The Third Annual New York Peace Film Festival (NYPFF) starts with a kickoff party Friday, March 26 at 7pm at the Japanese American Association, 15 West 44th Street, 11th floor, followed by two days of screenings at The New Seminary for Interfaith Studies, 2672 Broadway at 102nd Street.  The opening gala includes a screening of a 30 minute cutting of Twice Bombed, Twice Survived Part II, a film focusing on Tsutomu Yamaguchi, one of the few people to actually experience and survive both the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings.  A number of the film makers whose works will be screened in the festival will be present at the kickoff. The public is invited, free of charge, but an RSVP for attending the party is requested and should be sent to nypeacefilmfestival@gmail.com or by calling 917-692-2210.

The following two-day festival will screen a total of 9 films, including documentary shorts, full-length documentaries, a feature film, and the 1930 anti-war classic, All Quiet On The Western Front.  The first two films on Saturday are youth-oriented: Unlimited, discussing the viability of solar energy by Daniel Calif-Glick, and The A-bomb: What Happened to Hiroshima? produced by RCC Broadcasting. The other films featured in the festival tackle the issues of traditional societies struggling against modern influence in the Middle East, the nuclear contamination of areas in Utah, returning vets organizing to get the truth out to the American public, and the American internment of Japanese Americans during WWII.  Ticket prices for the Saturday and Sunday festival are $10 for the day’s screenings.  Tickets can be purchased through www.SmartTix.com in advance (212-868-4444) or at the door.  For more information visit the NYPFF website at www.nypeacefilmfest.com.

The complete festival schedule is:

Saturday, March 27:

Unlimited loosely follows a 6th grade class as it explores and experiments with alternatives to fossil fuels.   The film is made for classroom use and comes with a study guide for teachers who want to integrate the film into the curriculum.  March 27, 2:30pm, followed by a Q & A session with the filmmaker.

The A-bomb: What Happened To Hiroshima? is a very factual examination of what actually took place on August 6, 1945 over Hiroshima and its aftermath based on newly discovered film footage. Its target audience is the person unfamiliar with the A-bombing, and its 45 minute time frame would work perfectly in a High School classroom setting.  March 27, 3:30pm.

Toyo’s Camera: Japanese American History During WWII.  While cameras were prohibited in internment camps, there was one photographer who smuggled in a lens and built a camera so he could capture life behind the barbed wire.  That photographer was Toyo Miyatake, protégé and friend of both Ansel Adams and Edward Weston.  Toyo’s photographs of internment camp life portrays the compelling stories of Japanese Americans during WWII and also illuminates the resistance of even those running the camps.  March 27, 4:30pm.

Downwinders: The People of Parowan.  From 1951 to 1962, the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission conducted a series of atom-bomb tests at the Yucca Flats, Nevada Test Site.  While assuring American citizens these tests posed no harm, the bombs were detonated only when the winds were blowing to the northeast, where the civilian population was thinnest.  Over 100 atmospheric bombs were detonated during this time—with the majority of the fallout landing on communities in southern Utah, including the town of Parowan.  March 27, 6:45pm.

All Quiet on the Western Front is a realistic and harrowing account of warfare during WWI.  Based on the novel of the same name by Erich Maria Remarque, a German veteran of the war, it follows a company of fresh recruits from their initial euphoric patriotism through their realization of the horror and uselessness of war.  The majority of them do not survive.  March 27, 7:30pm.

DOTOKU - The Roots of Blessing examines the push and pull of a father/son relationship.  However, this father is a Buddhist priest who survived the Hiroshima atomic bombing while losing his entire family and this son became a filmmaker in defiance of his father’s wishes.  Honoring his father’s struggle, much of the film illuminates life in Hiroshima before the bombing and how the survivors coped with the tragedy.  March 28, 1:30pm, followed by a Q & A session with the filmmaker. 

Arlington West presents "temporary cemeteries" in the sand, erected every Sunday by the Veterans For Peace in Santa Barbara, Santa Monica, Oceanside, and Huntington Beach.  Flag-draped coffins and over 4,000 wooden crosses, affectionately placed, invites the public to honor the unacknowledged fallen U.S. soldiers and lament the cost of the ‘war on terror.’  Visitors write the name of the dead on slips of paper lining the ever-growing list of casualties and place it on a cross with fresh flowers and an American flag.  March 28, 4pm

Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations captures the powerful words and images of a Spring 2008 panel of veterans who testified to atrocities they witnessed while deployed.  The veterans address such issues as the military’s disregard for civilian life, the torture of detainees, the culture of racism inherent in a military occupation, gender discriminations, and the health crisis facing today’s veterans.  March 28, 5:15pm; followed by a Q & A session lead by Jose Vasquez, Executive Director, Iraq Verterans Against the War

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