Peace One Day (PG)

Director: Jeremy Gilley
Starring: His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Mary Robinson
UK, 2003, 1 hour 20 minutes

Like all the best documentaries this has, at its heart one delightfully simple, and very good idea. In 1999, actor and documentary filmmaker Jeremy Gilley had an idea to create a starting point for peace: a global day of cease-fire when all the guns would be silenced. For the next two years, he traveled the world, building his case for this day of peace and filming every step along the way. This is the fascinating record of his journey that has you yo-yoing back and forth from deep cynicism to great optimism – is the man a visionary or a fool? He met many key decision-makers and slowly succeeded in enlisting the support of some of the world’s most influential figures – UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, His Holiness The Dalai Lama, Shimon Peres. Then fate intervened.

Screening with two locally made films that deal with personal reactions to peace and war. In Contempt of Conscience, Joe Jenkins, a member of The Peace Tax 7 asks – are we not all conscripted through our taxes? In 100,000 Red Squirrels, Ian Russell deals with the impact of the Iraq War on one man.

Directors Jeremy Gilley, Ian Russell & Joe Jenkins will be present to discuss their films.

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