View 'Peace on Earth' this Week in Chicago

March 7 - 10 marks the fifth time 'Peace on Earth' Film Festival has brought Chicagoans dozens of incredible films for free to 'celebrate and encourage the work of independent filmmakers from around the globe on the themes of peace, nonviolence, social justice and an eco-balanced world.' Started in 2008 by Nick Angotti, Clayton Monical, and Millisa Pacelli, POEFF allows us a glimpse of the world, it's troubles and it's successes, as seen and lived by it's people.

POEFF opens tonight, Thursday, March 7th, at the Chicago Cultural Center's Claudia Cassidy Theater, 6pm. The event is free and includes panel discussions with Q&A with directors and other people involved in the films. There are feature and short documentaries, student films, and narratives.

Twenty-four films have been chosen this year. The Festival Schedule is full of the most amazing stories of the world. I can't do justice to these films by trying to describe them. Click HERE to view the short descriptions and clips. I'm sure you will find several you'll feel you need to see.

Here are some of the films that caught my interest:

Raising Resistance: (Germany/Switzerland, 85 min) - showing Saturday
Directed by Bettina Borgfeld & David Bernet

Raising Resistance is a film about the resistance against the more aggressively expanding production of genetic soy in South America. Eighty percent of the soy production is used as animal food in order to satisfy the excessive meat consumption in the rich countries. For the small farmers in Paraguay this means: displacement from their land; loss of basic food supply; and the fight for survival.

The Second Cooler: (USA, 87 min) - Showing Friday
Directed by Ellin Jimmerson

The Second Cooler is a migrant justice documentary for English and Spanish speaking audiences which unravels why twelve million Latin American migrants are in the U. S. illegally and brings major implications into focus. The second cooler is literally a large cooler that stores the bodies of people that didn't make the border crossing alive.


Graceland Girls: (USA, 28 min) - Showing Thursday
Directed by Jordan Salvatoriello

Educating its adolescent girls has proven to be the cornerstone of Kenyan development, yet so many are denied equal access to education, social and economic equality and respect. The half hour documentary provides an intimate look at how the high school students at Graceland Girls School have, so far, defied the odds. Using a combination of video and digital photographs – taken by both the subjects and the filmmaker – the girls express the beauty and pressures of empowered Kenyan girlhood and share their personal struggles to find hope for a better future.


Not Today: (India/USA, 105 min) - Showing Sunday
Directed by Jon Van Dyke

Roaming from California to India, Not Today weaves a moving, inspiring story of a young man’s (Hollywood Heights’ Cody Longo) journey from spoiled Orange County “adult-olescent” to a true believer in the fight against human trafficking, risking his life to help the helpless. Not Today is a powerful reminder that change is possible if we're willing to open our eyes ... today. With Walid Amini, Shari Rigby and John Schneider (The Dukes of Hazzard).

These are just a sampling of the quality of films and stories being told at the POEFF over the next few days. From destroying land and communities for big agribusiness, to struggling for respect and equality, to the incredible poverty that leads parents to unknowingly sell their children into the sex trade, to the incredible risky temptation to cross the border that often leads in death...find out what really motivates these people, communities, businesses, and cultures.

Some stories share success and a happy endings, while the success of other stories is just being heard.

Come see for yourself.




Alexandra Gnoske is a nature lover, writer, and environmental expert.