, song and dance at their school. Invited to compete in a prestigious music festival in their nation’s capitol, their historic journey is a stirring tale about the power of the human spirit to triumph against tremendous odds. - Amazon.com review
Guests: Ernie and Charlotte Abouo, brought their family to the United States just before civil war broke out in their country (Ivory Coast).

Peace Works! Film Series is co-sponsored by the following organizations:

Cache Valley Peace Works
Cache Valley Unitarian Universalist Fellowship
Friends of Cache Valley (Quakers)
Mormons for Equality and Social Justice
Cache Valley Chapter Utah Bioneers
Isabel Katana Center for Social and Environmental Justice