Jaka Bizilj

Last updated
Jaka Bizilj in 2009 Jaka Bizilj - Inauguration Sports for Peace (cropped).JPG
Jaka Bizilj in 2009

Jaka Bizilj is a German writer, promoter, and film producer. He is also the founder and chairman of the Cinema for Peace Foundation.

Contents

Bizilj was born 8 December 1971 in Ljubljana, Slovenia and grew up in Slovenia, Libya, Tanzania, Malaysia and Germany.[ citation needed ] He studied politics, literature and film at the German University of Mainz and went on to become a journalist and political activist.

Promoter and producer

Jaka Bizilj is a writer, promoter, and producer. He began organizing concerts in 1995 with artists such as Andrea Bocelli, Bryan Adams, Montserrat Caballe and Liza Minnelli and toured with artists such as José Carreras. Since the end of the 1990s, he has been working internationally as a producer and was the largest presenter of open-air opera in Europe for many years. He annually staged up to 700 concerts and live productions. Among his productions are concerts with the filmmusic of movies like "Harry Potter", "Lord of the Rings", "The Hobbit", "Star Trek", the music of Hans Zimmer, and among others as "Magic of the Dance", Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "Evita", Elton John’s musical Aida and the Broadway musical Jekyll & Hyde. He has also launched several cultural festivals.

In 2002, he founded the Cinema for Peace initiative and in 2008 the Cinema for Peace Foundation to create awareness of the social relevance of films and the influence of movies on the perception and resolution of global social, political, and humanitarian challenges of our time.

Bizilj is also involved in the production of films, including the Richard Curtis remake “Suddenly Gina  [ de ]” and the documentary “Letter to Anna” about Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya. He was also involved in the realization of the documentary "This Prison Where I Live" about the detained Myanmar comedian "Zarganar" and the recent film productions "After the Silence" and raised funds for the development of the film "Song of Names" with Dustin Hoffman and Anthony Hopkins.

Together with the last living Nazi-war-crimes prosecutor from Nuremberg, Benjamin Ferencz, and 2022 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Oleksandra Matviichuk Jaka Bizilj initiated in The Hague in February 2023 “The Court of the Citizens of the World” with international prosecutors and judges arguing a blueprint case on crime of aggression against Vladimir Putin[ citation needed ] resulting in a verdict on February 24, 2023, calling on the International Criminal Court and the United Nations to issue an arrest warrant against Putin. [1] The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant three weeks later on March 17, 2023, [2] thus making Putin as the first European President a fugitive war criminal.

Charity

Bizilj distributed the Bosnian Oscar-winning war-satire "No Man's Land" by Danis Tanovic. Ahead of the G8 Summit in Germany, he produced at the initiative of Bob Geldof and Richard Curtis a remake of the Golden Globe-winning film "The Girl in the Café" with Iris Berben, Julia Jentsch, Jan Josef Liefers, and Catherine Deneuve in 2007.[ citation needed ]

Together with the Trust Fund for Victims at the International Criminal Court, he organized with the Cinema for Peace Foundation - "The Special Evening on Justice" on the eve of the International Criminal Court Review Conference of the Rome Statute in Kampala, Uganda.[ citation needed ] The Cinema for Peace Foundation presented on this occasion the first "Justitia Award" to honor the United Nations and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for establishing and supporting the International Criminal Court. The award was presented to Ban Ki-moon by the Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador Bianca Jagger. [3]

On 8 June 2010, Bizilj hosted the "Sports for Peace" gala[ citation needed ] on the occasion of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa - the world's biggest single sporting event and the first ever FIFA World Cup to take place in Africa - bringing together the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, South African President Jacob Zuma, Madama Graça Machel, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, 1Goal Ambassadors and many other dignitaries from across the globe to address this serious issue - the second Millennium Development Goal (MDG): "achieve universal primary education by 2015". [4]

In 2011, he organized for the first time a Cinema for Peace Dinner in Cannes [5] and accompanied the visit of the 14th Dalai Lama to Wiesbaden with a film program and a charity dinner to support the culture of Tibet. [6]

Bizilj produced the Los Angeles premiere of Cinema for Peace in January 2012 by staging “Help Haiti Home” benefiting Sean Penn's J/P Haitian Relief Organization.; [7] [8] In June 2012 Bizilj welcomed 100 personalities from the world of arts, film, and society on the occasion of the Art Basel fair and “Art & Cinema for Peace” in honor of Chinese artist Ai Weiwei. This occasion included the premiere of the documentary film “Ai Weiwei - Never Sorry” by Alison Klayman. Actress Susan Sarandon concluded the evening with a video statement expressing the worldwide support for Ai Weiwei. [9]

Productions

Entertainment / Shows

Advocacy Events

Film Productions

Awards

Related Research Articles

CPH:DOX is the official name for the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, an international documentary film festival established in 2003 and held annually in Copenhagen, Denmark. CPH:DOX has since grown to become one of the largest documentary film festivals in Europe with 114,408 admissions in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sohrab Shahid-Saless</span>

Sohrab Shaheed Salles or Sohrab Shahid-Saless was an Iranian film director and screenwriter and one of the most celebrated figures in Iranian cinema in the 20th century. After 1976 he worked in the cinema of Germany and was an important component of the film diaspora working in the German industry.

