100 Years Campaign Update

The tangible results of our efforts were that the movie Gandhi showed and our short film debuted in:

5 countries plus Palestine – India, Italy, Romania, Spain and USA
6 theaters (two SOLD OUT)
21 states in the US (including Alaska)
41 US cities
44-65 venues in total

Please read press release below.

NEW YORKERS TRANSFORM SEPTEMBER 11
INTO A MESSAGE OF HOPE AND HEALING

September 12, 2006, New York, NY. -- On September 11, 2006, New Yorkers and Americans in 21 states marked the 100 year anniversary of Gandhi’s decision to use nonviolence. New Yorkers for a Department of Peace (NY-DOP), in cooperation with Sony Pictures, organized a one-day-only theatrical showing of the movie Gandhi. Movie screenings, held at the Regal Cinema near the World Trade Center site and other theaters across the country, included the debut of a short film, Satyagraha. The title is the name that Gandhi chose for his nonviolent campaign and translates as “the pursuit of truth.” The film focuses on the power of nonviolence and features Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mohandas Gandhi, and George Houser, a civil rights activist and founding member of CORE, the Congress of Racial Equality.

To kick off the screenings, NY-DOP organized a panel discussion at the Regal Cinema, which according to Julianne Nicholson (Law and Order) was “poignant and moving.” September Families for Peaceful Tomorrow's Anthony Aversano, who lost his father on September 11, 2001 quoted Gandhi saying, “An eye for an eye only makes the whole world blind.” JoJo Brim, an executive at Warner Music Group, challenged the audience to “make peace sexy” through entertainment. Kamran Elahian explained how the Gandhi Project uses the movie Gandhi, dubbed in Arabic, to educate Palestinians on the power of nonviolence. Monica Willard shared that the United Nations had originally slated September 11, 2001 as the International Day of Peace. Since then, however, the UN has moved it to September 21 and marks the day annually. Marie Ukeye, a Rwandan genocide survivor, concluded by reflecting on the fact that humans are very “successful” at organizing violence and considered how different the world would be if all that energy were focused on organizing peace.

“I forgot how inspiring the movie Gandhi is, especially on the big screen,” remarked Blake McGee, a student at Columbia University’s School of Public Health. “After watching it, I really feel called to go out and take action. I am glad that I spent September 11 focusing on such a hopeful message.”