Global Ethics Films Documentary Series

The Global Ethics and Religion Forum is in the post-production phase of making an extraordinary documentary of BBC quality entitled "Patterns for Peace: India as a Model for Peace in a Multi-Religious Society."  This documentary will advance interreligious understanding with a focus on the multi-religious society of India and the heritage of Gandhi, bringing international attention to India's heritage of peace and nonviolence in an extremely diverse society.

In the wake of recent tragedies and violence around the world, it is essential that there be open discussion of paths which can lead us into a more peaceful and harmonious future.  To move toward such a future, the international community can draw on India’s centuries of experience of diverse communities of Christians, Hindus, Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, and Buddhists living together in peace, and on India’s deep religious and Gandhian heritage of nonviolence.  This heritage has already touched the world, inspiring the fight against Apartheid in South Africa and the movement for civil rights in the United States, but it is needed now more than ever, as war and civil strife increasingly threaten our global community. 

We have been able to respond to this need by collecting over 55 hours of outstanding footage for the documentary.  This footage was shot by two exceptional young filmmakers primarily on location in the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.  Among the many people interviewed for the documentary are: His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama; Father Cedric Prakash, S.J., Director of the Center for Human Rights, Justice and Peace in Ahmedabad;  a group of low caste singers from Rajasthan; the Maharaja of Jodhpur; Colonel Fateh Singh, who both fought the India-Pakistan wars and was a UN Peacekeeper in the Middle East; the Sikh economist Surjit Singh; and Maulana Wahiduddin Khan, an 83 year old scholar of the Quran, internationally recognized for his dedication to issues of peace and interreligious understanding.

With the assistance of three outstanding film producers/writers/editors—Emmy award winning producer David Garcia (producer at Universal Studios for 25 years with over 600 films, documentaries, and television episodes to his credit); producer Judith Mayotte, winner of two Emmys and a Peabody Award; and experienced documentary producer/editor Tom Eldridge of Ikandi Productions—we now have the opportunity to transform this incomparable material into a compelling, truly informative, and accurate documentary, that can be used in schools and universities as well as shown on public television both in the USA and abroad to promote patterns of peace.

The India film will be the first in a series of films focusing on "Patterns for Peace" developed by people around the world to deal with the serious challenges facing our world today.  The second film, "The Sacred Planet," is in the production phase and will address ecology and global health, exploring the ways in which global climate change and changing patterns of human interaction with the natural world are affecting the health and well-being of both humans and the wider world.  The film explores the impact of global climate change, disease transmission from animals to humans, alternative energy sources and nuclear waste, the serious impact of increasing global obesity on health and resources, and the potential role of religion in calling us to address these pressing human rights and environmental challenges facing our human community today. This documentary is being shot in Japan, England, Southern California, and the Yukon Territory in Canada. The third film in the series, "Global Voices for Human Rights," examines the call for human rights across the world's religious and ethical traditions. The documentary is also in the production phase with principle filming completed in Barcelona, Spain at the 4th Parliament of the World's Religions. 

Proposed additional films in the series will focus on other regions of the world which face serious challenges, highlighting creative solutions and "patterns for peace" that can be  models for other communities around the world::
        South Africa: Private Military Companies, War and Humanitarian Aid
                Thailand: Buddhist Compassion and the Sex Trade
        North Ireland: Seeds of Hope in the Face of Violence
                Central Africa: Children and Life beyond War
        Israel/Palestine:  Building Bridges for Positive Peace
                Congo: Environmental Protection & Peacemaking in a War-Torn Land