Global Peace Film Festival enjoys 17th year in Orlando

Maurice Beaulieu, Contributor

The 2019 Global Peace Film Festival (GPFF) ushers in the fall season with an eclectic array of documentary features and shorts. Hailing from all corners of the earth, filmmakers enlist their films for the residents and visitors of Orlando to discuss and debate, while providing a unifying movement that will bring positive change.

Launched in 2003, the GPFF’s mission continues to generate hope and peace by connecting viewers with their catalog of political, social, and personal works of cinematic artistry.

Wednesday led with films that focused on stories of women. From spotlighting female music icons in the 80s’ and 90s’ in The Remix: Hip Hop X Fashion, to the enormous influence of Asian nail salons across America in Nailed It.

On Thursday, the festival opened its doors to more screenings on diverse topics, such as LIKE  & College Crucible, which emphasizes the effects social media has on the brain. The incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII is explored in Alternative Facts: The Lies of Executive Order 9066.

Other notables consist of Changing the Game, a tale of several transgendered high school athletes and their trek to discover themselves and enlighten others of their struggles to fit into society. Actor Danny Glover (of Lethal Weapon fame) narrates the healthcare documentary, The Power to Heal: Medicare and the Civil Rights Revolution, which tells the story America’s struggle for adequate and equal health care. 

Nina Streich, executive director of Global Peace, enjoys the diverse topics of screenings. Streich’s main goal of the GPFF is to let everyone know “we celebrate peace,” she said. “Because Sept 20 is Global Climate Strike Day—led by young people—we decided to schedule all films related to the environment on Friday.” 

Friday evening kicks off with The Sequel, a documentary noting the possibilities of a future collapse of economies and the fate of the world. Animal negligence caused by the lack of support from state agencies is brought to the surface in The Right to Harm. Volunteers are uniting to rid the world’s trash in the oceans before it becomes unstoppable in The New Gatherers. Climate change and war-torn areas in Central America are not enough to keep its residents down from providing food in Keepers of the Future: La Coordinadora of El Salvador.

The weekend closes out the festival with afternoon and evening screenings. The Black Lives Matter movement and mass shootings are a primary focus in the noon showing of Incompatible Allies and At Arm’s Length. Other films, from border security, gay marriage, America’s travel ban, and voter suppression all take precedent in GPFF’s catalog of social and political commentaries. 

Global Peace also offers an online film festival where viewers can enjoy numerous other films not available on the big screen. 

On Saturday, September 21, from 9 a.m. to noon, GPFF will hold its annual Peace Day in the Park at Central Park, Winter Park. Presentations and activities about individual positivity leading to better communities will be the main focus. 

More than 20 original drawings by legendary musician Jimi Hendrix will be displayed at City Arts in downtown Orlando, beginning Sept. 19 and lasting through mid-October. 

Tickets to the film festival are only $5 with a valid student ID. The festival runs from Sept. 16-22. For more information, visit peacefilmfestival.org or call 407-582-6018.