Are you looking for films to watch that will inspire change in your life? Initiatives of Change produces and disseminates documentary films that inspire change in human motives and behaviour. Our films focus on life changing experiences through personal change and transformation, forgiveness, reconciliation and peace-building.
Over the past 50 years For the Love of Tomorrow Films, IofC's film production unit, has produced powerful stories. The documentary films explore a variety of topics, includiung faith-based approaches to reconciliation, conflict resolution and peace-building, inter-religious dialogue and cross-cultural encounters, social and cultural renewal after war, economic development and environmental protection.
There is a growing library of DVD’s for purchase and other current Initiatives of Change videos on YouTube. For a list of more DVD titles and for order enquiries please contact us.
Featured
The following seven videos are part of the Circle of Indigenous Worldview series of conversations based on the conviction that trust and reconciliation cannot come without truth and justice. IofC Canada offers this as an opportunity to learn from different Indigenous perspectives, and events in history, that still affect decisions made today. We have had eight sessions looking at and learning from the past. Now we look to IofC’s focus of 2023 is Building Bridges Across Generations. How does the Indigenous young generation see what’s ahead of them and how do they get there? How do young Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples relate to each other, is there a way to walk side by side (Two Row Wampum).
An Interngenerational Conversation with Youth - with Lewis, Jacquelyn and Hunter Cardinal -
Circles on Indigenous Worldviews
From Residential School to the Sixties Scoop - Circles on Indigenous Worldviews
Kimberley Joy began life on Oneida of the Thames, part of the Six Nations Iroquois Confederacy in Southern Ontario.
“At birth my Mom and I had a 50/50 chance of survival. The preacher approached my Dad and asked, ‘If there is a choice which one would you rather save?’ My Dad’s response was ‘Save them both!’” Kimberley Joy Doxtator
So began the life of Kim Doxtator. At between 4 and 5 years old, Kim was sent to Residential School till the age of 12. From there she became a child of ‘Family and Children’s Services and part of the ‘Sixties Scoop’ until the age of 18 years.
Why do we believe what we believe? Chief Lee Crowchild - Circles on Indigenous Worldviews
This is a good question toask ourselves! Thinking is thinking. Believing is not thinking! Chief Crowchild explains a process of ‘making wolf’. This refers to a process that dates back to his ancestors, who would meet with leaders of tribes with whom they had battled – not to apologize for what had happened but to validate each other’s experience of truth.
Oka: A Crisis or a Resistance of Indigenous People? - Circles on Indigenous Worldviews
Why the Oka Crisis? What do we learn from it?
(This video is mostly in French)
The "Oka Crisis", also known as the "Kanehsatake Resistance", was a land dispute between a group of Kanienkeha'ka people and the town of Oka, Quebec. The dispute which began on July 11, 1990 and lasted until September 26, 1990, with two fatalities. After 32 years, one would like to think the dispute had been resolved. However, unfortunately it continues today. Explore with us why!
The Truth Must be Told - Elder Alvin Manitopyes - Circles on Indigenous Worldviews
Elder Alvin Manitopyes, spoke to an international audience on his experience growing up, including as a residential school survivor; the development of the battle for the rights of Indigeous peoples, and the visit of the Pope to Canada and other issues.
Residential Schools and Generational Trauma to Forgiveness and Freedom - Circles on Indigenous Worldviews
During this session of Circles on Indgenous Worldviews, Elder Tina Poucette Fox shares her own personal story of residential school, taken from all that she knew at the age of five years old. Trent Fox shares some of the historical background that led to the forming of residential schools and to the Treaties.
Treaties - Circles on Indigenous Worldviews
Circle of Indigenous Worldview is a series of conversations based on the conviction that trust and reconciliation cannot come without truth and justice. IofC Canada offers this as an opportunity to learn from different Indigenous perspectives, and events in history, that still affect decisions made today. The first conversation was on the Treaties.
Trustbuilding in Quebec, Canada
Trust around the world is diminishing and we are seeing the consequences. Wider communities are facing challenges that include racial and interracial divides, intergenerational conflict, as well as increased polarization and social divisions.
Initiatives of Change (IofC) recognizes that at the heart of these challenges is the need to build bonds of trust and work to reconcile personal transformations towards profound societal changes.