Cinema for Peace Awards are prizes awarded by the Cinema for Peace Foundation, a Berlin-based initiative that claims to raise awareness for the social relevance of films. Since 2002, Cinema for Peace has been inviting film makers, humanitarian and human rights activists, and public figures to its annual awards ceremony in Berlin to honor a selection of cinematic works on humanitarian and environmental issues. The event occurs at the same time as the Berlin International Film Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ai Weiwei</span> Chinese conceptual artist and dissident

Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist, documentarian, and activist. Ai grew up in the far northwest of China, where he lived under harsh conditions due to his father's exile. As an activist, he has been openly critical of the Chinese Government's stance on democracy and human rights. He investigated government corruption and cover-ups, in particular the Sichuan schools corruption scandal following the collapse of "tofu-dreg schools" in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In 2011, Ai Weiwei was arrested at Beijing Capital International Airport on 3 April, for "economic crimes". He was detained for 81 days without charge. Ai Weiwei emerged as a vital instigator in Chinese cultural development, an architect of Chinese modernism, and one of the nation's most vocal political commentators.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Raoul Peck</span> Haitian filmmaker and activist

Raoul Peck is a Haitian filmmaker of both documentary and feature films. He is known for using historical, political, and personal characters to tackle and recount societal issues and historical events. Peck was Haiti's Minister of Culture from 1996 to September 1997. His film I Am Not Your Negro (2016), about the life of James Baldwin and race relations in the United States, was nominated for an Oscar in January 2017 and won a César Award in France. Peck's HBO documentary miniseries, Exterminate All the Brutes (2021), received a Peabody Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berlin International Film Festival</span> Annual international film festival in Berlin, Germany

The Berlin International Film Festival, usually called the Berlinale, is a major international film festival held annually in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europe's "Big Three" film festivals alongside the Venice Film Festival held in Italy and the Cannes Film Festival held in France. Furthermore, it is one of the "Big Five", the most prestigious film festivals in the world. The festival regularly draws tens of thousands of visitors each year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romuald Karmakar</span> French film director, screenwriter and producer

Romuald Karmakar is a French film director, screenwriter and producer. He was born in Wiesbaden, Germany as the son of a Bengali father and a French mother. From 1977 to 1982 he lived in Athens. He has won several national and international awards, including the German National Film Award in Gold in 1996 for Der Totmacher (Deathmaker). His work has been honored with several retrospectives at festivals and cinematheques. In 2008, the MoMA celebrated his film Das Himmler-Projekt as one of the top 250 most important artistic acquisitions of the Museum since 1980. A member of Akademie der Künste, Berlin, Karmakar is internationally regarded for his honest representation of the less attractive aspects of society by focusing on those perpetrators responsible for these downfalls. Karmakar is currently a Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University (2012–13). He has been invited as one of the four artists to represent Germany at the German Pavilion at the Art Venice Biennale in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Side by Side (film festival)</span> Annual international film festival in Saint Petersburg, Russia

"Side by Side" Lesbian and Gay International Film Festival is an international film festival that seeks to explore the issues of homosexuality, bisexuality and transgender (LGBT) through art cinema. Since 2008 it has taken place every autumn in Saint Petersburg, Russia. In addition, various special events are held almost every month, and since 2009 film showings and discussions have also been conducted in other parts of Russia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">New Horizons Film Festival</span> Annual film festival held in Wroclaw, Poland

New Horizons Film Festival is an international film festival held annually in July in Wrocław, Poland. It has been organised since 2001. It is one of the biggest and most popular film festivals in Poland. Since 2008 it is accredited by FIAPF with an "avant-garde" specialised competitive status.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1st Berlin International Film Festival</span> Film festival

The 1st annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 6 to 17 June 1951 at the Titiana-Palast cinema. The opening film was Alfred Hitchcock's Rebecca.

Max Penzel is a German cinematographer and director. Based in Germany and Singapore but operating internationally, Penzel has worked as first and second unit cinematographer on feature films including Cloud Atlas (2012), Hitman: Agent 47 (2015), Global Player (2014), Strajk (2006), Berlin Calling (2008), and the mini-series Crews & Gangs (2019).

The Cinema for Peace Foundation is a registered, non-profit organization based in Berlin, Germany. It supports film-based projects dealing with global humanitarian and environmental issues, and coordinates the Cinema for Peace awards.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human Rights Logo</span> Logo to support the global human rights movement

The Human Rights Logo has its origin in the international "Logo for Human Rights" initiative, which was started in 2010. Its goal was to create an internationally recognized logo to support the global human rights movement. The winning logo was created by Predrag Stakić from Serbia.

