7th Annual Common Ground Film Festival

Dear NSU Students and Community Members,

The 7th Annual Common Ground Film Festival at Nova
Southeastern University (NSU)features documentary films
and accounts of real conflict around the world. Please see
the attached brochure for the event. The Festival is held
annually at Nova Southeastern University and this special
event is open and free to the public annually. This year the
Festival will be held February 12-25, 2010 at the Knight
Auditorium at NSU. Department of Conflict Analysis and
Resolution faculty and graduate students will engage in
facilitated dialogue with audience members after each film.
If you would like to facilitate a discussion with a professor
please contact a professor and arrange this in advance.

Search for Common Ground Films present powerful
and captivating stories about humans engaged in conflict
around the world. The Common Ground Film Festival
allows individuals to see and feel the destructive nature
of conflict, but the films also show individuals that with
despair of conflict there can be hope. Hope for change and
hope for a better future. The films show that individuals
have the potential to change society. Please read more about
this event at http://www.shss.nova.edu.search/ for Common
Ground (http://www.sfcg.org/) is an international,
nongovernmental, nonprofit organization based in Washington,
DC, dedicated to conflict resolution and prevention, in cooperation
with European Centre for Common Ground in Brussels.

Since 1987, Search for Common Ground has been producing
award-winning films and TV programs that embody the values
of what we call common ground media: to demonstrate, in
informative and entertaining ways, that contentious problems
have workable solutions.

These productions take a balanced approach and emphasize
the common humanity shared by people in conflict. They reveal
why adversaries think, feel, and act as they do-stressing
commonalities among peoples without ignoring the differences
that distinguish them.

This Festival includes an impressive group of feature and
documentary films that demonstrate how films can have a
major impact in inflaming or defusing conflict.

What sets the Common Ground Film Festival apart from
other film festivals is the way that the filmmakers tell their
stories. The films selected are balanced in their portrayal of
conflicts and issues; they avoid stereotyping by focusing on
people as individuals rather than as representatives of groups;
the promote understanding of the issues and people involved;
they give audiences a broader context of the issues involved;
and they show the commonalities among people while not
ignoring the differences that divide them. The power of the
media-- and of film-- can be used to develop greater
understanding and tolerance, and can contribute to defusing
conflict rather than inflaming it.

We hope that you will come to as many of the screenings as
possible, participate in the dialogues, and have a rewarding
experience.

If you have questions about this event please call 954-262-3000
or email us at jshilts@nova.edu or georgako@nova.edu or visit
http://shss.nova.edu/cgff/.

Thank you and please share this event with anyone who might
be interested in attending.

Thank you and looking forward to seeing you at the Film Festival!


Sincerely,

Alexia Georgakopoulos
Director of the Common Ground Film Festival