Building on this recognition, IofC International launched the Trustbuilding Program, which the I&C Canada team launched in the province of Quebec in September 2019.
The Man Who Built Peace – The Frank Buchman Story
The Man Who Built Peace captures the life and peace-making legacy of a man you may never have heard of – and who changed the world. Following a personal experience of transformation, Frank Buchman set out to pass on that experience to the world and helped shape the course of history. He was a revolutionary thinker and leader whose trust-building, reconciliation and peace efforts greatly influenced the 20th century. His vision and legacy are a powerful answer to the growing mistrust, injustice and extremism facing the world today. Watch Frank Buchman help to build peace between the enemies of World War II and discover how to apply this in your own life and community in today’s politically fractious climate.
60 minutes
Building bridges across Canada
In Canada, Initiatives of Change focuses efforts on the following activities:
Follow-up to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Bridge Building and Equipping Changemakers
Walking Buffalo - World Journey
This film is available for free personal viewing only. Licenses are required for non-profit, educational, government or commercial use; please contact film.archives@ca.iofc.org
The colour film depicts the 1960 world journey undertaken by 88 year old Chief Walking Buffalo of the Stoney Nakoda Nation, of Alberta, Canada and Chief David Crowchild of the Tsuut’ina Nation who, with their families, travelled to meet the indigenous peoples of Hawaii, New Zealand, Australia, South Africa and Uganda. Wearing their distinctive traditional regalia they were welcomed at the highest level by the leaders of those countries. Sponsored by International Moral Re-Armament, the film portrays the close ties between indigenous people everywhere and challenges them to take their rightful place in society. The film was photographed by Canadian Robert Fleming of Kingston, Ontario and narrated by Edward Devlin of Ottawa, Ontario – formally a producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.Read more >>
Trustbuilding Healing and Reconciliation Workshops
Home to the largest population of South Sudanese in Canada, Calgary could potentially be a powder keg of tribal tension that could flare up into violence at any given moment. But instead, dialogue, discussions, the city’s first-ever South Sudanese ethnic gala and peaceful demonstrations in support of human rights have marked community life for the diaspora in this city.
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The Citizen Project
The Citizen Project creates Circles of Trust.
IofC in partnership with Espace Art Nature
The TRC on Indian Residential Schools welcomed our proposal in 2011 and the Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs Canada financed it with a generous grant. Three full-day public Forums were held in Victoriaville, on March 17, 2012; in Montreal on August 4, 2012 during the annual First Peoples’ Festival; and in Quebec City on March 2, 2013.
The aim of the project was to engage Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals in a common and inclusive approach through a process to generate real opportunities for encounters in a number of events with a generosity of spirit and an open heart.
Beyond Forgiving
This new documentary film depicts the journey of two South Africans to bring healing and reconciliation to their country post-Apartheid. Ginn Fourie and Letlapa Mphalele form an unlikely pair: a black atheist man and a white Christian woman. One has suffered directly from actions of the other, but both have been victims - and risen beyond their pain. What brings them together is a profound story of tragedy, forgiveness and hope. Being released on DVD in North America in October 2013.
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The Imam & the Pastor
This documentary film depicts the astonishing reconciliation process between Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor James Wuye. It shows their story of conflict and the peace-making initiatives, which have flowed from their relationship. The film, narrated by Rageh Omaar, shows that it is possible for the perpetrators of inter-religious violence to become instigators of peace. It is both a story of forgiveness and a case study of grass-root initiatives in community relations torn apart by conflict.
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An African Answer
More than one thousand people were killed following disputed elections in Kenya at the end of 2007. Imam Muhammad Ashafa and Pastor Jame Wuye - former militia leaders turned peace-makers from Nigeria - were invited to mediate in the worst-affected district. This film depicts their dramatic bid to bring healing and reconciliation after death and destruction.
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For the Love of Tomorrow
This film is a unique profile of Madame Irène Laure, a member of the French Resistance who, in the rubble of post-war Europe, discovered forgiveness to be a force stronger than hatred. ‘I longed for the total destruction of Germany,’ she recalls, ‘… that it would no longer exist… [but] hatred, whatever the reason for it, is always a factor in causing a new war.’
Irène Laure travelled to Germany shortly after the end of hostilities and spoke of her experience of forgiveness to thousands of people. She was decorated by both the French and German governments for her contribution to the reconciliation of their countries.
Read more >>
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