<i>Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry</i> 2012 American film

Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry is a 2012 documentary film about Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, directed by American filmmaker Alison Klayman.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uli M Schueppel</span>

Uli M Schueppel is a German director and documentary filmmaker. The "M" in the middle of the name is not an abbreviation of a name, but a reference to the Elvis Presley's song "Trouble": My middle name is misery. It is written without dot.

<i>Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case</i> 2013 Danish film

Ai Weiwei: The Fake Case is a 2013 documentary film about Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, directed by Danish filmmaker Andreas Johnsen. The film won Best 2014 Documentary in Danish Film Critics Association's 67th Bodil Awards, played in the official selection of 2014 Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival in Toronto and International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Khebez Dawle</span>

Khebez Dawle is a Syrian post-rock band led by Anas Maghrebi. As of 2017, the band is based in Berlin. While the band members are war refugees, they prefer to see themselves as simply a rock band.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">74th Venice International Film Festival</span> Film festival

The 74th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 30 August to 9 September 2017.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrew Cohen (filmmaker)</span> American film producer

Andrew "Andy" Cohen is a three-time Emmy nominated independent filmmaker and journalist whose recent film,To Kill a Tiger, is nominated for a 2024 Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.

<i>Coronation</i> (2020 film) 2020 documentary film directed by Ai Weiwei

Coronation is a 2020 documentary film directed by Chinese activist Ai Weiwei. The film documents happenings in the city of Wuhan, China during the global COVID-19 pandemic, and how the country's government and citizens have responded to and been impacted by the outbreak. Ai directed the film remotely from Europe, with dozens of volunteers and paid crews covertly gathering footage inside hospitals, homes, and quarantine zones across China.

References

  1. https://www.telegraaf.nl/nieuws/765038580/poetin-stopt-alleen-als-hij-gestopt-wordt
  2. Borger, Julian; Sauer, Pjotr (17 March 2023). "ICC judges issue arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes". The Guardian.
  3. Remarks by UN SG Ben Ki-moon upon accepting the first "Justitia Award" on behalf of the United Nations
  4. Announcement of "Sports for Peace" Johannesburg
  5. "Cinema for Peace sammelt in Cannes". www.morgenpost.de (in German). 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  6. "Wiesbadenaktuell: News detail view". www.wiesbadenaktuell.de. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  7. Heyman, Marshall (2012-01-18). "Hollywood Loosens Up to Help Out Haiti". Wall Street Journal. ISSN   0099-9660 . Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  8. Ryzik, Melena (2012-01-15). "Ambassador Sean Penn and the Arcade Fire at a Benefit for Haiti". The Carpetbagger. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  9. "News - Video statement Ai Weiwei at Art & Cinema for Peace - Movies that Matter Film Festival". www.moviesthatmatter.nl. Retrieved 2019-09-25.
  10. Müller, Peter E.; Ewald, Johanna (2015-08-21). "Al Bano und Romina Power schmachten im Rampenlicht". www.morgenpost.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  11. "The Wall Museum East Side Gallery Opening In Berlin Stock-Fotos und Bilder - Getty Images". www.gettyimages.ch. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  12. "Live unterwegs: Ein Hobbit auf Deutschland-Tour". 30 November 2019.
  13. "Veranstaltung - Musical Dome, Köln". www.musicaldome.de. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  14. "The Music of Der König der Löwen". www.rs2.de (in German). Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  15. https://www.eventim.de/eventseries/the-magical-music-of-harry-potter-2711949/ [ dead link ]
  16. http://www.icc-cpi.int/NR/rdonlyres/8EC6E17A-DE3F-4BF7-98DA-37F20FAB4EF2/0/ASP10Journal09Dec11.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]
  17. "Jan Josef Liefers bei Bombenopfer Farrida (4) aus Aleppo: "Was müssen die Kinder eines Tages über uns denken?"". bild.de (in German). 11 June 2013. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  18. "Cinema for Peace ehrt Mikhail Gorbachev in Berlin". Le Matin (in German). 2014-11-08. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  19. "Cinema for Peace ehrt Mikhail Gorbachev in Berlin". Le Matin (in German). 2014-11-08. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  20. Carbonnel, Alissa de (2014-02-20). "Pussy Riot mocks Russia's Olympics in music video". Reuters. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  21. "Cinema For Peace Awards Celebrate Real Heroes". www.goldenglobes.com. 21 February 2015. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  22. "Ai Weiwei Wraps the Columns of Berlin's Konzerthaus with 14,000 Salvaged Refugee Life Vests". Colossal. 2016-02-16. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  23. https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2016/02/ai-weiwei-konzerthaus-refugee-life-vests/ https://germania.diplo.de/ru-de/themen/-/2264138
  24. "BABYLON in Berlin - Censored Ai Weiwei's Films. Pre-Berlin Premiere: THE REST [With Director appearance]". babylonberlin.eu. Retrieved 2021-02-13.
  25. Letter to Anna: The Story of Journalist Politkovskaya's Death
  26. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5548ed90e4b0b0a763d0e704/t/5a3bf93b085229addbe22ec7/1513879868938/171014_GlobalGreen_SavetheDate_V10_LB.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]