“Peace” is usually taken for granted as the binary opposite of war; yet, the absence of war does not necessarily mean that peace prevails in a society. This film festival approaches “peace” as an obtainable ideal of a social order where there is no direct, structural, cultural or ecological violence. In other words, such a position is not only against direct violence, but also against structural inequalities at the system level that create suffering, and the discursive mechanisms that naturalize this suffering at the cultural level. Conflict is inevitable, yet violence is not.
Rotary Peace Film Festival- In Search of Peace calls upon the film makers to tell the stories of conflict-affected people, peace and reconciliation works, and the various creative and innovative ways of healing the wounds of conflict either on intrapersonal, interpersonal, intergroup or international levels from a nonviolent vantage point. The aim of the competition is to reflect on conflict, understand each other and learn from each other’s experiences, especially in conflict and post-conflict regions.